Hundreds of people gathered at the St. Marc Hill in Surbiton on October 14 to watch an unorthodox annual ski race.
Those who were brave enough to take part had to attach slippery ice cubes to their shoes and slide down a 21-meter long track surrounded by a cheering crowd.
This year’s latest addition to the show was a bathtub in which any volunteer could slither down provided he or she wore a shower cap.
The host and the organizer of the event, Robin Hutchinson, labeled it as “community strengthening nonsense” and was poking at the participants throughout the show.
Many of the skiers failed in their fight against gravity, including Kingston Borough Councillor Malcolm Self, who nevertheless managed to finish the distance.
Before starting the race, MP for Kingston and Surbiton and government minister Ed Davey said that he had done this four years ago.
He added: “I’m coming back again for a rematch. I managed to stay on my feet last time but it was a very slow score, 35 seconds so I’m going to try to beat that.”
Mr Davey accomplished his goal with a new personal record of 24.12 seconds.
Meanwhile, a giant guinea pig (with the landlord of the Lamb pub Adam Lewis inside) trailed just two seconds behind Mr Davey.
But the individual world record which stands at 10.54 seconds, remained unbeaten as the current record holder Jack Dimes was unable to compete after he was knocked off a bicycle several weeks ago.
Although he did make an appearance going down in the a bathtub.
The Sunday’s winner in individual pursuit was the last person to take on the race.
“That was pretty cool actually. It’s all good. It’s all for charities and at the end of the day it is a good experience,” said Marcel Thornton, 34, after being pronounced the winner with the result of 13.81 seconds.
The event was staged by a local club of British cheese-lovers Homage de Fromage to raise money for the Shooting Star Chase Children’s Hospice.
Mr Hutchinson, the mastermind behind this and many other local events, said: “To me if you laugh with somebody, that creates a bond. In the end of it, the way you get to know each other is smiling and laughter”
He added: “It is the most expressive way we can do it, and we try to create opportunities for people to laugh. And they might be laughing at us, that is fine. But hopefully, they are laughing with us which is even better.”
With all the painful falls, Kingston MP Ed Davey and giant guinea pigs on the Surbiton Ski race track one might wish to see it in action, but why wait for next year when it’s now available to see on the Kingston Courier’s Youtube channel.
