Sports

Fredericksburg Man National Skydiving Champion

Fredericksburg's James Hayhurst won multiple medals September 14 in the style and accuracy competition at the 2013 U.S. Parachute Association National Skydiving Championships

Hayhurst won the overall gold in the style and accuracy event, making him the National Champion.  He also won a gold in style and silver in accuracy.


"In accuracy competition, jumpers exit an airplane more than 3,000 feet in the air and then steer their parachutes and try to land on a dime-sized dot on a landing tuffet," Nancy Koreen, United States Parachute Association (USPA) Director of Sport Promotion, said. "For style, an individual jumper performs a pre-determined series of loops and spins in free-fall as quickly as possible," she said.

As the national champion, Hayhurst has earned a coveted slot on the U.S Parachute Team, which will represent the United States at next year’s World Parachuting Championships.

Hayhurst, 60, has completed an astounding 10,700 jumps and has won multiple national championships. He works as the director of competition for the USPA, based in Fredericksburg.

He made his first jump in 1971. "At the end of my first summer at Air Force Academy, the cadet parachute team -- now known as Wings of Blue -- jumped into the acceptance parade," Hayhurst said. "I was smitten. What a way to arrive at a parade." 

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Hayhurst definitely recommends skydiving.  "Three reasons: A wonderful adventure, a venue to stretch your personal limits, and finally, an opportunity to discover you were born to be a skydiver," he told Patch.

The National Skydiving Championships is the country’s largest, most prestigious skydiving competition, drawing more than 500 competitors for 10 days of skydiving in multiple events.

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