A ‘fearless’ 72-year-old British man has died after crashing as he tobogganed down the notorious Cresta Run in Switzerland – while his family watched. If you can show blood you get the red tie. He was a careful rider.’, Ralph Hubbard, pictured left, at St Moritz with his toboggan, preparing for a run down the Crest Run, right. The Cresta Run toboggan track in Switzerland has voted to overturn an 89-year ban on women racing its course. This site uses cookies. The Swiss town has long been known as a centre for winter sports and by the 1870s was overrun by holidaying ladies and gentleman riding rickety but steerable homemade sledges. ‘We’ve flown together to lots of places and he was a superb pilot.’. It is believed that he was riding an old-fashioned heavy sled rather than a modern lightweight carbon design when he crashed, and that it may have struck him on the head. And anyway, on most days I drive along the A1307 to Haverhill which has a worse record. It allows our most engaged readers to debate the big issues, share their own experiences, discuss real-world solutions, and more. The former jeweller, from Alderney in the Channel Islands, had been on holiday with his partner, artist Susie Whitcombe, and two sons and a daughter from a previous marriage. It is an extraordinary place, invented and run by hearty British types. Independent Premium Comments can be posted by members of our membership scheme, Independent Premium. Want an ad-free experience?Subscribe to Independent Premium. Farm Heroes Saga, the #4 Game on iTunes. You can also choose to be emailed when someone replies to your comment. The committee members were Major William Henry Bulpett (founder of the St. Moritz To… The Cresta Run and the St Moritz Tobogganing Club (SMTC) were founded by devotees of sledding – tobogganing in common parlance – who adopted a head-first technique of racing down the icy run in the winter sports town of St Moritz. The current record-holder for speed is Irishman Lord Clifton Wrottesley, who cleared the track in 49.92 seconds in 2015. “Now I have to think of something dangerous to do next January.”. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. He was wearing a helmet, a back protector and was very switched on to the dangers. The challenge is considerable – indeeed so considerable that some do not survive. Then, if you can, you must stand up and signal with both arms that you are alive. Located in the winter sports town of St. Moritz, the 1.2125 km (0.753 mi) run is one of the few in the world dedicated entirely to skeleton. A lot of members have known him for a long time. Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile. Poor Lord Willoughby has four bolts in his neck where he broke it.”. You see your name up in lights on the Olympic-style board. He decided last year that his own time had come – to do the Cresta Run, that is. I was told the story of Cresta legend, Lord Bledisloe, who once ran over his own hand, pulled off a bloodied glove, shook out a severed digit and declared: "Never mind. Beginners on the Cresta Run. The event is described as ‘the last bastion of amateur sport’ and is the only toboggan run in the world devoted to head-first sledding.