Preston looking for fastest bed
Every year dozens of people gather about 30 miles north of Logan for theannual Preston City International Championship Bed Race.
“We absolutely have a blast watching the race,” said Penny Christensen,executive director of the Preston City Chamber of Commerce. “One year ourbed ran over my husband.”
Race participants admit the event is a little quirky, but from the townthat brought the world “Napolean Dynamite,” we shouldn’t expect anythingless.
Teams push beds down Main Street in hopes of winning the $150 cash prize. Even losers get to take home a special bed race T-shirt.
Each team consists of 10 participants. To start the race, four runners”make the bed” by placing any sort of covering over the team’s bed. Thenone person hops on the bed and is pushed for half a block where thatperson exchanges nightgowns with another member of the team, and four others push the bed another half-block to the finish line.
“My brothers always joke about winning it,” said Cassidy Campbell, asophomore at USU. “Since it’s the International Bed Race, ifthey win, they’re the champions of the world.”
Campbell competed in the event in 2005 and took second place. Five of theseven children in her family have competed in the race at one time oranother, winning several times.
Recently, a TV station in Japan called to ask about the race. The group is considering sending over a team to participate in this year’s event, held Nov. 25, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, said race director Tracie Ransom .
“It really would be an international bed race if they came,” she said.
Each year, the race attracts around 10 teams, Ransom said. One year theyhad 18. Every year, the race attracts many of the same local teams, butoccasionally others will join the event as well.
“One time, the LDS Seminary team drew out to race against Owl Billiards,” Ransom said, referring to a local bar. “That team joked that is wasn’t fair because the seminary team had an extra guy.
A team from Bed, Bath & Beyond came one year with a bed that lookedlike a shower, Ransom said. Each team member also wore shower caps forthe race. Another year, several local bus drivers made a bed that lookedlike a bus and entered it in the race. Last year a team competed with afold-up bed.
“It just looked like a big hot dog,” Ransom said.
Awards are given out each year for the best-decorated bed and best teamcostumes. To register for the race, students can contact Tracie Ransom at(208) 852-4112. The entry deadline is Nov. 17. Cost is $5 per team,which includes a free T-shirt for all participants.
Few college students ever participate in the race except for the fewlocals that come home for the holidays, Ransom said.
“USU students need to stop being babies and step up and join the race,”Ransom said.