Volume 1, No. 14. August 10, 2001
Record time
Just as one group set a record for riding the most coasters in the minimum amount
of time yesterday, another record-setter should establish today a mark for longest
time spent riding one coaster. The synchronicity of these coaster riding record
setting moments came about by pure happenstance, but they share more than a
page in the Guinness Book of Records and serve as evidence that the popularity
of thrill rides is far from waning.
The copter set
Philip Guarno and his team of three riders accomplished "East Coasters for Kids"
yesterday, riding 75 coasters in less than 24 hours, breaking the record of
40 set by the Guinness Record Project (GRP) in California last October. The
organizer of GRP, David Escalante, the public relations director for the American
Coaster Enthusiasts, was on hand Wednesday at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg,
Virginia, to ride on Loch Ness Monster with Guarno at 11:58 a.m.; they
reunited yesterday at Hersheypark in Hershey, Pennsylvania, when the campaign
concluded on Lightning Racer at 11:01 a.m. "It was a peaceful record-breaking
attempt," Guarno said of Escalante's presence at the start and finish. Guarno,
the general manager of the Marriott Harrisburg/Hershey even put Escalante up
at his hotel while he, Adam Spivak, John Kirkwood and Aaron Rye continue their
coaster trek overnight.
Not only did the team accomplish the trek 57 minutes ahead of the 24-hour mark,
Guarno beat his own meticulously laid-out timetable. "I had us finishing at
11:15, and we were done at 11:01." That included adding two coasters along the
way, too. After the launch at Busch, the team hit Paramount's Kings Dominion,
Six Flags America and Great Adventure, most of the pier parks along the New
Jersey shore (the actual record-breaking ride was on Python shortly after
midnight at Nickel's Midway Pier in Wildwood), Williams Grove in Pennsylvania,
Dorney Park, Knoebels and finally Hersheypark. They traveled to most parks via
helicopters: the first three flights donated by Flap Doodles clothes manufacturers,
the rest on Rite Aid's copter. Guarno's three companions won their places on
the trip through an auction , which, along with corporate sponsorships and donations
from park patrons, raised $43,000 for the Children's Miracle Network.
The
foursome could not accomplish the trek without bend-over-backwards cooperation
from all the parks, and that they got in abundance Guarno said. The charity
connection helped. "It was a great time, great for us as a park," said Diane
Centeno, public relations assistant manager at Busch Gardens. "What made it
such a great partnership for Busch Gardens was the charity." Hersheypark concluded
the marathon with various local dignitaries and 50 participants from the Children's
Miracle Network riding with the team for the final rides.
The only problem Guerno encountered en route to the record was a heat wave that
had settled over the entire region, with the heat index reaching 115 degrees
Fahrenheit (46 degrees Celsius) at the Virginia parks. "It scared the hell out
of me," he said of the temperatures, but the four members each dutifully drank
a half gallon of water every hour they were awake.
Bossing around
Richard Rodriquez's discomfort had little to do with the weather and everything
to do with whether he could survive the incessant pounding of another circuit
on The Boss at Six Flags St. Louis in Missouri. "He looks worn out,"
said the park's public relations manager Elizabeth Gotway, "but he's really
excited to get it over with." That should be at 3 p.m. today when his train
tears through a banner upon entering the station marking the end of 100 straight
open-to-close days of riding the bone-rattling wooden speedster.
Rodriquez set a duration record last year of 2,000 continuous hours riding the
Big Dipper at Blackpool Pleasure Beach in England. While this time he
and ride operators got to sleep at night, the campaign proved wearying for rider
and attendants. "It was a lot for the park," Gotway said. "We stocked his cooler
every day, got his lunch to him every day, the ride crew constantly helping
him. We knew it would be a daily thing, but it turned out to be bigger than
we anticipated."
Including the press coverage. Gotway estimated that every week the park received
some sort of media attention thanks to Rodriquez, and the 7 a.m. start today
was to include national and local television, radio and newspaper coverage.
That was a pleasant surprise in a year when the park had no new rides to promote.
"In the PR world you schedule an event every four weeks to make sure your name
is top of the mind for people," Gotway said. "This was one long event, a hundred-day
event. It kept us busy."
She takes nothing away from the East Coasters for Kids campaign, but Gotway
considers riding one coaster one hundred days a greater feat than riding even
100 coasters in one day. "I could ride all those coasters, if I could stay awake.
I don't know how many people could stay on The Boss a hundred days. It's
not just the one hundred days that is incredible about this record, it's what
he has ridden these hundred days. I don't know where you go from here."
No doubt somebody will, though.