WINTER SPORTS

‘Crazy’ adrenaline-seekers become first women to race Cresta Run in 90 years

Geoffrey Dean meets India Ford, who was the first woman to tackle the Run after a ban was lifted

Women were banned from racing down the Cresta Run from 1929 until Ford became the first this winter
Women were banned from racing down the Cresta Run from 1929 until Ford became the first this winter
WILL WEBB
The Times

A dozen women have so far taken the opportunity to ride the Cresta Run this season, after a 90-year-old ban on them from racing was lifted by the St Moritz Tobogganing Club last summer. The very first female down the Run this winter was India Ford, a 19-year-old Australian student from the University of Edinburgh, who admits that her friends think she is “crazy” to attempt it. Remarkably, she was followed down early in the new year by not only by her three sisters but also her mother.

The concept of the Cresta Run, which was first built over the winter of 1884-5, was dreamt up by five perennial British guests at the neighbouring Kulm Hotel, who formed its splendidly-named “outdoor amusements committee”. Indeed,