San Diego, CA, USA (May 16, 2012) /PRWEB/ — The San Diego Safari Park boasts over 900 acres and 3000 animals, amid a variety of unique exhibits and experiences. The Cheetah Run, a unique adventure at the San Diego Safari, lets one visitor each day challenge their speed against the world’s fastest animal. The cheetah is speedier than any other land animal, running as fast as 70 miles per hour. The fascinating attraction, however, is located in a far corner of the expansive Safari and was getting only a fraction of the interest that the Zoo expected.
Enter Sand Masters, a Travel Channel TV show, commissioned by the Safari to create a sand sculpture that would notify visitors of the Cheetah Run and spark their interest.
Using sand as their medium, the Sand Masters team created an incredible masterpiece featuring a lifelike running cheetah surrounded by perfectly sculpted spectators from the animal world. Carved in sand letters is the time and place of the daily Cheetah Run. Featured to the right of the lifelike animals is a sand-sculpted fossa, a cat-like predator. The fossa’s eyes gaze out at the crowd while its arms hold onto the Traffic Logix SafePace 100 sign, challenging visitors to test their speeds.
When Rusty Croft, the Sand Master leader presented the radar sign idea to his team they responded with enthusiasm. “That’s really cool,” said Kirk Rademaker, “that’s the part we needed.”
The first morning that the Sand Masters sculptured was unveiled, visitors were amazed at the remarkable sand sculpture. Many of them ran along its length, watching their speeds displayed in bright LED numbers on the SafePace 100 radar sign, which was strategically placed at an angle low enough to clock the speed of runners*.
Following the creation of the Cheetah Run sand sculpture, the Cheetah Run garnered a huge turnout with hundreds of people gathering to watch the cheetah sprint. The Traffic Logix SafePace 100 radar sign can be used to display the speeds of cars, bicycles, people, and even a sprinting Cheetah.
*The radar sign used in the sand sculpture was angled specifically to capture the speed of runners. Radar speed signs installed on roadways should not be tested or used to clock running and are installed at heights to best capture the speed of passing vehicles.
