Pensioner celebrates rollercoaster’s birthday with 95 rides

An 82-year-old fan of a historic Pennsylvania rollercoaster celebrated his 5,000th ride on it over the holiday weekend – sitting for more than eight hours and logging 95 spins around the wooden ride in a single day.

The famous Jack Rabbit rollercoaster in Pittsburgh. Image by dcwriterdawn / CC BY-SA 2.0

Vic Kleman, 82, marked the milestone on the Jack Rabbit at Kennywood in the Pittsburgh suburb of West Mifflin. His number of rides honoured the rollercoaster’s 95th birthday this season. “I feel great,” said Mr Kleman, a retired general manager of a wholesale grocery firm and a local actor. “I made sure to move my legs throughout the day to keep from getting stiff after sitting so long.”

In 2010, Mr Kleman also said he felt “great” after notching his 4,000th ride on the wooden coaster, which dates back to 1920 and has an 85ft double-dip drop. He rode the coaster 90 times that day and rode it 80 times to mark his own 80th birthday. Mr Kleman said he has been riding the world’s fifth-oldest coaster since 1959, when he moved to Pittsburgh.

(Press Association)