Salvation Army, Circus King 125th Bday Bash!

Click to enlarge Roy Maloy performing.

The Salvation Army & Circus King Smash World Record for 125th Birthday Bash!!!

There exists a rare breed of artist who throughout history have shown the entire world that they are not mere human. Amongst them are Blondin, who walked tightrope over Niagra Falls, Houdini, who escaped from the clutches of death and Evel Kinevel, who flew like a bird through the sky on his Harley Davidson. This Saturday at midday the world will stand witness to the rise of the another of these rare, gifted gladiators of showbiz.

Already celebrated as a celebrity in regional Australia, where he performs extreme circus fetes and stunts at country agricultural shows throughout the country, Roy Maloy is a performer of international standard. Amongst his accomplishments he has walked a tightrope, without the aid of a balance beam, whilst blindfolded, 6 meters above the Tasmanian Devil enclosure at Tasmania's zoo, he is the current world record holder for walking on the tallest stilts ever walked on in history, at 56.7 feet tall (17 meters or a 5 storey building) and now he is set to amaze the world and take his art to a new and thrilling level!

As the focal point of a festival-style celebration marking the 125'th anniversary of The Salvation Army's presence in Tasmania, Roy Maloy will perform an ancient circus stunt in a whole new way - The Bed of Nails. As a test of endurance the bed of nails amazed audiences for thousands of years and originates in India. In modern day circus the bed of nails is often demonstrated by the performer laying thereupon, whilst having a cement block, ice block or other solid object rested on their chest and then mashed with a sledge hammer. In typical fashion, Roy Maloy will not only lay on a bed of nails this Saturday, have a 550kg block of ice (more than half a tonne - the same weight as a small car) placed on him by fork-lift and then smashed with sledge hammers.

When asked what motivates him Maloy is quite candid, 'I don't think about why so much as how... I guess I just see limitations or boundaries as a 'next-step' and I want to go beyond them. I guess I was more interested in the opportunity to bring what I do to this festival that celebrates The Salvation Army's achievements over the years. The Salvos have literally transformed my life on more than one occasion and being able to participate in this event is very humbling to me.'
Maloy and The Salvos have a long history and his partnership with this event is no different. 'When this event was being planned I was originally asked to participate by way of performing my usual circus show on stilts. However, the goal of the event is to draw in as large a number of the public as possible so I suggested that instead of performing my usual circus show we break a world record. A couple of different records were discussed but this was the one that we thought would be the most colourful and nail-bighting. And I guess that's exactly why the public loves the Salvos so much - because they are brave and they get out there with big things like this.'

When asked if he is afraid of the dangers involved in his work Maloy puts on a brave face, 'who knows? If I live, I live, if I die... eh - I've had three lifetimes of experiences already so I guess I'd go out rich.'

http://www.macbroscircus.com

Footage will be posted on Roy Maloy's web page and youtube channel within 24 hours of the record being broken at:

http://www.youtube.com/user/roymaloydotcom

To view Roy's training diary for this event log onto:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoUFo4NXJss&feature=channel_page

Offical Salvation Army webpage:

http://www.salvationarmy.org.au/tasmania

For Wikipedia and web bio-background info on Roy Log onto:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_maloy

http://www.roymaloy.com/who.html

For Roy's official web page log onto:

http://www.roymaloy.com

For high-res images that can be reproduced for press, internet and TV log onto:

http://www.roymaloy.com/photos.html

ENDS

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