The weather kept fine for the 44th Great Knaresborough Bed Race with thousands of people descending on the town to watch the unique event held on Saturday.

From Elvis, Bob Marley and Village People to Adam and the Ants, the Rolling Stones, Motown and the Beach Boys, the theme of Music for the decorated beds parade gave plenty of scope for ideas. From grand pianos and harps to trumpets and bagpipes, from Ireland and Mexico to Hawaii and the USA, every musical option was covered in the creative and colourful designs. Moulin Rouge, The Sound of Music, Michael Jackson's Thriller, Swan Lake and the Ugly Bug Ball all featured.
The Best Dressed Bed went to St John's Jewels from Knaresborough St John's CE Primary School with His Master's Voice, the most entertaining bed was voted Lido Loonies.

Volunteers manned the road closures with the town sealed off to traffic throughout most of the day making for a carnival-type atmosphere in the town.

86 teams took part in the gruelling race round the streets of Knaresborough ending with a showpiece finale as the teams swam across the River Nidd to the finishing line at Conyngham Hall.

Due to a locked security bollard, teams had to start from a different starting line to previous years resulting in uncomparable times to previous years. The race was delayed starting for ten minutes whilst the Lions re-organised the starting line.

Harrogate Harriers were the fastest team home in a time of 12 minutes, 59 seconds. The fastest female team was HPL Flyers in 15 minutes six seconds. Fastest junior males were Stewarts Tartan Army in 17 minutes, eight seconds and fastest junior females Rainbow Frizzles were 23 minutes, 53 seconds. This year's fastest new team was Harrogate Racers in 15 minutes 13 seconds.


* See this website for regular updates on the race and. pictures from the day.

* A full report and more pictures will appear in Friday's Knaresborough Post.
To order your copies of photographs, visit Photos Today on this website or call 01423 564321.