|
The Hundred Year Jump!
by Don West
A "hundred year flood" is a flood so huge that, on the average, it is
expected to occur once in a century. The hundred year jump is nothing
like that. Let me go back a few years. In the winter of 1997, I was
the 59 year old ski jumper, and Jon Farnham was 39. I mistakenly thought
that Teddy Chivers would also move into a new decade (50) in the following
year, and in a weak moment, and at least half facetiously, I suggested that
when Jon is 40, Teddy is 50 and I am 60, we should take a triple jump,
the 150 year jump. When I learned later that Teddy was only 47, I assumed that
I was off the hook, but somehow, Jon had made the
new-decade
jump a
personal goal.
The Lebanon Outing club's annual spring bash, the
Mud Meet
, is infamous
for double jumping, jumping through a
Flaming Hoop
and similar end of
the season monkey business.
At the 1998 edition, Jon insisted that we really did need to take the 100 year
double jump. The Lebanon 20 meter jump was in good condition so, when the
regular competition was finished, up we went. A few of the jumpers and assembled
family members watched, while others ignored us over snacks and conversation, as
we moved into position and started our descent down the inrun. With the
wind in my ears, I couldn't hear the trestle groan under our combined
weight (at least 450 pounds, fully equipped). Off the takeoff we flew,
suspended in the air for a moment and then down on the landing we plopped.
A few cameras clicked, and in seconds, the moment was over.
ACTING THEIR AGE??
Don West (left, age 60) and Jon Farnham, Sr. (age 40) celebrate the passage
to new age decades with a double jump. Note the perfect
Masters ski jumping style, knees bent,
backs hunched. At their ages, you would think they would know better,
but it looks like
Old Boys
never learn.
|
|