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13
Jun
GALLERY: Historic images of the Great Knaresborough Bed Race in years gone by
After exactly a year of preparation by the organisers and months of practice by the teams, the Great Knaresborough Bed Race is finally upon us.
From 3pm today, 90 beds carrying a passenger and pushed by six runners will hurtle through the hilly streets and chilly river of Knaresborough, cheered on by tens of thousands of spectators.
It's a crazy sight that's 60 years old this year, and the race's anniversary is marked in the theme for the Best Dressed Bed competition: the Swinging Sixties.
Over the intervening years, thousands of people have run the race, and each one has their own story to tell.
The following pictures were taken at various points over the last six decades, and give a flavour of what's to come this afternoon. They are reproduced with the kind permission of Knaresborough Lions Club, which organises the annual Bed Race.
See if you can recognise anyone!
The fairground at Conyngham Hall.
The parade
Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band make their way down the High Street.
The Aspin Gaspers in 1985.
The Aspin Gaspers expressing a different side of themselves in 1986.
An unusually large baby and its unusually large pram at the 1988 event.
The Best Dressed Bed competition is a popular part of the day.
A team looking to pillage settlements up the River Nidd.
You're never to young or too old to dress up.
The race
One of the women's teams in 1986.
The Aspin Gaspers (again).
Shorts have got bigger over the years.
The Yorkshire Lass team.
Kat's team?
The Scotton Scorchers.
HPL Flyers.
The river
The river crossing.
Capsizing is just one of the dangers of the river crossing.
The tricky exit up the slippery bank from the river.
The home straight.
The 60th anniversary Great Knaresborough Bed Race will take place today (Saturday, June 13). The beds, runners and riders will gather in the castle grounds from 9am, the parade steps out at 1pm, and the race will start at 3pm.
You can read an interview with the Bed Race's chief organiser, and see more old Bed Race photos, here.
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