Naked on The Run: A New Craze for Racing in The Nude

[blank radar]

An article by Cecilia Rodriguez on Forbes. Since they're kind of strict about looking at their stuff online, here's a get-around:

It was to be just a small race, in “total freedom,” meaning with no sartorial restraints. In other words, running naked.

The organizers expected limited interest and a handful of participants.

“Be bold,” the Facebook invitation read. “Come participate in the running of Berck-sur-Mer! A 6 km race on one of the most beautiful beaches of the Opal Coast. Do you like to run naked or have you always dreamed of doing it? Come and join us.”

What the organizers at Berck-sur-Mer in the northern French department (state) of Pas-de-Calais didn’t imagine when they came up with the idea of a first naked running competition was its popular reception.

A few days after the announcement, and much to their surprise, they were overwhelmed with the widespread internet buzz. "We didn’t think it would arouse such interest," said Philippe Lehembre, president of Hauts-de-France Naturists organizers of the first “Naturopathic Foulées (Naturist Strides). "We thought we’d get 10 people.”

The post was viewed more than 600,000 times. Now they must alter their expectations, impose entry limits and fix the rules and organization of the competition scheduled for September 22.

“The wide sandy beach at Berck is a popular spot with nudists and the Hauts-de-France group organizes regular events in the area including picnics, mussels-french fries evenings and a naked bike ride,” reports The Local.

For the local authorities, “the problem is not that the public will be naked,” the Times of London wrote in an article entitled “Beach run undone by naked ambition.” Their concern is that the participation “is threatening to be so numerous that they will create disorder.”

Because they weren’t expecting so many naked runners, the organizers hadn’t even officially registered the event with local officials. Now the group was forced to apply for a permit and limit participants in the race, which features two laps around a three-kilometer circuit on the beach, to no more than 60.

“We have to limit ourselves to 60 participants to the kilometers of beach where nudism is tolerated,” said Lehembre, who thinks the popularity online was caused by "the poster that pleased because it soberly represents naked runners. The graphics are very nice. The speed of social networks did the rest."

For Daniel Morin, a commentator at France Inter, the explanation for such interest is beyond the poster: “It’s the total freedom! The liberated breasts, even the heaviest ones having the opportunity to disperse at the whim of the strides and all those little pairs of balls initially curled up by the frisky temperature of the North Sea and then gradually warming up....Yes, run finally free! It is a feeling of incredible well-being, a feeling of communion with the elements like no other.”

Nudism in France has become increasingly popular. “It’s enjoying a boom,” according to The Local. “And it isn't only the French who are prepared to let it all hang out in public.”   
Running Nude

Many foreigners, specially British have been enthusiastic participants in different nudist events such as the Parisian Day of Nudism (Journée Parisienne du Naturisme), which took place in June at the Bois de Vincennes and where hundreds of naturists gathered to sunbathe on the grass, have picnics, practice yoga and nude fitness.

So why travel all that way to get naked, the paper asks. "At the end of the 19th century, France became the birthplace of naturism," Julien Claudé-Pénégry, spokesperson for the Paris Association of Naturists (Association des Naturistes de Paris) answered. “It's simply about 'the art of living.’ We need sun and feeling it on your skin without clothes feels magical. Naturism is about respecting oneself, others and your environment.”

France is the top world destination for nudists, according to the association, with 3.5 million regular practitioners of which 1.5 million are French and two million are foreigners. "People find a lot of variety here. They can experience naturism in the countryside, by the mountains or the sea, or they can take part in the many cultural and sports events held for naturists."

[cdw]

Could be fun but running with no support also sounds mildly uncomfortable!

[Fishandchips]

Could be fun but running with no support also sounds mildly uncomfortable!

Some people can do it some can’t. I can’t run at all support or not

[blank radar]

Could be fun but running with no support also sounds mildly uncomfortable!

Some people can do it some can’t. I can’t run at all support or not

we'll all be there to support you in spirit

[Fishandchips]

Could be fun but running with no support also sounds mildly uncomfortable!

Some people can do it some can’t. I can’t run at all support or not

we'll all be there to support you in spirit

Nah, Spirits make me fall down 🥴

[Night Listener]

That nude run was scheduled for 2019. But it didn't take place, because the local authorities didn't give the permission for the event, so the organisers canceled it. That article must have been written before the event, there has been some attention because the announcement went viral on facebook (thus the refusal of the local authorities).

As far as I can see, there have been no follow-up events in Berck after that.

[rawnbare]

One can only run at jogging speeds when naked only to protect your jewels