The Great Knaresborough Bed Race 2024 looks set to be one of the best ever: a wonderful theme, Great Innovations, has again provided a broad canvas to teams on which to create their bed decorations. This should make it one of the most memorable events ever.
Ideas range from space rockets all the way to a box of matches, we hear! There will plenty more on offer at Knaresborough Castle in the morning of Saturday 8 June from 10.00 am till the Parade starts at 1.00 pm. Who knows what the inventive minds of the teams will come up with!
The full race field of 90 teams, drawn from over a hundred who applied, underlines the popularity of taking part in this annual event which started in 1966. For some runners it is the main focus of their drive to fitness and Bed Race continues to loom large in the calendar of sporting contests in the North of England.
The Parade of decorated beds, dressed teams and their supporters will leave the Castle at 1.00 pm and winds its way through the market place and High Street, down to Conyngham Hall field. Beds and runners are stripped to their sleekest racing attire there, and the race itself begins as a time trial from 3.00 pm.
Teams go off at 10-second intervals and race through Conyngham and along Waterside through the Nidd Gorge. Then begins the steep ascent up Castle Ings and back to the market place, before the pace increases with the drop down the High Street and Bond End back to High Bridge, which they cross. The final stage is the dash through McIntosh Field and the swim across the River Nidd, bed, runners, passenger and all, as they return to the finishing line.
That semi-legendary weather god, the Knaresborough Rain Shadow, has been contacted and he promises a dry day, with high cloud and occasional sunny spells. This sounds about ideal for Bed Race crowds, neither too hot nor wet, and thousands are expected to turn up to watch. The teams don’t care as they end up cooling down in the river anyway.
Bed Race is as smashing an event as you can get, and UEFA have ensured their Euro football tournament does not suffer by comparison by moving back the start a week.
This year’s Bed Race continues a wonderful tradition of fund raising for local good causes, but the organisers, the Knaresborough Lions have warned that rising costs threaten the event’s long term future.
Stipulations for security and safety have made life difficult, and this year the Lions have faced unexpected additional insurance costs.
In addition, the burden of the actual job of organisation has grown, we are all volunteers, and the Lions need to galvanise the whole town to help, especially the businesses who gain so much from the day.
In the general run of things, these are minor clouds on the horizon and in Knaresborough on Saturday it will be eyes down for another great Bed Race day.
