Underpanters brave the cold

Runners head off at the start of the Undie 500 along Grandstand Rd at the Auckland Domain. Picture / Richard Robinson

Yards don't come much harder than those splashed out yesterday by a pair of practically nude, harum-scarum Aucklanders.

The inaugural Undie Five-Hundy race at the Auckland Domain probably sounded like a simple idea when first proposed by the Newmarket Business Association.

Supporters of the All Blacks and Lions were invited to strip down to their undies and tear across the Domain in the hope of claiming some generous shopping vouchers.

Sadly, the rain refused to play along and the waterlogged playing fields remained closed.

So while the field of 10 were saved from a potentially messy bogsnorkling race, they were instead instructed to bound along a rather ropey strip of asphalt footpath.

Good as gold for the non-athletes who delicately picked their way to the finish line, but potentially nasty for the pair of local footy players who dug it in and fought it out tooth and nail to the finish.

After a sodden shoulder to shoulder sprint, in front of about 70 quizzical spectators, Dane Pablecheque beat the doughty Greg Ma'a-Marshall to the line by the width of a cheek before both dived face first into the gravel. Nasty.

The resulting grimaces, blood and abrasions made for a rather dramatic award ceremony, especially with Mr Ma'a-Marshall from the North Shore quietly insisting, between gasps, that he'd won. "Did you get a photo of the finish?" he asked.

Those Lions' fans on hand were nowhere near as serious. They only put forward a single, boxer-short-wearing entrant who had enough native Irish luck to come away unscathed, apart from the psychic scars caused by trailing behind an odd bloke in a G-string.

So, was it worth it?

"At the moment, no," winced Mr Pablecheque, a beefy 18-year-old member of the Northcote under-21s, as he dabbed at the wounds on his arm. "The cold made it so much harder, but hopefully it'll feel better when I get my breath back."