Editing Cresta Run (section)

{{Short description|Natural ice skeleton racing toboggan track in eastern Switzerland}}
[[Image:Image-Start Cresta.jpg|thumb|240px|Start at Cresta Run]]
{{Coord|46.5025749|N|9.8450459|E|scale:5000|display=title}}
{{For|the racehorse|Cresta Run (horse)}}
{{Refimprove|date=July 2022}}
{{Location map
|Alps
|relief     = 1
|label      = Cresta<br>&nbsp;Run
|lat        = 46.5
|long       = 9.84
|caption    = Location in the [[Alps]] of [[Europe]]
|float      = 
|background= 
|width      = 240
}}

The '''Cresta Run''' is a natural ice track in eastern-Switzerland used for [[skeleton (sport)|skeleton]]-toboggan racing. Located in the [[winter sports]] town of [[St. Moritz]], the {{convert|1.2125|km|mi|3|abbr=on}} run is one of the few in the world dedicated entirely to skeleton. It was built in 1884 near the [[hamlet (place)|hamlet]] of Cresta in the municipality of [[Celerina/Schlarigna]] by the Outdoor Amusement Committee of the Kulm Hotel and the people of St. Moritz. It has continued as a partnership to this day between the St. Moritz Tobogganing Club (SMTC), founded in 1887, and the people of St. Moritz.

The sport of [[intramural]]{{clarify | reason = Unusual word; unclear in which sense it is meant. Does it literally mean that run is between walls of snow or ice?|date=February 2014}} sled racing originated in winter resort activities at the [[Kulm Hotel St. Moritz]] during the early 1870s. SMTC members still congregate for lunch in the 'Sunny Bar' at the Kulm. In the early days of competitive sledding, the predominant style was [[luge]]-style racing, lying on one's back, but the invention of the flexible runner sled ([[Flexible Flyer]]) in 1887, known colloquially as 'the America', led to one Mr. Cornish using the head-first style in the 1887 Grand National. He finished fourteenth due to some erratic rides but established a trend, and by the 1890 Grand National all competitors were riding head-first.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.cresta-run.com/about-the-smtc/about-the-smtc/ |title=About the SMTC |access-date=2013-11-13 |archive-date=2018-02-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180220022402/http://www.cresta-run.com/about-the-smtc/about-the-smtc/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> The head-first style for a time became known as 'Cresta' racing.