View from the bottom....

The sixth annual  B.A.S.E jump Extreme World Championships are taking place at the Gran Hotel Bali in La Cala this weekend . It is certainly growing in popularity with hundreds of spectators assembled around the pool area - but unfortunately they have been temporarily suspended due to high winds.

Yesterday was the Day 1 of the competition stage - with 20 jumpers participating. But things did not run smoothly for one contestant, Maria Steinmayr of Austria - who is the only female contestant taking part.

It wasn´t difficult to spot Maria this morning - surrounded by Spanish press and on crutches with visible cuts and bruises!

I managed to sit down with Maria for a coffee by the poolside bar to find out what had happened the previous day - and was left dumbfounded by her "these things happen" attitude.

Being photographed by the Spanish Press

She had flown into Barcelona on Wednesday and made her way down to Benidorm the following day - in time for the start of the competition on Friday. She completed her first jump and was in 3rd place - remember, all the other contestants are men so an incredible achievement! I don´t think that there are any other sports where men and women compete against each other - though I may stand to be corrected on that.

She took her place on the diving board - perched from the top of the hotel and on the clearance signal launched herself off the top. Remember, they only have seconds from jumping to releasing their parachutes - and as soon as Maria pulled the chord she knew something had gone terribly wrong. The parachute opened the wrong way and so the chords to steer were back to front! I sat there open mouthed and with my heart pumping as she relived the moment.

Moment of impact

She desperately tried to steer away from the building but was blown into it instead - bouncing off the side three times before crashing into the balcony of a room on the tenth floor with blood gushing from her face, arms and legs. She quickly managed to pull her back pack containing the parachute off her back and crawled into the room - the room was empty but thank goodness that the occupants had left the glass balcony doors open otherwise she would have been marooned until help arrived!

She crawled to the door and pulled herself along the corridor banging on doors for help and thank goodness that everyone wasn´t by the poolside. A British couple opened their door and were horrified when they saw the state she was in but Maria cannot praise them enough. They quickly helped her in and used bath towels to stem the bleeding until the medics from the Hospital Clinica Benidorm managed get there - which was about 5 minutes. Considering they had to find out which floor she was on and get up there probably not bad....

She had a suspected broken femur (thigh bone) but after an xray that was discounted, however has got a broken nose which is being operated on tomorrow - once her boyfriend arrives this evening. She also has cuts to her face, arms and legs and as you can imagine is extremely sore and bruised. She told me that she has a camera on her helmet but it had just run out of batteries - mind you, would she really have wanted to watch it?

Maria is certainly no novice - at 22 years of age she has already completed over 230 jumps all across the world. In fact, in 3 weeks time she is due to take part in another competition in Norway - but depending on how quickly she recovers hasn´t decided whether she will make it. Remarkably it has not put her off!

She would love to turn professional but in order to do so needs to find a sponsor. There are actually only about 20 women B.A.S.E jumpers across the entire world and she is the only one in Austria - it is certainly a male dominated sport, so what a catch she would be. All the competitions which she attends are self financed and the equipment she has to buy herself. The parachute which she uses for example costs about three thousand euros - and needs to be replaced after around every 400 jumps and that is apart from all the protective gear she wears - that is some commitment!

She is a remarkable young woman with more grit and determination than most men I have met. I wish her a very speedy and full recovery and the best of luck with her aim of turning professional. Take a look at her facebook page and give her a "like" .... https://www.facebook.com/mcfly.mary

Tomorrow there will be a demonstration from the "Sky Force" team - weather allowing, so why not pop down and take a look.