15
Jun
From no wheels to record breakers: Knaresborough Striders finally secure bed race glory
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Three years ago, Knaresborough Striders felt they had assembled a team capable of challenging GH Brooks’ dominance of the Great Knaresborough Bed Race.
The elite male members of Knaresborough’s running club had never won the crazy 2.4-mile dash around their home town and river while pushing a makeshift bed.
But after getting off to a flyer their hopes were derailed when a wheel seized up, and GH Brooks romped to victory again.
Fast forward three years and Knaresborough Striders are now basking in the glory of finally winning the event for the first time.
They had the added satisfaction of beating the all-conquering GH Brooks side in a record time in what was the event’s 60th anniversary year.
Knaresborough Striders endure the river crossing.
Teams set off at timed intervals from Conyngham Hall so the results weren’t known until an hour after the event.
Team captain James Ireland, who was part of the malfunctioning 2023 side, admits he was overwhelmed when he discovered his side had won by about half a second in a time of 12 minutes and 50 seconds to finally provide a home-town triumph.
James, whose youngest daughter Jasmine was a passenger on the bed, said:
I got a bit emotional because I’ve been trying for 10 years to win it. The feeling was pure elation.
The bed race is a major focus for us. We’ve been trying year after year to get closer to GH Brooks but never managed to give them a close race. We were second last year so this year we were really chomping at the bit.
Knaresborough Striders endure the river crossing.
The Striders invested in a new lightweight bed after its 2023 disaster and this year upgraded the wheels.
But the team didn’t know it was taking part until three weeks before bed race day. It failed to land a spot in the ballot for 90 places but managed to snare a place amid a flurry of late withdrawals.
Being a running club, it only has a small pool of members to choose from whereas GH Brooks recruits superfast ringers from wherever it likes to represent the Harrogate builders’ merchants.
Their winning streak dated back to 2018, although the event did not take place in 2020 and 2021 due to covid.
James said GH Brooks could not have been more sporting in defeat:
They were fantastic. They shook our hands and said it was well deserved. They are a great bunch of lads and have some fabulous runners but it all just came together for us this year.
We’ve been trying for years to win as the home-town team. To be captain and have my daughter Jasmine on the bed made it an even more special day.
Jasmine Ireland enjoys the trip across the Nidd.
Besides James and Jasmine, the Striders team consisted of Tom Calvert, Tom Wilson, James Sharley, Nick Shakhlevich and Jacob Clark.
Squashed Hearts were the fastest female team. The fastest mixed team was Parkrunners
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