Kiwi Bungy Jumper Fights To Have His World Record Accepted By Guinness

Mike Heard, who raised $12,058 for the New Zealand Mental Health Foundation during his epic jump feat off the Auckland Harbour Bridge on October 10-11 last year, was informed earlier this year by Guinness World Records that they could not validate the record because they dispute the fact that each bungy jump was a “completed” jump.

This is despite Heard executing his bungy jumps in exactly the same way, at the same place, doing the same length bungy jump with the same equipment and same AJ Hackett Bungy New Zealand (AJHBNZ) crew, as his previous successful record attempts. The 42-year-old still holds Guinness World Records for the most bungy jumps in one hour (80 jumps in 2011) and initially set records of the most jumps in 24 hours (103 in 2008 and 430 in 2017) – all at the AJHBNZ site on Auckland Harbour Bridge.

Heard’s story is captured in a short 26-minute documentary called Bring It Home, released online today (Thursday, October 17) by AJ Hackett Bungy New Zealand. The film details Heard’s build up to the event, and throughout the 24 hours where he set out to smash the current world record of 765 jumps in 24 hours, obtained by Frenchman François-Marie Dibon, at Highland Bungy in Scotland in 2022.

The end of the film shows Heard talking to Dibon, graciously informing him that the Frenchman still holds the world record. Dibon replies: “Although 941 for me is the number, I’m quite surprised of the verdict. It’s a bit shocking, I’m very sorry that it was not approved because records are meant to be broken…I think it doesn’t change anything [that] you have accomplished. I think your country can be proud of what you have done. For me, the record is back to New Zealand, because 941 is the number. Whatever Guinness World Record says, congratulations for getting the record of 941 leaps.”

Heard has been quietly appealing his record status with Guinness for the past six months. During this time the governing body initially told him that the supplied video evidence (which was filmed in the same way as his previous records) didn’t capture the bottom of all of Heard’s jumps.

“The initial rule was that a jump is complete when the jumper comes to rest so I, AJHBNZ – and by extension, Guinness by accepting the prior records – had accepted that the bottom of the first bounce was ‘coming to rest’ which now counts as a jump,” Heard explains.

“In the debate afterwards Guinness changed it and added the option of ‘come to rest or do five bounces’. We then didn’t have footage of the full jumps to be able to tell which had done five bounces or not.

“Guinness said that without the video evidence of the bottom of the jump we were unable to provide consistency – but they have been nothing but inconsistent when adjudicating.”

The appeal is still open but currently marked as an “incomplete record”. He’s hopeful that commonsense will prevail and Guinness will allow him to ‘bring it home’.

Despite this, Heard remains positive about what he accomplished a year ago. More than one million people tuned in to watch his world record attempt on TikTok and YouTube during the 24 hour period.

“I’m just so stoked that we were able to raise awareness for mental health in Aotearoa New Zealand and raise a significant amount of money for the Mental Health Foundation. I’m really proud of my achievement. It is what it is with Guinness, it’s not going to stop me from doing what I love.”

As for going back to challenge the record of 765 bungy jumps in 24 hours again, Heard hasn’t ruled this out.

AJHBNZ co-founder Henry van Asch says: “This is extremely disappointing for Mike, especially as this record attempt took place in exactly the same circumstances as his previous Guinness World Records for bungy jumping. We would love to see Guinness reconsider their position so the world record can be returned home to Aotearoa New Zealand – the place where commercial bungy jumping was first invented and where all safety standards and operating procedures have been developed and continue to lead the industry internationally.”

Click here to view the documentary Bring It Home, filmed and edited by AJ Hackett Bungy New Zealand crew member and content creator Sam Mills. Bring It Home is her first short film.

About AJ Hackett Bungy New Zealand
Ever since it was launched with a buzz by AJ Hackett and Henry van Asch back in 1988, AJ Hackett Bungy New Zealand has been in the business of fuelling people with courage and adrenaline. The world’s first commercial bungy operation opened at the Kawarau Bridge in November 1988 and AJ Hackett Bungy New Zealand has remained committed to levelling up the exhilaration across Aotearoa, with bungy, zipride, swing, catapult, skywalk, skyjump and bridge climb across Queenstown, Taupō and Auckland.

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