FFOS LAS: Ladies Day begins 15,000ft up as racecourse four skydive for Tŷ Hafan

Two women connected with Ffos Las Racecourse marked Ladies Day by throwing themselves out of an aeroplane.

Clerk of the course Tracey O’Meara and Carol David, whose husband Martin is the Carmarthenshire track’s head groundsman, took part in a charity skydive for children’s hospice Tŷ Hafan.

They were joined by grounds staff member Morgan Hughes and Carol’s son, Evan David, with all four jumping from an aircraft at Swansea Airport last Sunday.

O’Meara and David went for the full 15,000ft, giving them around a minute of free fall. The two men jumped from 10,000ft, with around 30 seconds.

“It was brilliant,” O’Meara said.

“I suppose you don’t have the opportunity to back out of it when you’re in the air, to be fair. But no, it’s great. You just have to go with it, don’t you, and embrace the free-falling part.”

She had been inspired to take it on after repeatedly seeing skydiving advertisements on Instagram, having completed one jump in Brisbane about a decade ago.

The group were fortunate with the weather.

“The scenery is wonderful coming down over Swansea and the Gower. It was absolutely beautiful,” O’Meara said.

“When you’re coming down with the parachute and you’re just kind of hanging there nicely, and having a look at the view, it was lovely.”

The jump was particularly significant for David, who is not a confident flyer, and who had to be talked into the higher option.

“I surprised her when I said, ‘Oh, let’s do the 15,000 feet,’ and she agreed to it,” O’Meara said.

“I was a little bit taken aback. I thought, ‘Oh, that’s brave. Fair play.’ And she just got on and did it.”

All four landed safely, in the hands of tandem instructors with some 1,600 jumps behind them. “So you’re pretty safe with them,” O’Meara said.

She has raised £1,884 through her own fundraising page, with the four understood to have raised close to £5,000 between them.

O’Meara became clerk of the course at Ffos Las two and a half years ago, having made history in 2019 as the first woman in Irish racing to achieve clerk of the course status.

The racecourse’s connection with the hospice may go further. Officials are considering staging a special charity day for children supported by Tŷ Hafan, with a presentation of the fundraising cheque also possible at the track.

“There is definitely a feel-good factor,” O’Meara said. “Everybody was buzzing once we had done it.”

Ladies Day is one of the biggest occasions in the Ffos Las calendar, and she expects the crowd to provide another platform for the racecourse’s fundraising.

“It’s great to see so many people around, and the atmosphere that it creates. It’s always a brilliant day,” she said.

As for the jump itself, she has no hesitation in recommending it. “One hundred per cent.”

Tŷ Hafan cares for children with life-shortening conditions and their families across Wales.

Donations to the Ty Hafan Skydive can be made here: