Video: Maddison jumps Tower Bridge

Well that’s one way to cross Tower Bridge when you’re in a hurry.

Freestyle motocross legend and stunt god Robbie Maddison caused shock and awe with this amazing stunt at 2.55am on Monday.    

The 27-year-old Australian performed a back-flip between the draw bridges, 30 metres over the Thames.

Maddison, who holds the world motorcycle jump record of 106.9 metres, had just a 24-metre run up and a 40mph approach speed for the first ever motorcycle jump across the world famous bridge. He had practised for the Red Bull sponsored stunt at home in California, US, on ramps built to precisely replicate the draw bridges. 

The take-off draw bridge was at 20 degrees but an added ramp curved to 49 degrees to give Maddison the extra height needed for the back-flip. Although the gap between the draw bridges is just eight metres, he actually soared 30 metres between take off and landing. He had just 18 metres to stop – any further and he would have hit the road cordon.

Maddison said: “I’ve been set on doing something special here in London so the Red Bull team and I have been secretly scoping out Tower Bridge for months. We had a matter of minutes on the bridge and had to time everything to the second. There were so many factors to get right, but we pulled it off.

“People say I’m crazy, but I just want to push the boundaries of my sport and my body to the limit and I love taking on these huge challenges. It was an incredible feeling to fly between the two towers and over the Thames.”

Maddison is due back in London on August 22 competing in the Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour 2009 freestyle motocross contest at Battersea Power Station.