“Suddenly we hung silent for a long time,” says seven -year -old Hedzer from Zeijen soberly. What had to be a nice ride at the TT fair, ended in an exciting adventure for him and his 12-year-old niece Veerle. Due to a technical defect, the catapultattraction got stuck at a height of 20 meters. Fortunately, the fire brigade came to bring them down safely. They were released with a fright and got a pot full of cotton candy and a big hug.
Last year Hedzer was not big enough for the catapult and so this year it was his very first time in the attraction. “There was suddenly a malfunction and then the fire brigade had to save us,” he says. He did not have an impressive view at a height of 20 meters: “I was stuck very well, so I could only see a building and the sky.”
Although he thought it was not that bad in the air, Hedzer thought the switch to the fire truck was quite exciting. “I thought: I will soon fall in between and then I will be …”, he doesn’t finish his way, because luckily everything ended well.
Hedzer’s mother was watching from the ground. “The man from the fair picked it up very well and immediately came up to reassure the two. When the two were on the fire truck, he gave them a big hug. Something like that can happen with technology.”
The man did not let the two go home empty -handed. “We got a pot full of cotton candy and a very big hug,” says Hedzer enthusiastically. “The Mario hug is even bigger than I am!” He shared the cotton candy with his class. “I have 24 classmates, but the pot is not even empty yet.” His class had already seen the news on the Jeugdjournaal and of course wanted to hear everything from him.
The next day Hedzer and Veerle went back to the fair, but this time as real celebrities “people asked: are you that boy of the Katapult?” Together with his sister, he gave a drawing to the owner of the attraction. As a thank you, because he was so sweet and helped well. “I signed the catapult with the fire truck!”
For this year it is ready with the catapult for Hedzer. But next year? Then they just want to go back in.