Top skydiver is jumping for joy

4:33pm Tuesday 26th August 2008

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Daredevil Claire Scott has become a British and World formation skydiving champion in the space of less than a fortnight.

The plucky 35-year-old, from Marsh Gibbon near Bicester, was one of four women who stormed both competitions in the four-way formation event.

Mrs Scott and her team mates from Bodyflight Storm repeatedly threw themselves out of planes at 10,500ft to win the titles.

In each jump they had 35 seconds to create a series of shapes in the sky before pulling their parachute cords at 3,000ft.

The team clinched the national title in Humberside on Sunday.

Mrs Scott said: "I feel pretty elated. "I am more excited about this than the world championships - mainly because our jumps were actually better.

"In the world championships it felt a lot more difficult to get going because of the wind problems, but we did some really good jumps in this competition."

Mrs Scott won her fifth world championship - a record - in the same event in Maubeuge, France, earlier this month.

The veteran jumper - nicknamed Sparky after a collision with power cables early in her parachuting career - has been skydiving for 16 years.

She has more than 5,500 jumps to her name and had won the British nationals three times before the latest competition.

She said: "It probably does come across as glamorous or more exciting than some other careers. I don't tend to say to people what I do because you get a barrage of questions.

"A lot of people are in awe of what I do."

Mrs Scott had been practising with her team for 18 months at RAF Weston-on-the-Green, near Bicester, in preparation for both competitions.

She also found time to join her husband Andy in Spain for a live advert for Honda - where they joined other skydivers to spell out the motor giant's name with their bodies in mid-air.

Mrs Scott said: "We have definitely peaked at the right time.

"It is a tiring sport, not just physically but mentally too.

"The rest of our lives has been pretty much on hold for 18 months, so now we are taking a break for a bit."