Brent Brady soared into the Guinness Book of World Records at Calder Park on Saturday night, but destroyed his knee when cross winds botched his landing. Picture: Rush Sports and Events International.By Glen Atwell
CRANBOURNE daredevil Brent Brady knew he had set a world record as he soared 31.5 metres through the air on his mini-bike at the Crusty Demons: Night of World Records event at Calder Park on Saturday night.
Then, as the 24-year-old prepared to land the world’s longest mini-bike jump, everything went horribly wrong.
A strong cross wind tipped Brent off-balance just before he touched down, and swept his bike from beneath him.
Instinctively, Brent pushed his left leg into the ground to correct his balance.
He managed to stay on the bike and write his name into the Guinness Book of Records, but destroyed his knee in the process.
Brent managed to add five metres to the previous world record of 26.5 metres in a jump that drew a standing ovation from the crowd.
But moments after landing Brent knew something was seriously wrong.
“I could tell instantly that my knee was not in a good way,” he said.
Brent ruptured both his patella tendon, which holds the kneecap in place, and his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).
Both will require surgical repair.
“I’ll have many months to relive the record jump as I go through the operations and all the rehabilitation,” he said.
“I’ve done my knee before, but not like this, a ruptured patella is as bad as the ACL.”
When he isn’t breaking records, Brent is fixing sinks, and the full-time plumber will now miss months of work.
“I’ll be on the sidelines for a while. At least I got the record.”
Despite the setback, Brent has plans for bigger and better mini-bike jumps.
“I’ll definitely be back in the air when I recover, but at the moment the plans are on hold,” he said.
Brent had surgery on Monday night to reconstruct his patella tendon.
Nine world records were attempted at the Crusty Demons event; six were successful, including the world’s longest jump set by Robbie Maddison.
Maddison smashed the previous record of 98 metres with his monstrous 107 metre jump.
