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New Faces and Fast Beds at 2025 Bedlam in Blairstown

Mecca Strength Club takes first, Princeton-Blairstown Center and FFA teams round out the top finishers.

October 20, 2025

BL_Bed_race_2025_01 Large — The rookie team from Mecca Strength Club took first place in this year’s Bedlam in Blairstown Bed Races. Photo by Joe Phalon.

While it might be a blanket statement to suggest everyone who participated in this year’s Bedlam in Blairstown Bed Races had fun, it’s safe to say they were well-covered.

Madder than hatters, the team calling itself the Fearsome Few finished in third place. Photo by Joe Phalon.

Part of the Blairstown Enhancement Committee’s Fall Festival, the Oct. 18 bed races once again featured fierce competition and several new faces among the winners.

Taking first place this year at the Footbridge Park mattress track was the Mecca Strength Club team. So yeah, maybe they had an advantage. But strength alone doesn’t make a winning bunk — ingenuity, cunning and guile also play a role.

Capturing the pumpkin along that track is one of the requirements to finish the race. Photo by Joe Phalon.

That was true for the Princeton-Blairstown Center, which took second. The team paced itself, beating its 30.13 seconds in the first heat with 29.30 seconds in the second.

Mecca, meanwhile, couldn’t top its first-heat performance. Whether the issue was pacing or strength distribution, we may never know. While they set the best score of 2025 with 26.61 seconds, they couldn’t crack that with a better time in the second heat finishing with a 26.72. Or maybe someone just had to tie a shoe or something. You can overanalyze these things sometimes.

Fear not, the Fearsome Few locked down third place with 31.36 seconds in the first heat and 30.36 in the second.

Halloween House of Peckville, out of Pennsylvania, finished fourth with 32.62 seconds, just ahead of Lobo Mixed Martial Arts of Blairstown, which clocked 33.36 seconds. Perhaps they’d finish higher in the Full-Contact Bed Races.

“We’d like to thank the Academy…” The North Warren High School Future Farmers of America proudly holds their runner-up trophy. Photo by Joe Phalon.

The North Warren High School Future Farmers of America edged out Murphy’s Tree Service for sixth with a time of 34.00 seconds. Murphy’s earned the coveted “As Far As You Can Get From First Place” trophy with 34.05. So close…yet so far.

But Adam Murphy, owner of Murphy’s Tree Service, said he was proud of his team’s effort.

“We came out here high-spirited, even though we’re a little middle-aged,” Murphy said. “We weren’t looking to do anything crazy. But it’s a beautiful day in Blairstown and we had a good time.”

Joe Phalon, Contributing Writer

Contributing Writer

Joe brings decades of journalism experience to the Ridge View Echo, covering everything from local school boards to the U.S. Supreme Court. A former National Law Journal editor and Columbia Law School press officer, he now enjoys telling community stories in Blairstown, where he lives with his wife, Rose, and their two dachshunds.