WITH the words "you bet" Richard Rodriguez climbed back on to the Big Dipper after breaking the world endurance record on Thursday - and carried on going.

He was answering Geoffrey Thompson's challenge to make his new record an astonishing 1,000 hours.

Richard set off on June 18 at 11.30am, aiming to set a new world record of 600 hours.

But competition from Canadian challenger Normand St Pierre in Montreal, who started 48 hours after Richard, meant that it was a battle of wits to see who could last longer.

The 39-year-old lecturer from Miami found out the record was his for the taking when Pleasure Beach staff checked the web-site showing the challenger's ride, to find that it was no longer running.

Richard said: "I congratulate Normand in riding Le Monstre for 670 hours - but wherever there's a challenge of this type, there has to be a winner and a loser.

"I'm very happy to have the record after coming this far, this long.

"I want to thank the Pleasure Beach staff and Geoffrey Thompson for giving me the opportunity to come this far."

Pleasure Beach managing director Geoffrey Thompson added: "Congratulations to Richard for a fantastic achievement. However, I think we should challenge him to stay on for 1,000 hours."

Richard replied: "I'm looking forward to the new challenge and I'll give it everything I've got."

If Richard is successful in his new challenge, he will finally climb off the Big Dipper on Monday (August 3) at 11.30am - more than 41 days after he started.

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