A man who “somehow, luckily” survived a bungee cord failure as he jumped from a 170-foot (51 metre) crane has taken on dozens of hare-brained challenges as he thinks: “What’s the worst that can happen?”
Following the accident which, miraculously, left him largely uninjured, making him one of a handful of Brits who have survived a snapped bungee cord, Mike Land, now 55, has devoted his life to various fitness challenges.
He has completed dozens of half- and full marathons, cross-country bike races, and a world record attempt for pulling a 1.5 tonne van for 24 hours, raising tens of thousands of pounds for charities through his endeavours.
Now, he is preparing to take part in the British Heart Foundation’s London to Brighton bike ride for the second time.
In March 1993, then-22-year-old Mike Land decided to take part in a charity bungee jump that was held locally to his home in Swindon.
His friends signed him up for the jump from a 170ft crane because, he said: “out of the group of us, I was the only one that was stupid enough to do anything”.
When his name was called and he got into his harness at the top of the crane, Mike said he asked the instructor for “the scariest option available” for his descent.
“He said, what we’ll do is I’ll hold your harness, and you lean out of the crane on your tiptoes, and then I’ll push you so you don’t have to jump, you’ll go out backwards,” Mike told PA Real Life.
“And he said: If you swan dive backwards, you won’t see any ground until it comes into view.”
The last thing that Mike can remember from that day is the instructor beginning to count down from five before pushing him from the crane.
Based on accounts from onlookers, Mike later learned that “at the full stretch, the rope snapped out of the crane”.
“But the momentum was still carrying me back up… so I was floating up as my rope was getting whipped to the floor, and people said time stopped still,” he said.
Mike fell nearly 40ft to the ground, landing on his head and neck.
“I dropped to the floor, hit the ground. The rope luckily missed me, because it could have taken my arm off. And I woke up in Princess Margaret Hospital in Swindon.”
Mike remembers waking up in a full body cast and being X-rayed, as doctors believed he could have broken his back and his neck, among other serious injuries.
He remained in traction, an orthopaedic treatment where weights and pulleys are used to immobilise injuries, for three days, but was told that “somehow, luckily”, all he had was a hairline fracture on the right side of his pelvis, damaged ribs on his left side, and a gash on his chin.
He recalls being examined at an Army medical centre, and being told that “because you were so relaxed, not understanding what was happening, you just bounced and flexed”.
“He said, if you had tensed up and were screaming, you could have done a lot of damage.”
After being discharged, he had to use crutches for a few months, but was otherwise unharmed from his catastrophic fall.
He has suffered some amnesia, losing memories of his school days and childhood and enduring short-term memory loss for around a month after the incident.
“The 10-year school anniversary came round, and everybody was like: Mike, do you remember me? And I’d be saying I do remember some faces, but I can’t remember anything we did. I can’t remember going to school, I can’t remember trips, I can’t remember parties and all sorts,” he explained.
“They would give me little stories and say: ‘Mike, you do realise you’ve always done stupid things – we jumped off a railway bridge into the Trent and all that kind of stuff’.
“So I said: ‘Well, okay then, that says it all really, I was always stupid!’”
During his recovery from his accident, Mike noticed he’d gained some weight from being less mobile, so he decided to begin working out to shed some pounds.
In his friend’s garage gym, he would follow VHS workout videos and started getting fitter.
Then, one day, a colleague asked if he fancied doing the Stroud Half Marathon.
“I thought, well, yeah, I’ve never run a half marathon before,” he said.
“It took me forever,” he added of the race itself.
“They were closing up by the time I got in.”
Mike decided he’d like to get better at running, so joined a local run club and “got the bug”.
“I ended up doing a 10k after a couple of months, and then I did two half marathons two months later, and a cross-country marathon within six months of joining the club.
“Now, it’s 40 half marathons later, nine marathons, I’ve done Ride London, London Classics (which recognises those who have completed the London Marathon, the RideLondon 100 and the two-mile event at Swim Serpentine), Tough Mudder… You just get hooked, don’t you?”
Aside from working in a gym and helping others reach their fitness goals, Mike continues to race, and has done several races in costume, including the Great North Run and the Berlin Marathon dressed as Captain America.
In 2025, he attempted to break the Guinness World Record for pulling a van to raise money for Wiltshire Air Ambulance.
He pulled a 1.5 tonne van, unassisted, around an empty warehouse for 24 hours for the record attempt, covering 27 miles total and raising over £17,000 for the charity.
However, he fell short of the Guinness World Record for the farthest distance pulling a vehicle in 24 hours by an individual, which is 32 miles.
This year, Mike is taking on the British Heart Foundation’s London to Brighton bike ride for the second time, a 54-mile ride from Clapham Common to Brighton Seafront that covers the gorgeous countryside south of the capital and some gruelling hill climbs.
He hopes to add to his growing fundraising total for various charities through his physical challenges as, he said, with “any charity, charity people are so amazing. So yeah, why not?”
Grace Howarth, event lead at the British Heart Foundation said: “Whatever the reason, the money raised by our London to Brighton Bike Ride goes into helping fund the next medical breakthroughs for the 7.6 million people in the UK currently living with heart and circulatory conditions and brings us closer to our vision of a world where everyone has a healthier heart for longer.
“We wish Mike and all our riders the best of luck for the day.”
While his list of challenges is ever-growing, there’s one in particular that he’d like to tick off in 2026 – jumping out of an aeroplane.
Even after all he’s been through, he’s not deterred by the prospect of skydiving.
“What’s the worst that can happen?”, he smiled.
Mike is taking part in the London to Brighton Bike Ride in June to raise money for British Heart Foundation.
Visit www.bhf.org.uk/l2b to sign up.
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