December 2nd 2016
We were delighted to get the call to assist the team of specialist firefighters from London Fire Brigade (LFB), who were planning to rig up a zip wire across the Thames in a bid raise over £1 million for Evelina Chrildren's Hospital in London.
For one day only, twenty generous donors were able to fly ‘superman style’ on an ISC RP076 ZipSpeed Trolley and Superman harness, across the Thames. Riders reached speeds of 40 miles per hour in this one-off daredevil stunt, and each of the participants pledged £50,000 or more to take part in the exhilarating river crossing.
Iain Ridehalgh (ISC UK Sales Manager) was approached by London Fire Brigade, for assistance with the Zip Trolley and Accessories. "The brief from LFB was to supply Zip Trolleys which would offer the ultimate thrill-seeking experience- and I knew that we had just the thing! We've worked with the guys at LFB before and we were delighted to support them in this project!".
We teamed the RP076 ZipSpeed Trolley up with the 'Superman' and 'Parachute' style Harnesses. The 'Superman' offers the ultimate 'flying' experience, while the 'Parachute' Sit Harness is the ideal way for riders to admire the scenery!
The team of Firefighters form LFB worked through the night to rig the specialist rigging from the 52m high roof of St Thomas’ Hospital on the South Bank of the Thames, spanning 463m across the Thames River, to Victoria Tower Gardens next to the Houses of Parliament.
The line was a special 16mm Marlow Dyneema Line (112kN MBS) anchored to a huge concrete pillar on the top of the hospital. Two Polyurethane Brake blocks, slowed by bungees anchor to the barge in the river. On the other side (at the Houses of Parliament side), the line was anchored to a 12t Fire Truck with an arrangement of lifting slings, shackles and knots. The line was set up using a messenger line, sent down off the roof of the hospital and then sailed it across the river on the barge. The messenger line was then used to haul up the 16mm Dyneema zip line.
The LFB Team put in an epic effort in making this event a huge success! The LFB team arrived on site at 3pm on Thursday for preparation and were joined by Iain (ISC UK Sales Manager) to deliver the Trolleys and specialist Harnesses at 4pm. The Barge arrived at 10pm that evening and the river was closed (courtesy of Port of London Authority) from midnight to 4am, to allow for the line to be set up across the river. Midnight to 3am was spent adjusting and testing the line with test weights, followed by the first man (LFB's brave Firefighter Alastair Hislop) down the line, several times, between 3 and 4am. The first riders (media presenters) took flight at 7:15am. The main event was opened at 11am and ran until 7pm on Friday. The LFB then worked through the night and finally finished the de-rig at midday on Saturday!
The fund raising target was £1million, but they actually raised close to £2million and riders stated that the £50k ticket fee was well worth the experience...with some saying that they would pay more!
Well done team LFB!! The money has been donated to Evelina Chrildren's Hospital, (London) and will go towards their new £2.7million project to build a building to house a new dedicated Clinical Research Facility.
Watch the video link below to see Iain ride the zipline!
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