Get the Eyebleach Ready for This “Marathong”
Dateline – OrmistonHundreds of people lined Main Street at 10pm to cheer on the dozens of runners who pulled on nothing but skimpy underwear and trainers to take part in The Brave Mile ‘marathong’, in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support and to raise awareness of health issues for men.
And, after baring all, the runners – aged between 18 and 60 – were immortalised in their imaginative undies, from pink tutus to animal print thongs, by Ormiston-based photographer John McKenzie, to create a calendar that will be available to buy from the village’s Hopetoun Arms Hotel in two weeks’ time.
Organisers Alastair Hume and Ian Webb, co-owners of the Hopetoun Arms, came up with the idea for The Brave Mile after one too many drinks in the pub.
Reminds me of the “Naked Mile,” a now-defunct University of Michigan end-of-semester tradition which featured UM students running in the buff through campus. I witnessed the Naked Mile at the peak of its insanity in 1999 (when I was in graduate school). Tens of thousands of people crowded onto campus to watch a few hundred people (mostly guys) run. Many of the male spectators were taking pictures of the girls who were running. It was very creepy. After the craziness of the late 90s the UM campus police and the city of Ann Arbor started cracking down on the Naked Mile. After a few years of really bad April weather and increased vigilance, the NM passed into the history books permanently about five years ago.
I don’t think the NM was raising money for anything noble. It was just an excuse to get drunk and act stupid.
In Colorado they brought out the SWAT team to stop the naked pumpkin run. Tax dollars at work.