IT WAS a tough job – but someone had to do it.

Alton Towers had launched a summer-long quest to find out which was the most fearsome of it’s top five rollercoaster rides and was looking for someone from the Birmingham Mail to give them a whirl.

So, with scant regard for my own personal safety, I was quickest to stick my hand in the air.

Only after receiving confirmation of my invite did I start to wonder, as a confirmed couch potato whose idea of an adrenaline rush is getting up from the sofa to make a cup of coffee, just what I had let myself in for.

The fact that a couple of nights at the Alton Towers Hotel for the wife and kids were thrown in, along with free passes for the theme park and waterpark, had, you see, probably clouded my better judgment somewhat!

A sentiment that was confirmed when Merlin Entertainment’s publicity people helpfully e-mailed over some details of the rides I was expected to take on.

All the talk was of vertical drops, freefalls, speeds of 100km/h or more and g-forces far in excess of those endured by NASA astronauts at launch.

All of which would have to be endured without any moral support as Millie, aged seven, and five-year-old Rory would be too small to join me on the Big Five and mum, of course, would have to stay and look after them so wouldn’t be able to hold my hand either.

The chilling screams that echoed around the expansive grounds of the old stately home did little to help my confidence when we disembarked from the free monorail from the hotel for the first of our two days of thrills.

I decided the best tactic was to build up my nerve gradually and took in a couple of turns on the ‘lesser’ rollercoasters.

A lap or two on the Runaway Mine Train with Rory and a twirl on Sonic Spinball with Millie were duly completed without losing my breakfast and so it was with renewed assurance that I headed for the first biggie – Rita.

With a ride time of 49 seconds, according to the blurb, it was the shortest option on the agenda and, therefore I reasoned, a good place to start.

What a 49 seconds it was though.

I began to get some idea of what might be coming when the attendant who checked my harness asked me to take my glasses off leaving me with the vision of a mole who had stumbled out into the daylight. That mattered little though, as the next few seconds would have been a blur for everyone.

Rita’s ‘thing’ is to propel it’s occupants from a standing start to 100km/h in just 2.5 seconds. That’s something Jeremy Clarkson can only dream about in his Top Gear supercars and subjects riders to 4.7 Gs as it fires them up to the top of an 18.4 metre drop before swooping back down.

It’s all over almost before it has begun – but the exhileration is hard to describe. It’s probably the closest most of us will get to feeling what the human cannonball feels like at the circus and leaves your senses tingling.

Having staggered back into the arms of my family with my heart still in my chest – although admittedly racing somewhat – I was beginning to get a taste for this.

While the going was good I thought I’d get the ride I feared most out of the way – Oblivion with its 60m vertical drop into the abyss at speeds reaching 110km/h.

For someone whose big weakness is heights, the agonising pause at the top of the climb was going to be the big test. I’m proud to say that I managed to keep my eyes open – although they felt as if they were rapidly being pushed into my skull – and even managed a wave to the kids as I flew past. Having got that out of the way, I was actually starting to enjoy myself and headed towards Nemesis with something akin to genuine enthusiasm.

And it was not misplaced as, despite being the oldest of Alton Towers’ main attractions, this was a real thriller – three minutes of twists and turns around the Forbidden Valley suspended below the rails as sheer rockfaces and rivers of ‘blood’ rush towards you at breakneck speed.

With my excitement rising to levels matching my kids’ after a feast of e-numbers, I decided to leave the last two challenges for another day and after getting a thorough soaking with the kids on the more sedate Battling Galleons headed back to relax in our well-appointed family room and enjoy an all-you-can eat dinner at Flambos Exotic Feast buffet restaurant, one of three eateries on site, in the adjoining Splash Landings Hotel.

Suitably re-invigorated the next day and buoyed by my newfound love of rollercoasters, I breezed through the fourth test.

Air is billed as the world’s first ‘flying’ coaster by virtue of the fact that you are, like Nemesis, suspended under the rails but then rotated through 90 degrees so that you speed horizontally head first around its 840 metres with the ground rushing by seemingly inches from you face.

That left Thirteen, which turned out to be a mash-up of rollercoaster and ghost train buried away at the end of the aptly named Dark Forest zone. The freefall element, another world first, is only part of a sting in the tail which makes this, the newest of Alton Towers’ big five, yet another winner.

In fact, it was very close to getting my vote but in the end I went for Nemesis – perhaps the oldest but still, for me, the King of the Coasters at the Staffordshire attraction.

Fans can vote for their favourite Alton Towers rollercoaster at the park or by clicking on to www.altontowers.com. The poll runs until the end of August and at the end of the campaign the resort will randomly select one lucky voter to be part of its hitherto top secret Coaster Design Team tasked with creating the next big ride to open at the park in spring 2013. Voters will also be able to win short breaks at the resort, money-off tickets and other spot prizes.