For those of you that haven't yet seen one of the thousands pictures i have plastered all over social media in the past twenty four hours, i have just completed my first Knaresborough Bed Race run.


For those of you from outside of Yorkshire...

The Great Knaresborough Bed Race is something different: it is part fancy dress pageant and part gruelling time trial over a 2.4 mile course, ending with a swim through the icy waters of the River Nidd. First staged in 1966, Bed Race has spawned other similar events in the USA, Germany, New Zealand and elsewhere in the UK. It is great fun, an amazing spectacle and, being held in Yorkshire, a truly serious competitive effort, pitting teams against their fiercest rivals, their erstwhile friends or even against themselves. Whatever happens, it is never good enough and each vows to be back to do better next year!

Watch this awesome little video from this years run to see how tough and fun it is:

I grew-up in Knaresborough, attending secondary school and have been attending the race on and off since a very young age. So as you can imagine i was over the moon to be asked to run this years race by my brother as a part of the Taylor's/Yorkshire Tea team.

We completed the course in 19.50+ seconds, which is a fantastic time and for that we finished in 57 out of 90! I really enjoyed the race, the one thing that impressed me more than anything else was the fact that around thirty thousand people turned up to cheer us on. I have done numerous half marathons, obstacles courses and charity events and i can honestly say that the Knaresborough Bed Race was the one event that was best supported.

Through the course not once did we see an empty pavement, not once did we not receive a round of applause, a pat on the back or a socking down with a hose pipe. I have never felt support like it, the buzz was brilliant and definitely pushed me and our team through the pain!

People before the event talked about how much the detested the river-crossing. I personally found it ok, as it was welcome relief from running and a chance to cool down.


Even though the race was not overly long by lord does it take it out of you. Pushing the bed up and down hills and around bends certainly does take some effort and team work. I would recommend the race to anyone looking for their next challenge!

When i got home after the after-party at Henshaws, where i was rocking out to legendary local band the Omega Era i kicked back with my medal, put my feet up and help myself to a nice ice cold King Fisher beer courtesy of KingFisherBeer.co.uk

If you want to find out more about the race read all about it here, visit the official Great Knaresborough Bed Race website, Facebook or Twitter pages:

The theme for the 2016 Great Knaresborough Bed Race is to be 'Cities of the World'.
Read more: https://t.co/2uQULrqQVK

— Bed Race (@greatbedrace) December 23, 2015