Aged 13,I came second in the Baron Oertzen Handicap on the Cresta Run in 1951. I was taken to St Moritz, Switzerland, by my stepfather, Ralph, Lord Grimthorpe, a famous Cresta rider himself. I had hurt my ankle in a skiing fall but could still run and jump onto a toboggan.
Riding the Cresta is sliding down an iced toboggan run at more than 70mph, lying on your tummy with your face a couple of inches from the ice, on what looks like a large tea tray on runners.
In fact, the toboggan – or ‘skeleton' – under you is a steel structure on which much thought, money and effort have been expended over the years to get its rider to the Run's
