JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A group of courageous sliders are doing their best to ride the 400-foot-long water slide at Adventure Landing for as long as they can.
The Slide-A-Thon kicked off at 6 p.m. Friday and the riders are trying to keep sliding for more than 33 hours this year.
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"You generally see them tiring out, hunching over, wanting to take breaks. It gets pretty entertaining after a while," said Adventure Landing's Jeffrey Manley. "Everybody thinks, 'I can ride a slide for 20 hours, no problem.' Then they realize when they are walking up the hundreds of steps to go up the attraction, it starts to toll on them."
The Fourth Annual Slide-A-Thon raises money for the American Red Cross. This year, 28 contestants are on the slide and raising money for the Red Cross Volunteer Lifesaving Corps.
"It's a real good time. We bring some friends out, get to raise money for a charity," said one of the sliders, Shawn Dunn. "It's a good time."
Aside from raising money, contestants also get a daily waterpark admission to use at Adventure Landing during the rest of the year. The last contestant still sliding will win a weekend stay for two at the Nautilus Inn or Holiday Inn Resort in Daytona Beach.
Dunn told News4Jax Friday night that he hopes to break his own record of sliding for 33 hours and 48 minutes last year, by sliding 40 hours this year.
For every hour that sliders ride, $25 is donated to the Red Cross.