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Those who think extreme sports are all about risk-taking are missing the point, according to a QUT researcher. Eric Brymer, a lecturer from the School of Human Movement Studies in the Faculty of Health, has been researching whether the element of risk was an important factor among participants in "extreme" sports such as waterfall kayakers, mountain climbers, big wave surfers and B.A.S.E. jumpers. He said his research offered a different framework from the traditional
understanding of extreme sport. Dr Brymer found that, although the image of those who take part in extreme sports was that of risk-takers and adrenaline junkies, the opposite was true. "I wanted to do this research because in my masters studies I was hearing about sensation seeking, risk-taking behaviour in extreme sports people, and it just didn"t match what I knew from my background in kayaking and canoeing," he said.
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