Bed Race TrainingHave you ever wondered what running the Great Knaresborough Bed Race might be like? Well if you have then you can get a bit of a feel for it by viewing this video which I found on You Tube.
12th May, 2010 (Rev'd Bob Jones, Graham Barnes, Dave Godfrey, Owen Lacey, Rev'd Gail Hunt and Lee Welsby, scout leader, our mentor and replacement Aled Jones for the day) It was our first attempt at the course with the bed and crossing the river. I had just got used to running the course alone and without the bed and then the trial run was upon us. My arms ached afterwards as not only are you running, but pushing the bed with someone sat in it. This year Gail Hunt from Gracious Street Methodist Church is sitting in the bed. The astute amongst you will notice from the photographs that Aled Jones is not running here. He is, of course, going to be running with us on the day, but until then we had a very helpful stand in who likes running marathons and is very familiar with the Bed Race. Quite why someone would volunteer to do this without needing to is beyond me (I thought I was the crazy one!!). Well, we completed the course and many thanks go out to the support we received and to our guides for the day. Actually, the river was not as bad as I thought it was going to be, infact, it was quite refreshing (didn't taste very nice though)! Unfortunateley due to injury Aled was unable to run with us in the Bed Race. See the entry for 8th June. Bed Race Practise Photographs Owen Lacey (3rd Place), Rev'd Darryl Hall (Crazy Curate-Anglican), Graham Barnes (URC), Rev'd Bob Jones (URC), Dave Godfrey (Non-Denominational), Lee Welsby (Lee was our mentor and adopted Aled Jones for the day, he is also a Scout Leader) Rev'd Gail Hunt (Gracious Street Methodist Church).
22nd May, 2010 Today was the second of our trial runs. Unfortunately for me, I had taken my youngest son swimming and on the way back we picked up fish and chips for my two sons. I also have a reputation for being the 'secret sausage eater' in Knaresborough and I failed to resist it again tonight and ate it before getting home. We turned up for training with the bed, sadly Rev'd Gail couldn't make it because she had a tummy upset, Dave Godfrey couldn't make it and obviously we are a man down with Aled not being available. So the team was made up of Rev'd Bob Jones, Graham Barnes, Owen Lacey and myself. We took the course at a steady pace and actually completed it in a respectable time, though we didn't cross the river today. Though we were two people and a passenger down, we all agreed that it felt a lot easier today, however, I was extremely thirsty after eating the secret sausage which also had salt and vinegar on it (and I pinched a few chips when the boys weren't looking). We have completed another two more practise runs. The first time there were four of us and no passenger, we completed (without the river crossing) the course in our fastest time of 17 minutes. By the time we finished my body felt like jelly. The second time was much easier, 5 runners / pushers and Rev'd Gail in the bed spurring us along, 18 minutes this time but we certainly didn't feel as though we had overdone it. This week we are planning to do a full training practise (including the river crossing) on Wednesday, 2nd June from 5pm. 8th June 2010 Disaster Strikes Four days to go and I received a phone call from Songs of Praise informing me that our friend Aled has injured himself, he has damaged his cruciate ligament and is awaiting an MRI scan (good luck with that Aled). He will still be able to present the show for us but unfortunately will be unable to run the race with us. Aled, if you do read this then we wish you a speedy recovery and thanks for being a good sport and agreeing to run with us in the first place. I heard you on Good Morning Sunday (Radio 2) promising to be with us for next year. We have long memories in Knaresborough, I'll be in touch nearer the time. We have had some faithful folks helping us to train and so we contacted one of them, Jonathan Oxley and he very kindly agreed to run with us in Aled's place. Many thanks Jonathan.
11th June 2010 Filming with Songs of Praise Songs of Praise arrived to film with Aled Jones. First they filmed us pushing the bed around and then the Choir were filmed singing a piece of music that was written especially for them by Paul Leddington-Wright (the Songs of Praise conducter). I think Aled and the crew enjoyed themselves. Bless him he couldn't stop raving about it. The Bed Race got mentioned four times on Aled's, Good Morning Sunday's Radio 2 show. Firstly, at the very begining of the show then again at about 1 hour 3 minutes into the show, again at 1 hour 35 minutes and again at 2 hours 7 minutes. We all enjoyed it too, it was an incredible time. Right click on this link and go to open in new window. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00sqghw Bed Race Filming
12th June 2010 Bed Race Day Wow! Didn't the beds look great with all their decorations on? People started arriving at my house from 9am to start assembling the bed which had been kept at my house overnight. We have to say thank you to so many people for helping us get organised (Please don't be offended if I inadvertently miss someone out). June Graham was instumental in all of this and a huge thank you goes out to her. The church on our bed was just amazing thanks to Geoff Ward for building it for us. Thanks to Chris Yardley for the stained glass windows and fine detail and to Dave Graham for painting the church so beautifully. Other thanks go out to Rev'd Elizabeth Sewell, Rev'd Sue Reilly, Rev'd Esther Foss, Rev'd Gillian Robertson, Ann Yardley, Tom Yardley, Beryl Graham, Katie Gray, Sarah Mattocks, Adam Hawkes, Lee Welsby, Kez Welsby and Aladin's Cave. Thank you all so, so much for all that you did for us. Thanks also go out to the Songs of Praise Team and of course Aled Jones who all made the whole experience unforgetable. We finished 58th out of 90 beds and we finished the race in 20 minutes 33 seconds. The fastest team were the 'Ripon Runners for HPL,' They completed the course in 13 minutes 56 seconds. I think we can be proud of ourselves considering that's only 6 minutes 37 seconds faster than we completed it in. However, congratulations to the winners, that is an incredibly fast time. Although, what position we finished the race in is in a way, kind of irrelevant. We didn't win the best dressed bed either, but we can be very proud of the beautiful church that we had. It sounds a little bit cliché, but it really wasn't the winning that was important, it was the taking part. It was the people that we met, it was the camaraderie with our colleagues as we trained together, it was the journey that made it unforgettable, and the various points along that journey that we can stop and give thanks to God for. There are many points that I can think of, not least meeting up with the Songs of Praise team again. What a wonderful opportunity to show people all over the United Kingdom our wonderful town. In life, it's not the speed that you get around it in that counts, and it's not how beautiful you are that counts. It's the journey with all of its hills and valleys, the good times and the bad (yes even the bad times, although at the time it might not feel like it. It's at times like these that people might feel as though God has abandoned them, but God is with us in our hard times and sufferings as well as every other aspect of our lives). Our lives are shaped by the experiences that we have had, the places we've been, the people we've met, the things we have done. Those experiences are part of our story and as with any story the journey is not about getting to the end but inhabiting the narrative. How great was it to see Knaresborough pull together as a community to support this event? I hear that it started in the mid sixties and there were four teams pushing hospital beds along the course. I bet they would never have imagined that it would have developed into an event that draws global media attention. Just a group of people doing something that other people would look at and think was crazy and yet years later the good news has spread worldwide. Does that sound familiar? Our Christian heritage had a similar journey when after Jesus' death, resurrection and ascension the disciples set out to spread the good news of our living Lord Jesus Christ. Could they have ever imagined that over 2'000 years later their witness is being heard all over the world and drawing people from all kinds of backgrounds together. It was a tough run but we managed it remarkably well. Rev'd Bob Jones from the United Reformed Church led us in prayer both before and after the race and I believe that God was sustaining us as we ran the course. We overtook at least three beds and one of those was on Castle Ings (the really steep hill). People were spraying water at us from hose pipes, thank you that was so welcomed. The river crossing was fantastic, so cold but just what we needed to refresh us. There were times when some of us felt we were struggling to finish the race, but doesn't that fit with our daily living? How lovely that with God's glory as our focus we completed the race supporting one another. Isn't it amazing that that’s what the Christian church is all about too? If you've got photographs then why not share them, send them to me at horlix@aol.com and I'll post them on this page for people to see. Darryl Hall. Bed Race Day Photographs
Dave Graham with time on his hands
The church for the parade
waiting for the tower to be added
Chris Yardley adding the stained glass windows
The tower being put back on
Chris adding more stained glass windows
The bed looked fantastic with this fantastic building on it
The theme for this year's Bed Race was 'occupations.' Our team was Churches Together and our theme was 'Vicars at home and on vacation.' In this photograph we see Owen Lacey (Third Place church) slightly confused as to whether he is a vicar at work or on vacation!
Owen Lacey and Dave Godfrey
Our much loved friend Bishop Bertie even made a guest appearance.
I was dressed in my Police Chaplain's High Visibility Jacket
Elizabeth and Bishop Bertie deep in conversation
I'm not sure who was being interviewed here, I think it was Bishop Bertie.
Aled was a really nice guy. It was fabulous to meet him and all the Songs of Praise Team.
Group Photo Shoot.
Group Photo Shoot. Elizabeth Sewell, Graham Barnes, Darryl Hall, Bob Jones, Dave Godfrey, Sue Reilly, Jonathan Oxley, Gail Hunt, Gillian Robertson, Owen Lacey and Esther Foss.
Group Photo Shoot. Elizabeth Sewell, Graham Barnes, Darryl Hall, Bob Jones, Dave Godfrey, Sue Reilly, Sarah Mattocks, Jonathan Oxley, Gail Hunt, Gillian Robertson, Owen Lacey and Esther Foss, Kez Welsby.
Starting the parade
The Winners of the Best Dresses Bed was the St. John's Jewels from St. John's Church of England Primary School in Knaresborough
Someone brought a big inflatable ball which we knocked back and forth in the crowds (it really added to the fun).
Parading down the High Street
Jonathan Oxley and Darryl Hall
And they're off. The beds had to be stripped off and local MP Andrew Jones started the race in Conyngham Hall.
The Songs of Praise crew attached some cameras to the bed (just near the number 66)
The atmosphere was great and at certain points residents were waiting to spray water at us with their garden hoses. It was a hot day so that was really welcomed.
Going over the bridge, only the river crossing to go now.
The river was very cold but we had no time to think about it and before we knew it we were swimming in it. Once you got used to it it was wonderfully refreshing.
It was worth it!
Perhaps a white shirt wasn't the wisest choice, hey Aled?
Finished. All the training paid off and we managed to overtake three beds and not get overtaken ourselves. The river crossing was shockingly cold but wonderfully refreshing.
Jonathan Oxley, Graham Barnes, Bob Jones, Owen Lacey, Darryl Hall, Dave Godfrey and Gail Hunt Churches Represented: Methodist Church, United Reformed Church, Third Place and the Anglican Church The Ripon and Leeds Diocesan web-site also covered this event. Right click on this link and go to 'open in new window' for more photographs and a report from John Carter. http://www.riponleeds.anglican.org/news_230.html
The Churches Together Bed Race Team 2010 (Our similarities make us strong, our differences make us stronger) Finished 20 minutes and 33 seconds |
