Extreme sports

Extreme Mayhem is part of the Extreme Group (that founded the Extreme Sports Channel in 1999). Playtech casinosExtreme Mayhem is a new venture with an ambitious strategy to promote and grow UK paintball at all levels, the business has a chilled-out and entertaining ‘community’ website that provides a completely free paintball booking directory to anyone looking for a location to play paintball right across the UK.       

extrememayhem.co.uk was developed to help paintballers to get in contact with a paintball venue, (that is the most convenient for them), as quickly and easily as possible. Extreme Mayhem already has a comprehensive nation-wide network of independent affiliated paintball sites, all operating to ‘UKPSF’ quality and safety standards. And the really good news? Extreme Mayhem takes absolutely no agency commission on bookings; customers book with the paintball venue direct so getting the best possible value for a great day out.

Globally the fastest growing sports are extreme; in fact according to advertising industry statistics, there are now an estimated 168 million active participants worldwide.

Using the mass marketing capability, strength and kudos of the Extreme brand (the sports channel already broadcasts in over 60 countries in 12 languages reaching no less than a staggering 38 million homes) the group is venturing into specific areas where they believe they can make a real difference, ultimately helping to raise the overall profile of extreme sports.

Since founding the Extreme Sports Channel, the brand has rapidly advanced into numerous sport-orientated businesses around the world, launching several new businesses including Extreme Drinks (with it’s award-winning range of all natural drinks already selling in 23 countries), Extreme Medics (a unique team of highly qualified and specialised paramedics covering extreme sports events across Europe), EX Element, Extremepie (already Europe’s biggest surf & ski on-line and mail-order retailer), Extreme Hotels (a completely new hotel concept designed specifically to cater for extreme sports enthusiasts - the first 130 bedroom hotel opened in Cape Town in November 2006) and now Extreme Mayhem. Oh, and also watch out for the launch of Raw State - the group’s new sports fashion clothing label, with foot-ware, watches and eye-ware also in the design pipe-line….

Can Extreme Mayhem really make a difference to the UK paintball scene? You’ve gotta believe they will!

BASE jumping is not a sport for the faint of heart. Athletes who practice this extreme sport climb to the top of tall buildings, canyons, or other structures; jump off; enjoy a period of free falling; then open a parachute and coast to the ground.

The acronym BASE stands for building, antennae, span, and earth; which make up a comprehensive list of what kinds of fixed objects BASE jumpers plummet from. Span is a term that includes all sorts of bridges, or any other structures that span over a valley or chasm. Earth means anything from cliffs to mountains to canyons.

BASE jumping is very dangerous for a variety of reasons, but the most common causes of injury and death have to do with failure to maintain a clear area around the athlete during the jump and/or the landing. If the wind is against them or if they make a mistake during the launch of their jump, athletes sometimes collide with the object that they have jumped from. Because BASE jumping areas are usually not designated for this guerilla-style sport, the makeshift landing targets that jumpers aim for are rarely large enough to allow for a safe jump. As a result many BASE enthusiasts meet with serious and sometimes fatal injuries because they haven’t been able to steer themselves to the landing area in time.

Many people compare BASE jumping to bungee jumping without a bungee cord, but it is actually much closer to skydiving without an airplane. Jumpers practice many of the same techniques that divers use to maintain stability and altitude awareness while they are in the air. Before becoming a BASE jumper, an athlete must complete a full course of skydiver training. Once they have their full skydiving certification, the next step for anyone interested in BASE is to find a mentor in the jumping community who can teach them how to take on these ambitious freefalls. Only experienced divers can even contemplate a BASE jump because this kind of unguided and somewhat unpredictable activity requires razor sharp awareness of altitude, along with stellar free fall technique.

BASE jumping is one of the most dangerous sports practiced today. Every year, BASE jumping leads to several fatalities, and most major BASE societies and clubs have seen at least one member perish in pursuit of the sport that he or she loved. Because no two jumps are alike, it is very difficult to predict what will happen once you start plummeting towards the ground. This means that to survive a BASE jump you need to have a very level head, an ability to react to surprises without panicking, and lightning speed reflexes that will allow you to make instantaneous adjustments in your position or your trajectory. However, no amount of experience can guarantee that you will complete your jump without mishap, so even very accomplished jumpers are taking serious risks every time they prepare to hurl themselves off of a building, antennae, span, or natural cliff.