Two new events on the region’s calendar promise to inject some fun in to the first few months of next year.
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Slideapalooza and Rumble Run will bring world-first inflatable structures to two separate venues in February and March.
At Slideapalooza, to be held at St Anne’s Winery in Myrniong, more than 20 inflatable waterslides will send up to 1000 patrons a session hurtling down the hills surrounding the vineyards on February 17 and 18.
Fun Events chief executive Adam McDonald said their 1.2km long downhill slide would be carved up in to five separate 250m long tracks so sliders can have more rides during their sessions.
Mr McDonald said single riders could splash their way down the long slides while those wanting to slide in families and groups could tackle the 150m street slides which have six lanes each.
“A couple of years ago we saw a world record for the longest inflatable slide at 600m, then we looked around for a supplier and decided to get 1.2km of slide,” he said.
“But it’s really hard to find a long hill with the slope we need and from a participant comfort perspective, a 250m run is pretty good otherwise you have to walk 1.2km back up hill.”
Mr McDonald will also bring the world’s biggest inflatable to Victoria Park for a separate event, the Rumble Run, in March.
The 350m long Bouncezilla obstacle course will be the final stop in a 3-4km course around the park.
“When we were talking about slides, we came across a tender to have the world’s longest inflatable and we won that bid,” he said.
Visit Ballarat and Ballarat Council have supported the event, to be held on March 24, which will mark the world debut for Bouncezilla.
“Because it’s 350m it snakes back on itself so its about 75m long then curves around on itself but within that there’s game show balls, places to climb up and jump off, climb up and over and a whole bunch of different inflatable obstacles,” he said.
“And that’s how you finish the Rumble Run – before you get to that there’s another eight giant inflatables set up along the course plus stations like space hoppers, sack races, balance beams and containers to climb over.”
The course will be suitable for adults and children aged 10+, but Mr McDonald said he was looking for a supervised attraction for younger children to run alongside the main event.