Knaresborough Bed Race 2016: timetable and teams

Crowds of 30,000 or more are expected to flock to the town, boosting its economy hugely in the process.

What’s more, the vast bulk of the charity money raised goes to local recipients.

Road closures will be in place between 12.30pm and 5pm and organisers have written personally to all of the residents and businesses in the town centre warning them of the closures.

At 1pm the teams will embark on the parade through Knaresborough’s pre-industrial streets, past its medieval market and down the High Street to Bond End and into the fields of Conyngham Hall. Mid-way they are judged for the ‘Most Entertaining Team’ award.

The paraders are joined by local dignitaries and bands in a panoply of noise, colour and much good humour.

At Conyngham Hall, the beds are stripped of decoration and the teams don their racing attire.

Then the race, run as time trials, begins at approximately 3pm with teams departing at 10-second intervals. The fastest set off first.

They charge out of Conyngham to High Bridge and along the narrow and winding Waterside through the Nidd Gorge, before climbing the very steep slope of Castle Ings to the Market Place.

The descent down the High Street comes as a relief to aching limbs, and the teams cross the river at High Bridge, before facing the bumpy ride through the parkland of McIntosh Field. The final and toughest hurdle, and the favourite thing to see for spectators, is the swim across the River Nidd.

The beds have to have float and both runners and passengers need to be able to swim. Divers are on hand to provide assistance where needed.

The runners pull the beds and their passengers from the river and gasp the last few yards across the finishing line.

Finally, the winning trophies are awarded to the fastest team, the fastest all-female team, the fastest first-time team, junior male and female teams, mixed teams, non-athletic teams.

Knaresborough Bed Race teams in full

1ST SCRIVEN SCOUTS (Jerusalem)

6th GEAR (Warsaw)

AFF BIRDS (Venice)

ALCUMUS SM&MS (Caracas)

ASPIN AVENGERS (Dakar)

BEDITERRANEAN/BED ZEPPELIN (Bratislava)

BEDKNOBS & BROOMSTICKS (Acapulco)

BINGLEY ARMS BARDSEY AMBULANCE BOYS (Hong Kong)

BLUE BULLET FLYERS (Montreal)

BROOK’S BIRDS (Gibraltar)

CAPTAIN ROSE & THE LEGION OF LIMBS (Reykjavik)

CASTLE CLINIC (Bangalore)

CBRE (Milan)

CITY SLACKERS (Skopje)

CLARITY CLODHOPPERS (Rio)

CNG (Cairo)

COLIN’S NUTS (Zagreb)

DAZZLING BOBBIES (Wellington)

FLOW-MON BANDITS (Beijing)

FREESTYLE KINETICS - THE JP PROJECT (Lisbon)

G H BROOKS MEN (Oslo); GEORGE AND DRAGON (Tel Aviv)

GLOBE STREET TROTTERS (Singapore);

GREEN-TECH GLADIATORS (Manchester)

GUARDIAN ALARMS (Baghdad)

HACS2 - FLYING MECHANICS (Hull)

HALF MOON (Lagos)

HARROGATE HARRIERS MENS ‘A’ TEAM (Auckland)

HARROGATE HARRIERS MIXED TEAM (Los Angeles)

HARROGATE ROUND TABLE (Dubai)

HARROGATE RUGBY RACERS (drawn as CNG’s Junior Bed) (Tijuana)

HISCOX (Santiago)

JIGSAW JOINERY (Washington)

KILLER QUEENS - NIPPERS MEN (Swansea)

KNARESBOROUGH RUGBY CLUB (Nairobi)

KNARESBOROUGH SILVER BAND (Shanghai)

KNARESBOROUGH STRIDERS LADIES (London)

KNARESBOROUGH STRIDERS MEN (New York)

LIVE FOR TODAY (Rome)

LOCK, STOCK & SIX FLOATING BARRELS (Leeds)

MAGNIFICANT SEVEN (Nassau)

MANNING STAINTON (Montevideo)

MEADOWSIDE MAIDENS (Sofia)

MEADOWSIDE MALINGERERS (Moscow);

MENWITH HILL (Chicago)

NIDD VALLEY ROAD RUNNERS - MIXED ‘B’ (Bangkok)

NIDD VALLEY ROAD RUNNERS MEN (Cardiff)

NUFFIELD HEALTH (Honolulu) OATLANDS INFANTS LADIES (Brasilia)

OVER THE RAINBOWS (Newcastle)

PELSIS FLYERS (Barcelona)

PELSIS RAT RUN (Amsterdam)

PICCADILLY FILLIES (Berlin)

PICCADILLY MEN (Hamburg)

PLANET STEEL (Salzburg)

RAWORTHS RUNNERS (Copenhagen)

RIPON RUNNERS GIRLS (Bridgetown, Barbados)

RIPON RUNNERS MEN (Glasgow)

SCOTTON LINGERFIELD LADIES (Prague)

SCOTTON SCORCHERS JFC (Panama)

SIX PACK (Donetsk); SKYLARKS (Santa Cruz)

SO SOZZLED CREW Valetta

ST JOHN’S JUGGERNAUTS (Vienna)

ST JOHNS PTA ‘A’ TEAM (Anchorage)

ST JOHNS PTA ‘B’ TEAM (Edinburgh)

ST MICHAELS HOSPICE STAFF (Innsbruck)

ST JOHN FISHER SCHOOL (Sydney)

STEPHENSON’S ROCKETS (Tunis)

TAYLORS OF HARROGATE (Kigali)

TEAM BED GURU (Bogota)

TEAM RED BEER (Nicosia)

TEAM SANDERSON (Vancouver)

TEWIT YOUTH BAND (Lima)

THE BLACK MULBERRY CAFE (St Petersburg)

THE DISCIPLES OF FITNESS (Brussels)

THE GOLDSBOROUGH GIRLS (Bucharest)

THE HACS COOL RUNNERS (Kingston, Jamaica)

THE HAIRY FAIRIES (Seoul)

THE PLODDERS (Hobart)

THE RICHARD TAYLOR RUNNERS (Nice)

THE ROCKET MEN (Budapest)

THE YOUNGER ONES!NOT!! (Douglas)

THE YBS FINANCE FITTIES (Buenos Aires)

TOMRODS (Jakarta)

TURNERS TEARAWAYS (Helsinki)

WACKY RACERS (Johannesburg)

WELLY WHEELERS (Belgrade)

WELLY WHEELETTES (Cologne)

WELLY WHEENERS (Sarajevo)