Andrew Hedges (16 September 1935 – 1 October 2005) was born in

South Moreton South Moreton is a village and civil parish in South Oxfordshire, England, about east of Didcot, west of Wallingford, and south of Abingdon. It is only separated by the Great Western Railway cutting from its twin village of North Moreton, a ...

, Oxfordshire and came from a family of farmers that owned a string of butcher’s shops across the country. He attended

Radley College Radley College, formally St Peter's College, Radley, is a public school (independent boarding school for boys) near Radley, Oxfordshire, England, which was founded in 1847. The school covers including playing fields, a golf course, a lake, and ...

before being commissioned into the British Army and serving in the

Household Cavalry The Household Cavalry (HCav) is made up of the two most senior regiments of the British Army, the Life Guards and the Blues and Royals (Royal Horse Guards and 1st Dragoons). These regiments are divided between the Household Cavalry Regiment st ...

. He briefly relocated to Switzerland and later joined the British bobsleigh team before his selection to the 1964 Olympic team to compete at Innsbruck. There, he competed in the two-man event alongside fellow Radley classmate

Bill McCowen Bill McCowen (born 31 March 1937) is a British bobsledder. He competed in the two-man and the four-man events at the 1964 Winter Olympics The 1964 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IX Olympic Winter Games (german: IX. Olympische Wint ...

and the four-man event alongside McCowen, Robin Seel and Robin Widdows. Hedges later became a noted race car driver in the 1960s, competing at six editions of the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...

between 1964 and 1970. His finest achievement as a racing driver was in winning the gruelling 84-hour race, Marathon de la Route, with Belgian co-driver Julien Vernaeve, over the old

Nürburgring The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Formula One, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around t ...

circuit in 1966. Hedges was also an avid powerboat racer and took part in the Cowes-Torquay race. In 1966, he competed in the Miami to Nassau race with his partner, the infamous

Lord Lucan Richard John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan (born 18 December 1934 – disappeared 8 November 1974, declared dead 3 February 2016), commonly known as Lord Lucan, was a British peer who disappeared after being suspected of murder. He was an Anglo ...

. Their boat “Migrant” was the first single-engine boat to finish. He later moved to

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

to pursue business interests and remained there until his death in 2005. .

References

External links

* 1935 births 2005 deaths British male bobsledders Olympic bobsledders for Great Britain Bobsledders at the 1964 Winter Olympics Sportspeople from Oxfordshire British racing drivers {{UK-bobsleigh-bio-stub