The Cresta Run is a 1212.5 m long run in the Swiss winter sports town of St. Moritz. It is a male club created in 1895 by British Officers. Its official name is the St. Moritz Toboganning Club. Cresta is tobogganing head first 2 to 3 centimeters down an icy run. If you do not "work" on your turns, such as Thoma and Shuttleckock you are thrown away with often serious injuries. The top speed is around 140 Km/h. The Cresta was an Olympic Sport when the games were held twice in the Engadine valley in 1928 and 1948. It has an offspring called "bob-skeleton", which is now an Olympic discipline since the Salt Lake City games. Lord Wrottesley, a distinguished Cresta menber, finished fourth at the 2002 games. In 2006 the young Tyler Botha from South Africa qualified for the Torino games. Skeleton is done on bobsleigh runs where the rider cannot be ejected from the run.

While not snobbish, the Cresta Club gathers well-to-do gentlemen and is totally amateur. It has a lot of rites such as the "Firework", the "Shuttlecock Club" and a dedicated drink "the "Bullshot". It has even a secret society similar to the US "Skull and Bones". The good riders of the past were Nino Bibbia, Gunther Sachs and Billy Fiske, the first American pilot killed in World war II as a volunteer in the "Millionaire Squadron". Mike Digiacomo has written Up and Apparently Unharmed' an excellent book on this thrilling sport.

Among the best riders: the "American Count" Luca Marenzi, Dominik Ribbentrop owner of Stockinger Safety First Class , Arun Nayar-Hurley, the French Louis Piana and the gallant veteran Jean-Noël Prade owner of Gerovital cosmetics.

External link

• Official Website

Cresta Run