Florida relays jsem navštívil, o Naked relays jsem bohužel nevěděl (i když už to teď není na dráze), to jsem tam přitom byl
he University of Florida has the Naked Relays the night following the end of the Florida Relays. It has been going on since the (I'm told early) 1970s.
At midnight, after the Florida Relays is over, teams used to run a naked 4x400 on the track. Spikes, batons, the whole thing. It was very serious, and there were usually a dozen or so teams that participated, including women's teams. I'm told by some old timers that into the 80s there would be several hundred fans in the stands to watch it.
I've never seen this article, so debunk this if you want....Legend has it that in 1984ish, a Sports Illustrated reporter was in the stands watching as Villanova and another team leaned at the line for a very tight finish. There was much argument over who won. The SI reporter put the story in SI. The story came to the attention of the Chancellor of Villanova. The problem is that, Florida Relays sometimes coincides with Easter weekend, and since it was past midnight, they ran this race on Easter Sunday. The chancellor of Villanova was not happy, and called the president of UF. Since then, the UF police have made great efforts to shut down the Naked Relays - at least on campus.
I do know that last part to be true, because the cops are stationed at the track to prevent it from happening there again. Also, I have been present as the cops chased everyone off the golf course one night - naked people fleeing everywhere was quite a sight. I know guys who ran it on a quad in the middle of campus several years before the golf course night. In more recent years, there is a huge after party at some house or apartment complex following the Florida Relays. The Naked Relays have unfortunately been relegated to the party - running around parking lots or around the block. One year the party was a big white house on East University Ave, the exchange zone was the back yard, the runners ran around the block and came through the front door of the house, the living room, the kitchen, then the back door of the house to exchange in the back yard again. Tennessee pulled off the win as Leonard Scott anchored them home. He then strutted around the crowd pounding his chest screaming that we need to "take this shit to the track cuz I'll run 20-point balls hangin out and all!" That night, I think there were 8 men's teams and I know there were two women's teams - Tennessee and (I think) Western Michigan. In those days I was a track official for UF, and we had 5 of us officials at the party "officiating" the race.
Good times. I'd love to see it return to the track, though.