‘Major league thrill ride’ raises thousands of dollars for local charities

Paul Ruben has ridden 851 different roller coasters and many additional types of rides as well. He writes for amusement park magazine Park World and experiences thrill rides all over North America, South America, Europe and even parts of Asia. On Saturday, he experienced Dive Ride for the first time.

“This is a major league thrill ride,” Ruben said after his first trip on Stan Checketts’ new thrill ride. “I knew I was going to drop but it was probably the most thrilling drop I’ve ever been on.”

The ride takes passengers atop a tower, similar to one of Checketts’ original rides called the Space Shot. Once they reach the top, they harness into another seat which sends the riders on a free fall and swing.

“This is really fun for him because he’s basically never done what he just did,” Checketts said of Ruben. “It’s the first time in his life he’s been able to cut a ribbon. At all of these opens he’s been to they just put him on. But he got to cut the ribbon.”

“I cut it with my nose!” Ruben laughed.

Checketts and Ruben took the first ride of the morning on Dive Ride, and split a ribbon stretched across two poles as they flew through the air on the ride.

“This is something new, different. I’ve never experienced or seen a ride quite like this,” he continued. “Other rides do some of this, but this does it on steroids.”

Not only were the events at Renegade Sports an opportunity to showcase the new thrill ride to potential amusement park buyers and critics like Ruben on Saturday, but it was also a fundraiser for CAPSA and the Cache Community Food Pantry. To take a turn on the ride people could buy a ticket for $200 and that money was split evenly between CAPSA and the food pantry.

“This has been great, very nice for Stan Checketts to do this for the food pantry and for CAPSA,” said Matt Whittaker, director of the Cache Community Food Pantry. “He’s not making a dime off today. Everything he’s getting is being split between to the two non-profits.

“As far as the non-profits are concerned, any money that comes in is always a blessing so we can keep our non-profits going.”

The ability to experience the ride doesn’t end on Saturday. If someone purchased the $200 opportunity to experience Dive Ride, they can purchase additional tickets at a discount and come back next week. Whittaker said it’s totally worth it.

“I hate heights, I can’t even get on my own roof but I would do that again in a heartbeat,” he exclaimed breathlessly after coming off the ride. “That was the most exciting thing I’ve done in a long time.”

Marketing and communications director of CAPSA, James Boyd, said the event has been a great opportunity to team up with Stan Checketts and the food pantry.

“We’ve been able to get a lot of people in the community to participate and help us,” Boyd said. “It has raised between the two organizations almost $8,000 which we’ll be able to split. All those proceeds will be helping families in different ways.”

If tickets are purchased Saturday, additional tickets can be purchased to return next week for yourself, or for family, friends, or even enemies.

“You can give them to your secretary, give them to your high school principal, your best friend or maybe someone you don’t like and send them on this,” Whittaker joked. “This is a once in a lifetime event.”

An additional ride that was attached to the same structure is called the Saddle Ride which shoots two passengers straight up and their seats can flip upside down when they reach the top.

Tickets and additional information can be found at <a href=”http://www.diveride.org” target=”_blank”>diveride.org</a>.

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