Coaster Marathon Count...What’s your greatest Marathon?!

I did 18 on Goliath at SFoG. Wasn't bad at all :)

Wow, thanks for all the replies everyone. To clarify I wasn’t after bragging rights, I literally wanted to see how much my body could take and it was the last weekend to ride for the season; I wanted as many rides as possible before being done recovering from abdominal surgery coming up; no coasters until April! (Doctors orders) Having a hernia certainly didn’t help during the marathoning effort but the clamshell restraints definitely mitigated it. Also had two key tools at my disposal that turned it into an awesome routine of sorts...Apple Watch and AirPods (with AirPod ‘croakies’ yes they exist). I was able to keep track of the ride count via the watch and could control the timing of the tunes to the ride (riding with tunes could be an entire different thread topic...). Once My body ‘knows’ the ride I do think of certain tunes that would go well with the timing. I’ve really enjoyed doing this at my home park where I went probably 20 times during fall till season close. Tried it out at magic mountain and realized tunes took away from those first, second, and third experiences. Anyways back on topic with Goliath, after many tunes (kickstart my heart, Sabotage, Bleed it out, thunderstruck, and a dozen more) and knowing that the first drop occurs exactly at :50 seconds after dispatch and FBR at 1:50, I have to hand it to my RCP (Roller Coaster Partner and GF) for recommending the perfect Goliath tune. ‘Open wide’ by Calvin Harris & Big Sean. Riders would ask ‘what songs do you listen to?....only one for this ride’. Many would laugh their ass off. But it was perfect in that music would build you up going up the lift hill and climax at the first drop and keep that intensity throughout the ride. As it related to marathoning, I akin it to being at a gym class with music thumping to keep you going and pushing you harder.

Now to CoffinBoy, your the man and we’d be dangerous RCP’s at a park. (116) rides on a woody just sounds nuts, but I like it. More impressive though are your voyage and stand up Chang counts. As iceman would say to maverick ‘you can be my wingman anytime...bull$(it, you can be mine’

On a Sunday shortly before Thanksgiving, the stepson and I got about 15 or so straight rides on Goliath. It is crazy to me that there was no one there. We had to move from row to row but never left the station. There were many times this year where there was no crowd for Goliath. I don't understand it, because it is our favorite coaster there. When we went in May or so, the little guy was terrified of Goliath and anything with a loop LOL. After hitting Cedar Point, Dollywood, Holiday World, Nick Universe Mall of America, Six Flags St. Louis and Six Flags Great America in one year, he loves them all now.

I did marathon on Thunder Road at Carowinds, during an ACE evert ERT session. I don't know how rides a had, but quite a few: if no one was waiting for the seat you were in you could remain seated.

I marathoned on CP's Demon Drop; I spent an entire day re-riding the ride.

7 laps second to last row of Maverick to close CoasterMania! 2016... As long as nobody was waiting for your seat, you didn’t have to get off the train.

Working at Cedar Point a hundred years ago, I was often asked to marathon a coaster for a video or photo shoot. I recall a few...

Magnum - I remember having bruises on my thighs because of the airtime and the airtime and restraints. Still, the most fun I've ever had on a coaster. I remember not wanting to get off when it was over. - 12 times.

Mantis - My buddy and I were asked to be in the front with two girls I never met before. Supposedly, I was a looker back then, and they wanted the good lookingest people in the front row. After a few rides, I started to feel really sick, but I kept it going. After the ninth time, I raised my hand when asked, and rolled out of the open restraints and into the floor, and crawled out of the station with a laugh. It was really fun! - 9 times.

Mine Ride - The ride manager guy announced in the break area that he needed bodies to ride Mine Ride immediately. Apparently, the ride got stuck on the second lift. We climbed the lift hill and got on the ride. The added weight ensured the train would make it back to the station, and then we were sent out a few times to make sure the train could run the entire course before it was reopened to guests. I didn't feel sick at all, because it was Mine Ride. - A few-and-a-half times.

Then there was Coasting for Kids at Kings Island...

Racer - The ride operators allowed us to ride twice before taking a one train wait break, which I felt later on to be necessary. It still made me kind of nauseous. - So many times I lost count.

I sure there are more marathons that I can't remember. Nowadays, I'm sure I'd get sick. A walk out the exit and back to the entrance is probably enough to reset my body for another go round.

S&S SFOG - I wish you well with the hernia. I had 3 abdominal surgeries last year. First was a large abscess removed from belly, then gall bladder removed. Two months later had three hernias done at same time (umbilical and bi-laterals). Recovery from that was brutal!! I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy! My back surgeries were a walk-in-the-park compared to that.

This is something I don't normally keep of, but GregLeg and I did a Travel Channel shoot @ Kennywood for Phantom's Revenge and we rode it 43 times. Or was it 44 times. See I told you I don't normally keep track.

Screechin' Eagle at Americana 64 times in one day. By the end of the day my thighs were well bruised from flying up into the lap bar - an awkward but awesome souvenir from a great day. That was 1989, and a perfect day for a teenage coaster geek!

I've done the Mind Bender in Georgia 40-60 times in one day on several occasions, as well as Greezed Lightnin' (formerly Tidal Wave/Viper) at Kentucky Kingdom ... when those were walk-ons, it was easy to get 5-10 rides with out leaving the train. Heaven for a Schwarzkopf fan!

I don't usually do marathons, I'm more of a casual park visitor. But last summer at Carowinds, I happened to be on the last ride of the night for Fury and the ride ops sent us through 5 times! The crowd on the train kept cheering AGAIN! as we pulled into the station, and I'm thinking, I need a smoke. I'd already ridden it two or three times earlier in the day. But I took advantage nonetheless. Must have been forty minutes past closing before I got out of the park. The thing is, it's too much of a good thing because it honestly got boring after a few laps. Best roller coaster in the world, and I'm bored riding it. Marathon-ing doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

bjames said:

The thing is, it's too much of a good thing because it honestly got boring after a few laps. Best roller coaster in the world, and I'm bored riding it. Marathon-ing doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

Precisely how I feel about it...and really anything I'm into. All things can be overdone.

Vater said:

bjames said:

The thing is, it's too much of a good thing because it honestly got boring after a few laps. Best roller coaster in the world, and I'm bored riding it. Marathon-ing doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

Precisely how I feel about it...and really anything I'm into. All things can be overdone.

I can respect that, you definitely start to get used to it but then again, what ‘else would I rather be doing’ comes to mind and frankly, when I evaluate other options at the park may not be what I’d rather be riding. Doesn’t mean I don’t hit up the other rides but regardless, time is precious at the park, and I want to be riding. Love twisted cyclone, and RMC’s are still my favorite, but ride ops at SFOG are freaking awful for that RMC, unlike Dollywood and lightning rod where ops really do everything to turn the trains quick. Goliath or most any other B&M hyper is usually so easy to fly through load/unload ops. Batman or any other invert sucks for me as the designed the damn restraints for Europeans, they didn’t plan on my upper body and they literally have to staple the restraint down with my lungs practically deflated.

point being, when I’m at the park, I want as many rides as possible

I did what my son counted as 15 in row on Millennium Force one of the ride nights. There was only about 3 trains worth of people because it was supposed to be Raptor but the wind was wrong keeping Raptor down so they moved it to Millennium. I don't normally count anything but I've done a few Blue Streak last hour of the night runs which can rack up a lot when a crew let's you stay on towards the end.

For my 50th year I wanted to see if I could get 50 rides on The Phoenix. Picked a handstamp day early in the season. By the time the last train went out at 9:07pm I had done 127 laps. Such a great day :)

Even kept notes with rows and laps since I didn't want to lose track lol

Last few:

8:45 2nd 120
8:47 5th. 121 reride
8:50 5th122 reride
8:55 4th. 123
8:58 8th. 124 reride
9:01 8th. 125. Reride
9:04 8th. 126. Reride
9:07 8th. 127. Reride

Are there no other fellow Gemini 100 survivors left on here?

Back in 2001, there was a group of probably 20-30 people from Pointbuzz that did Gemini 100 times in a day - no re-rides, walked (okay maybe ran) around each time. This was back in the days of 6 train operations.

More importantly, it was a regular operating day, no ERT.

In 1993 I rode Gemini in my wedding dress but only once...

When we got married at Holiday World, we took the time to make a lap around the park after the ceremony to ride everything. It was fun. Attracted a lot of attention!

I have marathoned a number of coasters over the years.

One opening rainy day at Canboie I spend the last 2.5 hours of the park's operation running Cannonball without getting off. Well over 100 rides

I attended a 2-day event where I rode Excaliber at Funtown Splashtown in Maine managed to get 80 rides in at night and returned the next day and road it another 45.

During the media Pay for Mr. Six's Pandimonium now just Pandinomium at SFNE I rode the coaster 69 times in a few hours of Media day. I would have gotten in more but they had some downtime for maintenance. The opening ceremony. but the weather went from fairly cold to very warm and I was in long pants. I actually ended up with mind heat stroke and they noticed I was getting pale and said I couldn't ride anymore.

as the bizarro media day I road the coaster 50 times. but one year when it was superman I got in 110 rides.

Pre Season at Kings Island 1999ish. They needed weight on King Cobra so they had employees riding. I rode it for about 2 hours straight. I would say that ended up being about 50 rides in a row.