Club Information
The primary purpose of the 1300 member club founded in 1887 is "…the conduct of races and practice on the Cresta Run and the encouragement of tobogganing generally…" 2 While not snobbish, the Cresta Club gathers well-to-do gentlemen and is totally amateur. There are many more Luge and Bobsled runs world wide, but only one Cresta devoted to head first sledding promotion. The club asserts that most of the other sledding sports are dominated by professionals and it is one of the last bastions of the true amateur in sports.
Like many social clubs, members are elected from a list of qualifiers called the Supplementary List. The course is open to anyone that meets the three criteria for making that list, and need not be English. It has a lot of clubbish 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 historic Cresta run was used as a Winter Olympics course twice— both times during which the winter games were hosted in St. Moritz (1928 and 1948), such doubling being itself a rarity. The club sponsors over thirty races a season which generally runs from just before Christmas to late February. The track is opened as soon as it is seasonally possible to do so, and kept open in the same weather dependent manner like all natural ice and snow attractions.
Read more about this topic: Cresta Run
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