No pain, no gain on world's largest waterslide in Auckland

  • Breaking
  • 23/02/2013

Organisers of a waterslide event on farmland outside Auckland smoothed over safety concerns in time for the public's arrival this morning.

Over the weekend they're hoping to raise tens of thousands of dollars for a charity to raise awareness of depression.

Adventure seekers came from as far as Christchurch to make their splash. A thousand were undeterred by a waiver as long as their arm.

At the top of 650 metres of plastic and duct tape, there was much to be nervous about, especially since 3 News spotted painful snags of metal stakes sticking out up through the slide yesterday.

“There was about one peg that was out yesterday, and you guys managed to find that,” says organiser Jimi Hunt. “Thanks for that. That's why there's testing and yesterday was only the media day, so it was only media that we were going to hurt yesterday. So today with the public, we're making sure it's 100 percent safe.”

Paramedics treated some bangs and bruises – some maybe wishing they had read the waiver.

But for most it was just a matter of no pain, no gain.

After concerns were raised about the potential for pegs to stick through the polythene, volunteers have been placed at regular intervals to ensure the slide's safety.

3 News

source: newshub archive