The ups and downs of a rollercoaster at Tayto Park

AS a boy, Korey Kiepert built toy amusement parks. He made small, functional, rollercoasters in his bedroom and dreamt up inventive jumps.

Fast forward 20 years and Korey is still making rollercoasters — but now they’re great, big hulking beasts, dominating the skyline of amusement parks from China to the US.

His latest design can be seen in Ashbourne, Co Meath, at the newly revamped Tayto Park. “Ireland doesn’t have many rollercoasters. The Cú Chulainn is 32m tall and 1,000m in length and lasts for around two minutes — it’s no small ride. It’s in the top 10 in Europe, in terms of speed and height,” said Korey.