Bed race is Annandale tradition

The beds lined up in the parking lot of Magill’s restaurant in Annandale Saturday morning are for racing, not sleeping. About a dozen teams raced around the parking lot in the annual Hospital Bed Race hosted by the Annandale Chamber of Commerce. The event is a fundraiser for the Virginia Special Olympics. 

For the second year in a row, a team co-sponsored by Rep. Gerry Connolly and Beanetics Coffee Roasters won the race. The two other finalists were teams from the Arlington Sheriff’s Office and Burke & Herbert Bank.

Neither Connolly nor Mason Supervisor Penny Gross rode in their team’s beds, but Board of Supervisors Chair Sharon Bulova rode in a bed pushed by Fairfax County firefighters.

Navy Federal Credit Union’s bed, designed as a helicopter with an open shark mouth, won the award for best decorated bed. Navy Federal’s otter mascot won the award for best dancing mascot, and TD Bank’s team won the award for most enthusiastic.

This was the first time the bed race was held at Magill’s. In past years, it’s been at the Kmart parking lot and  John Marr Drive. Sears Holding Corp., the owner of Kmart, no longer allows community events on its properties.