Human Catapult 
2003 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance
We have all seen films where the sieging army flattens the enemy's defences with huge catapults lauching boulders through the air haven't we. Have you ever wondered what it felt like for that boulder? Obviously some people do and this lad found out what the experience was REALLY like...
A Student from Oxford University - supposedly where the UK's brightest and most intelligent go, catapulted himself with a medieaval style trebuchet catapult aimed at a net some distance away.
yup, you guessed it....he missed the all important life saving net and after flying through the air he plummeted to his death just short of the safety net designed to catch him earning the 19 year old lad a darwin.
The organiser of this dangerous sports club, said "i don't know what could've gone wrong. We calculated his weight and the power the catapult needed correctly...i just don't know how this coud have happened?"
Unfortunate accident you may say? Just maybe, if it ws not the case that the first young lady to attempt this feat with the same man's catapult(he was the young lady's boyfriend!!) broke multiple bones and had a nice long recovery in hospital. The first intrepid catapultee actually landed on the net, but bounced off and fell a good 10 - 15 feet onto the ground head first.
I think that the very fact that anyone entrusting their life to a man, his home made contraption and his own mathematics concerning projectiles that had nearly killed his girlfriend should earn an honourable mention. However the fact that there was a second victim means that a full darwin is in order.
If this is the nations finest what chance do the rest of us have?
People from England help me. This is a definite darwin - can people supply a newspaper that had the story as i only saw this on the national tv news.
I have seen the first attempt where the plucky pioneering lady catapultee tried for a full darwin and was interviewed from hospital.
Submitted on 11/27/2002
Submitted by:
Chris Metcalf
Reference:
ITV evening news 26/11/02
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