SYDNEY’S Cronulla Park was transformed over the weekend into a giant waterslide, as Carnival Cruise Lines attempted the Guinness World Record to break the longest distance travelled down a slip and slide in one hour. Taking advantage of Sydney’s beautiful warm weather, Sydney-siders came from far and wide, decked out in their summer uniforms of boardshorts, tshirts and swimmers, to watch Sydney Surf Lifesaver and Ironman Mark Simpson along with local surf lifesavers, triathletes and nippers from Cronulla and surrounds, slide over 25 kilometres to set a new world mark for slip and sliding. Of course after the record was broken, the crowds were allowed to jump on themselves and have a go. In addition to securing a world record, the event was aimed at raising publicity for Carnival Cruise Lines’ competition to name the world’s steepest and fastest Thrill Slide at sea (CW 11 Oct) which will debut onboard Carnival Spirit when she arrives in Sydney for the first time on 17 October 2012. The Aussie who submits the winning slide name on the cruise line’s Facebook page (Facebook.com/CarnivalOz) will win a trip to the US to inaugurate the slide with their name and be one of the first down the slide. The top three names submitted at the record attempt slide day on Sunday, according to Carnival include ‘Sea Serpent’, ‘Man Overboard’ and ‘Mighty Aqua’. “My team has tested hundreds of waterslides over the past year to identify the key elements that make a great waterslide,” said Carnival’s Chief Thrill Slide-Tester, Caroline Lombardi. “We’ve conducted research with waterslide aficionados of all ages and nationalities to hone in on the optimal ride experience. The result is an unforgettable, adrenaline-pumping waterslide; what we have created simply doesn’t exist at sea,” she added.
