Knaresborough Bed Race

I've heard of some unusual races back in the States, but never before have I heard of a BED RACE!!

The local town of Knaresborough has held a Bed Race for the past 45 years! This year, the weather wasn't just nice for the race,... it was actually beautiful! And we were determined not to miss it.

For the bed race, teams decorate a wheeled metal frame (not really resembling a bed too much), which they first display and then parade through town. Then for the race, the teams drop the decor, and then run the race through the village pushing their beds. The race eventually ends up in the River Nidd. The teams have to push their beds upstream for a little bit, and then heave their beds out of the river towards the finish line. Prizes are awarded to the team that is best decorated and the team that completes the race in the quickest time.

When we arrived in Knaresborough, we found a spot on the sidewalk to watch the parade (and found some friends to watch it with us!) It was so much fun! The town crier led it all off, and the beds came one after the other. Each year, the Bed Race Committee chooses a theme for the decorations, and this year's theme was: occupations. The floats were very clever- there was one that looked like a restaurant table, one made to look like a house with chimneys for the chimney sweepers, a boat with fishermen, a surgeon's table, etc., etc.The parade finished up near the starting line for the race. At that point all of the teams dropped their decorations and got into line for the race. Because there were so many teams (90 in all!), the teams began the race in 10 second intervals and were timed.

The teams pushed their "beds" through the town and wound up in the river. We were sitting on the edge of the river, near the finish line, so we were able to see the teams push the beds up and out of the river. It was not an easy task!! And the more teams that went by, the slippier the slope got!

As I mentioned before, the Bed Race has been a tradition in Knaresborough for 45 years! According to the Bed Race brochure, the first bed race was held in 1966, and had only 4 beds competing. Regarding the first-ever bed race, the brochure reads:

Things have changed these days as the occupants of the beds were described as 'each graced by a gorgeous girl in an eye catching frilly negligee.' Three of the four were actually beauty queens including Miss Yorkshire and Miss Italy.

I can only imagine those beauty queens' surprise when they were raced right into that cold river!

All in all, the Knaresborough Bed race was a lot of fun! It's one of those small town traditions that I would love to bring back to the States with me.