HIGH-WIRE(ROPE WALKING) WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP IN HAN RIVER

The Hangang High-Wire World Championships 2009 will be held over the Hangang River between Yanghwa District and Mangwon District for two days from May 9 to 10.

The competition consists of three events: the speed event in which the competitor who crosses the 1 km-long tightrope, tied across the Hangang, the fastest wins; the challenge event in which competitors crossing the 1-km stretch of rope have to perform dazzling feats of skill at the start and the end points; and the artistry event in which the contestants showcase their traditional performances on a 10m-long wire.

The Championships, which marks its third year this year, will have some 20 tightrope walkers from 12 countries participating in it.

Above all, some of the contestants were known to have been child prodigies, such as Korea’s Park Hoi-Seung; Switzerland’s Alfred Nock Junior

, who began walking the tightrope when he was 8 years old and made the Guinness Book of World Records twice; and Scotland’s Chris Patfield, who started juggling at the of age 5 and incorporates his juggling techniques into his tightrope walking act.

Also noteworthy are those older contestants and masters in tightrope walking who remain hale and hearty, such as Alexandre Pavlata, a 60-year-old French master tightrope walker and a legend in the circus world; Pedro Joaquin Carrillo, a 60-year-old American tightrope walker who succeeded in walking on a 150m-high 300m-long highwire using a balloon; and Tino Wallenda-Zoppe, who has walked a tightrope above such beasts as tigers and lions.

Other participants include the Wallendas from the U.S., who were listed in the Guinness Book of World Records with they successfully executed an 8-person human pyramid on a high wire; Ekaterina Maksimova from Russia, the winner of the women’s Hangang Highwire World Championships 2007; and ABudusataer Wujiabudla from China, who surprised the world by walking on a tightrope for three hours everyday after he stayed on a 2km-long wire across Guangzhou Wildlife Park for 200 hours.

If you want more from this experience than being a passive spectator, then challenge yourself and become a tightrope walker at Yanghwa District of Hangang Park, where a 3m-high, 4m-long tightrope is waiting for you.

The Hangang High-Wire World Championships have received much media attention, since it started two years ago, as Reuters and other representatives of the global media headed to Seoul to cover the events. You cannot afford to miss this huge opportunity to witness dazzling performances by Guinness world record holders’ right here in Seoul.

The competition venue is easily accessible by the shuttle bus that runs between Exit 4 of Dangsan Station (subway line 2) and the main venue in Yanghwa District, every 15 minutes from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., on May 9 and 10.

For more detailed information visit the official homepage of the event www.highwire.or.kr