the toboggan on the course. The ten corners on

the Cresta Run are actually designed to throw

you off the course if you aren’t able to steer the

toboggan and control its speed.

Lord Wrottesley wished me luck, told me to

enjoy the experience, warned me not to try to

go too fast first time out and told me to watch

out for the bend that they called Shuttlecock.

The speed, of course, was what I was there

for. Doing the Cresta Run was the best way to

get me used to travelling down a slope, head

first on my belly, with the ground rushing past

just a couple of inches from my nose. That was

Above: The Cresta Run injury skeleton with what looks
like a man with a moustache wearing a shirt and tie in
his stomach.

220    world’s fastest sled

something that I wanted to experience as part

of my preparations for the supersled record.

The following day, having already applied to

the SMTC to take part in a beginners’ session,

I trudged up through the snow to the clubhouse

at 7.45 a.m. – reporting three-quarters of an hour

before the run was due to open, as instructed.

I was then issued with a helmet, knee pads,

elbow pads, hand guards and boots with special

spikes sticking out of the toes. Remember Rosa

Klebb in From Russia with Love trying to put the

boot in on Sean Connery with a poison-tipped

dagger sticking out from the toe cap? She’d have

loved these boots. The spikes, as I was about to

learn, are your brakes and your steering gear.

To guide the toboggan, also referred to as a

‘bucket’, round the bends, you shift your weight,

going from the normal downhill position of

both hands gripping at the front of the bucket

to having one hand gripping at the rear down by

your thigh. With your left hand back, you can

lean left and guide the bucket left. Touching

your left-foot spikes on the ice will also help

you to turn left.

Before I, or any of the other beginners, were

allowed on to the course, we had to attend

the briefing in the clubhouse, where it was

explained to us exactly why what we were

about to do was so dangerous. Over the years

the Cresta Run has broken every bone in the

human body (not all on the same bloke, but they

did have a skeleton image made up of different

X-rays to prove that all of the bones had been

done) and pulped quite a few major organs into

the bargain. There have been four deaths on the

run, which I thought was quite a good safety

Top: Helmet on. Right,

let’s get cracking!

Bottom: Ready for the

off and . . . you want me

to wear what?