The Run
The run's head (top) is located under the remains of a Twelfth-century church, torn down in 1890, known as the 'Leaning Tower'. The overall total drop is 157 m (514 ft) and the gradient varies from 2.8 to 1 to 8.7 to 1 (length to drop).
The modern Cresta track is not shared with bobsled, unlike the first half-pipe sledding track built by hotelman Caspar Badrutt for his guests. Most of it is located within the contour of a steep ravine and it is created anew each winter using the rocky ravine and banks of earth as a buttressing bulwark for wooden framework and iced packed snow. It is owned and operated by an all-male club created in 1885 by British military officers with the official name of the St. Moritz Tobogganing Club (SMTC), but is generally, and more often, referred to as 'The Cresta Run'. The exclusion of women from the course, which is still enforced, dates from the late 1920s and was instituted because of injuries to female racers and a myth, although never proven, that excessive sledging caused breast cancer. It took official effect in 1929, though women had been banned from competitive events several years earlier.
The course has two entrances known in typical British understatement as 'top' and 'junction' respectively; and two parts, or banks, known as 'upper' and 'lower' or equivalently, 'bottom'. The entrance at junction is adjacent to the SMTC clubhouse and is about a third of the way down from 'top' as the sled slides. Similarly, the exit is simply called finish, and given a typical average speed of over fifty mph, an experienced rider will exit the course at over 80 mph.
The track served as host of the skeleton event for both the 1928 and the 1948 Winter Olympics.
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