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Monday, October 24, 2011

First Segway Park Opens in Denmark

NY Daily News: The world's first off-road Segway course opened its doors in Aarhus, Denmark on Friday.

Modeled as a miniature version of Yellowstone National Park, the course offers riders the chance to steer their two-wheel Segway scooters through mountains and waterfalls in a giant indoor hall.

"We have 6,000 square meters (64,583 square feet) and have built a copy of Yellowstone National Park, with mountains and waterfalls and tracks ranging from granite to sea-shells -- all sorts of things. You get the feeling you're actually driving in the park," Paul Teichert told AFP.

"A trip in the hall is a cross between a flying carpet and skiing in the Alps. And for those who are doing one of the courses as a race, we have automatic timing mechanisms that make sure they don't cheat," Teichert said.

The Segway is a one person, two-wheel, self-balancing, electrical transportation unit. Teichert said the Danish park was the first of its kind in the world, "and will be the biggest for a long time to come." He said that in tests, women appeared to be better initial off-road drivers of Segways than men.

"They're more careful to start with. Men just go at it and end up on their behinds," he said.

He said senior executives of the US Segway company had announced they would be arriving in Denmark soon to study the hall. He added that security had been a primary concern for constructors and all tracks and courses had been approved by both police and Denmark's Technological Institute.

The Segway was introduced in 2002 amid great fanfare as a means of revolutionising urban transportation. It uses gyroscopes, computers and electric motors to cruise to 12 miles (19 kilometres) per hour.

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