» The Great Knaresborough Bed Race

Event Info
Discussion
Results

Knaresborough Rugby Club are perennial competitors in the annual Bed Race.

The Great Knaresborough Bed Race has been run each year since 1966. The event is part fancy dress pageant as teams decorate their beds and themselves in the theme of the year, and part gruelling time trial over a 2.5 mile course through the Nidd Gorge, up the steep climb to the Castle, down the medieval streets to Bond End and finishing with a 30-yard swim across the icy waters of the Nidd. It is always held on the second Saturday in June.

Ninety teams of six runners and a passenger take part, though many more enter. Beds are specially made to withstand the rigours of the course. The event in volunteer-run, organised by the Knaresborough Lions Club, and raises £100,000 for good causes.

Off-beat and great fun it may be, but this being Yorkshire it is all carried out in deadly seriousness and fierce competitiveness. Teams start designing their decorations and practicing their river exit in March.

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See our website, www.bedrace,.co.uk, for results

Date & Time

June 14, 2014 - June 14, 2014
Beds gather at 10 am at Knaresborough Castle to be decorated. Judging of the Best Dressed Bed is carried out and the winners announced at noon. The Parade through the Town to the start and finish line is from 1 pm during which prizes for the Most Entertaining team are adjudicated. The race itself starts at 3 pm with teams setting off at 10-second intervals. The quickest finish in under quarter of an hour, the slowest in twice that.