Some of Fremantle’s stars, including Antoni Grover, Chris Tarrant, Dean Solomon, Brett Peake and Marcus Drum got behind the world record attempt by joining in the ‘jump off’ at Phoenix Primary School in Spearwood today whilst Paul Hasleby, the club’s Heart Foundation Ambassador, was the MC of the morning as he is still recovery from his knee reconstruction.
The Heart Foundation Jump Rope for Heart program in Australia is aiming to beat the current record held by the United Kingdom of 7,632 people skipping at the same time in various locations across the country, for three minutes with only a 10 second break and the ‘jump off’ took place across the country at 9.30am (WST).
Whilst the ‘jump off’ is over, it could take a while to determine if the world record attempt was achieved which will be determined by the Guinness World Record office in the United Kingdom in the coming months.
Heart Foundation Chief Executive Maurice Swanson said the event is a unique opportunity for school children to make history.
“More than 55,000 children throughout Australia and more than 4,000 students across Western Australia participated to beat the current record,” Mr Swanson said.
“It’s been a huge organisational challenge and is guaranteed to be the biggest skipping event ever!
“In Western Australia, schools across the state took part in satellite events from Albany in the south to Karratha in the north.”
The Heart Foundation Jump Rope for Heart program was established in Australia in 1983. Since then, more than eight million Australian school children have participated in the program to promote health and fun while raising in excess of $60 million.
The Heart Foundation Jump Rope for Heart program helps children improve their cardiovascular health and fitness, learn about the importance of heart health, enhance self-esteem and provide them with the opportunity to do something worthwhile for the community and all Australians.
“The current climate of concern for children’s health and fitness makes this program particularly relevant and is a very tangible way to educate families and actively engage in the fight against heart disease,” Mr Swanson said.
The Heart Foundation saves lives and improves health through funding world-class cardiovascular research, guidelines for health professionals, informing the public and assisting people with cardiovascular disease. As a charity, the Heart Foundation relies on donations and gifts in wills to continue its lifesaving research, education and health promotion work.
The Fremantle Football Club, along with Rick Hart, are proud supporters of the Heart Foundation's Jump Rope for Heart Guinness World Record Attempt to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Jump Rope for Heart.
Thanks to Rick Hart, each of the participants at Pheonix Primary School were given commemorative t-shirts, a Rick Hart show bag, morning tea and a 2008 Fremantle team poster. Fonterra also kindly donated Calci-Yum youghurts for the students to enjoy and the morning was hailed a huge success by all involved.
