State probes accident that injured reporter

AUBURN – State officials say the New Hampshire promoter of a new amusement ride was operating it without a permit when a newspaper reporter was seriously injured during a media preview of the device at Lost Valley Ski Resort.

“There may be punitive action,” Detective Chris Stanford, an investigator from the State Fire Marshal’s Office, said Friday as he reconstructed the accident in which Rebekah Metzler fractured her back and bruised a kidney while riding a cushioned, car-sized inflatable ball called a Zorb.

The operators of the ride and officials at Lost Valley said they were unaware that they needed a permit and safety inspection before they could offer rides to the public.

“The sport is very new,” Kevin Kozak of Zorb New England told the Sun Journal of Lewiston. “I never had any inclination to contact the fire marshal.”

Metzler, a Sun Journal reporter, and photographer Lincoln Benedict were strapped inside the Zorb on Thursday afternoon when it bounced off a hay-encased post and went airborne before landing hard a couple of seconds later.

Even before the accident that scuttled the ride’s weekend debut at Lost Valley, Kozak’s company was embroiled in a legal dispute with New Zealand’s Zorb Ltd., the inventor of the device, over use of the Zorb name.

CEO Craig Horrocks of Zorb Ltd. said his company has had issues with “rogue and fake operators,” and that its only official Zorb site in the U.S. is in Pigeon Forge, Tenn.

Zorb New England co-manager Jeremy Coito acknowledged that his Danville, N.H.-based business is not associated with Zorb Ltd., but maintained that “Zorbing is a generic trademark, a sport” and that he can rightfully use its name.

Zorbing has grown in popularity in recent years, fueled by segments on such shows as CBS’ “The Amazing Race” and NBC’s “Today.” Zorb Ltd. said there has been soaring demand from would-be franchisees.

Diane Moreau, vice president of Lost Valley, said she believed Kozak and his partners were legitimate Zorb operators when they approached her about offering rides in Maine as a way to expand off-season use of the ski area.

“They did provide us documents that assured us they were affiliated with Zorb and that it was expanding in the area,” she said. She said Zorb New England had contacted other resorts, including Sugarbush in Vermont and Mount Cranmore in New Hampshire.

Coito said the accident occurred on a course built by Lost Valley employees that should have been tested by his own company’s workers. But he said Lost Valley staff felt pressured to honor their invitations to the media.