Countdown to Knaresborough Bed Race – 8 June 2019

Knaresborough Bed Race will take place on Saturday,  8 June 2019.

• 9am – teams gather at the Castle to decorate their beds and don their fancy dress
• 12.30pm – judging of the beds resulting in announcement of winners
• 12.00pm – roads in central Knaresborough close to traffic
• 1.00 pm  – Parade begins from the Castle to the High Street and down to Conyngham Hall. Decorations and dress comes off as all are stripped to race trim.
• 3.00 pm – Race starts, with teams going off at approximately 30 seconds intervals. The race is run as time trials. The fastest go off first.
• 4.00 to 4.15 pm – all of the teams will be expected to have completed the course
• 5.00 pm – results start to become available
• 6.00 pm – roads are open to traffic.

Richard Hall, chairman of the Knaresborough Lions organising committee:

The organisation of Bed Race 2019 has been more exacting than ever but all in a good cause. It seems that each year there are more hoops to jump through, more obstacles to overcome. We even helped strengthen the river bank when the teams come ashore.

Again, we expect to have 90 teams, each of six runners and a passenger. These have been drawn from the more than 110 who entered. Course conditions insist that the field is of a maximum of 90 beds.

Over the years, Bed Race has become the iconic event not just for Knaresborough but for the whole area. Visitors come from far away and we even had one person say this year that watching this event has become a ‘must see’ for him and his friends. See the Great Knaresborough  Bed Race and die, as we say!

The Lions has worked exceptionally hard in mounting this event and we would like to say a huge thank you to all those who have volunteered to help on the day, and to our sponsors who have made it all possible. It is the town itself with its spectacular scenery and the people of our community who are the real stars of the show.

Getting to Knaresborough and Road Closures

Free park-and-ride services will run on Bed Race day between GSPK on Manse Lane, just off the York Road, and the town centre. ALM Manufacturing is managing its own free park-and-ride from their site on Grimbalds Crag Close and will be ferrying people from there to town.

The parking premises will open in the morning and will close at 6.30 pm in the evening. It is important that people move their cars before this time as the premises will be locked. Both parking and Park and Ride services are free.

Roads in and around Knaresborough are closed to traffic from the middle of the day until 6.00 pm. The Market and Silver Street, High Street, Bond End, part of Boroughbridge Road and Harrogate Road are closed from 12.00 pm. There are closures, too, affecting Cheapside, Castlegate, part of Brewerton Street, Fisher Street, High Bond End, Castle Ings and Waterside from Castle Mills to High Bridge.

Race Arena and Field

Spectators coming to Conyngham Hall Field will be able to watch events unfold on an 18-metre Big Screen, designed to operate come rain or shine – the Lions hope for more of the latter. There will be two or three roaming cameras recoding the best of the Parade and the Race, while feeding live footage of the teams swimming the river to the Big Screen.

There will be bars and catering, rides for kids and stalls manned by local charity groups at Conyngham Hall. Entrance to Conyngham Hall fields is by Programme or £2 per adult; kids under sixteen enter free.

Great Knaresborough Bed Race 2019

Final Running order

M=Male/F=Female/X=Mixed; f=Fast/e=Entertaining; n=New; j=Junior; A=Servi