3 Knaresborough Bed Race 2012- the RACE part!

I'm playing a bit of catch-up this week; I've got quite a bit of photos from past days-out that have been sitting around!

You might remember my posts on the Knaresborough Bed Race Parade (here and here).  Well, for the actual race, we decide to head down to the river crossing, as Paul had never seen the race and the only time I had- two years ago- I'd been on the road stretch. 

We headed down immediately after the parade, so as to secure a great spot. I was right at the river entrance, although a pack of very ill-behaved and pushy children crowded into me right before the race began.   (No, I don't hate children, by any means- I just get very frustrated when they have no regard for other people and aren't supervised in the slightest. Especially given that they were roughhousing right next to a swollen, fast-flowing river.)

Until the race started, we watched the river aides joke and dance around- which was quite entertaining, as the radio booth was just across the river so the music was loud!

The race winners arrived at our spot about 14 minutes after the race started.

The river was much higher than normal, due to the great amounts of rain we've had this spring and summer.  This hampered the excitement of the river crossing, as teams were required to follow the ropes tied across the river and no overtaking (passing) was permitted.

It was pretty fun watching them all slither and slide trying to get out of the river!

Many teams had to wait their turn due to the safety limitations on the river crossing- boring for us spectators, but probably welcome by the exhausted runners!

You can see the apprehension on this rider's face- and she wasn't even one of the ones screaming!

While they did remove their costumes and bed decor, many teams still bore trace remnants of their themes!

To be honest, we didn't stay to the last team- we had a cook-out to get to with friends!