AN AMATEUR skydiver from Northleach has set his sights on winning a medal at the 2017 Skydiving World Cup & European Championships.

David Rodgers, 38, undertook his first skydive in 2010 thanks to a surprise Christmas present from his wife Jenni, and hated it.

But despite being terrified from start to finish, David resolved to have another go.

Fast forward to 2017 and he is now part of Team 4mula, one of four formation skydive teams representing Britain to have qualified for this year’s World Cup & European Championships in Germany.

Taking place in August in Saarlouis, the competition brings together professional skydiving teams from all over the world, with Russia, Belgium and France currently leading the world rankings.

And although they are one of the few self-funded teams in the finals, David and his team mates – Joey Jones, Pete Mather and Ady King, as well as videographer Nick Robinson – have big ambitions.

Team 4mula are planning a gruelling training schedule to compete for a podium finish and grab a medal for Great Britain.

The last GB medal was won in 2012, when the current GB Champions, Satori, took bronze in the World Cup & European Championships.

“Although we’re a fairly new team, we’ve been the UK’s second ranked four-way formation skydive team for the last two years,” said David.

“We competed in the last Skydiving World Cup in 2015 for the first time and placed fifth overall and fourth in Europe, which was an outstanding effort.

“For this competition our target is to beat the French and our other GB rivals to that third place.

“It’s a topflight competition though, and this sort of success would be a real David versus Goliath story!”

Skydiving is not cheap, however, and at the elite level, as in many sports, athletes fund themselves.

To help fulfil their World Cup ambitions, Team 4mula has targeted raising £10,000.

This will help cover some of the cost of the 400-plus training jumps they need to complete to ensure they get fully competition ready.

The team is offering a range of incentives, including Facebook and Instagram shout outs for individuals and businesses, official team t-shirts, wind tunnel sessions and tandem skydives, in return for pledges.

A £3,000 pledge would give a business a corporate team building day at Bodyflight, the home of indoor skydiving in Bedford, and the chance for colleagues to compete in a small formation competition.

Visit pledgesports.org/projects/skydiving-world-cup-in-2017 to pledge and for more information.