Bed Races, held each year on the Wednesday before the Lehigh-Lafayette rivalry game, are a beloved and highly anticipated tradition celebrating Lehigh’s engineering legacy.
The tradition started in the 1960s, when engineering students would push their own beds down the Hill as part of Greek Week, which was held each spring.
With little safety protocol and a precarious course, the races were eventually discontinued. However, the class of 2012 petitioned the administration to reinstate the tradition, and with added safety measures, students could again race their beds.
The newly revived tradition was held in the fall as part of Spirit Week and is now a popular event among students. The Association of Student Alumni organizes the event, along with the Development and Alumni Relations Office.
This year the races were held on Nov. 20 along Packer Avenue. During the event, students team up into groups of five and create a team name and costumes to match. Two team members sit in the wheeled bed with the front passenger steering, while the other three members push it.
Sam Perry, the associate director of student engagement, was responsible for much of the logistics and said planning for the event has been ongoing since the summer. Organizational efforts began at the beginning of the semester once student leaders were on campus and available to participate.
While some parts are done far in advance — such as requesting permission from the City of Bethlehem to shut down Packer Avenue — many of the last-minute details are completed in the week leading up to the event.
“Lehigh students are next to none,” Perry said. “They put a lot of pressure on themselves, so this event is so important to me because it reminds them it's OK to be silly and to have fun just for the sake of having fun.”
Last year a record 40 teams participated in the races, but Perry said they capped the number at 32 this year to make an evenly distributed bracket, running down Packer Avenue, encouraged by the cheers of fellow students lining the street.
Team members gathered Monday for a mandatory safety meeting, where organizers explained safety measures, rules and procedures for the evening’s event.
“It's an opportunity to go over rules and regulations because we don't want students to get disqualified because they didn't know of a certain rule,” Perry said.
It’s also a chance for students to get excited about the event and understand what the day will look like so things can move smoothly, she said. There are rule changes each year as organizers work to improve the safety and flow of the event.
Some of this year’s changes include barriers at the end of the course to keep onlookers away from the beds, a viewing area for teams so they don’t get lost in the crowd when it’s their turn to race, and equipping volunteers with the contact information of organizers in the case of any issues.
Perry emphasized the importance of safety throughout the bed races. Much of the changes over the years have revolved around the beds themselves.
In the past, students pushed actual beds — the same kind they had in their dorm rooms — in the races. In 2014, organizers decided to do away with these beds and asked the university’s Design Lab to create safer vehicles for the event.
Brian Slocum, the Design Labs director, was part of the team that engineered these beds. He said they drew inspiration from go-karts and classic metal bed frames for the design.
The final design is simple, with only a few moving parts, which Slocum said makes it safer because there are less components that could fail.
“That engineering design behind them isn't as simple as it looks, there's some choices there that were made that weren't obvious,” Slocum said. “In essence they're 4 wheels on a metal frame, so there's not a whole lot that can go wrong, and that's intentional.”
The beds were built with structural steel and are low to the ground with the tires placed on the outside to protect riders.
A steering wheel was also added in the redesign to prevent collisions, although they only turn about 15 degrees to prevent them from flipping over.
“We wanted the rider to be in an envelope that was relatively protected,” Slocum said. “We wanted the steering to be responsive so that the rider had control of where the bed was going instead of being reliant on pushers.”
He and his team also conduct safety checks each year before the races to ensure the beds remain safe to ride.
Jenna Rush ’28 is one of this year’s racers. She wanted to participate in a unique event with her friends and enjoy the opportunity to dress up and have fun with them.
Rush said she enjoyed seeing the campus community come together to show support for the university, and was especially excited to show her team spirit.
“It’s so much fun, I love all the banners hung up and I like how the Bed Races bring everyone together,” Rush said.
Along with Bed Races, Rivalry Week includes a 2.5-mile Turkey Trot, a steel beam crushing event held by the American Society of Civil Engineers in Fritz Laboratory, and banner making with Eco-Reps, a student group committed to promoting sustainability in resident halls and Greek houses. The week culminates in the Lehigh-Lafayette football game at noon on Nov. 22.
