Get ready. Drop clothes. Run.
The Great Underwear Dash took off at lightning speed on campus Friday night as participants stripped down to their underwear and dashed from Turlington Plaza. They avoided running into cars and received hoots and hollers from people in midtown as they ran down University Avenue, turned around at Buckman Drive and ended back in Turlington.
More than 1,000 people attended the run, which has been a semi-annual school tradition since UF alumnus Beau Bergeron created the first underwear dash in 2005.
Event organizer Josh Kelley, a 20-year-old mathematics junior, said tallying the number of attendees is difficult.
At 11:30 p.m., participants threw their clothes into a large pile and took off running.
The clothing will be donated to the Student Alumni Association Operation Cover-up Gainesville campaign.
Some girls wore sports bras and shorts and Victoria's Secret lacy underwear ensembles, and guys donned colorful boxers and man-thongs.
Greg Accocella, an 18-year-old psychology freshman, wore a pair of pink, heart-designed boxer shorts and a purple Victoria's Secret bra, which he borrowed from some of his female friends.
"It looks dead sexy," Accocella said. "I've been receiving a lot of compliments."
One girl wore a neon-green body suit and a Bud Light Lime box on her head with holes cut in it so she could see.
Kelly Youngquest, a 21-year-old general education student at Edison State College, traveled from Punta Gorda, Fla., to attend. Youngquest and her friends rode their unicycles instead of running.
Eighteen-year-old freshmen Justin Kelsey, a business management major, and Jacob Turner, a biology major, lit the way for the crowd by wearing yellow hard hats, bow-ties and man-thongs with a shining light attached.
"We wanted to lead the pack," Kelsey said.
The Great Underwear Dash took place Friday night and started on Turlington Plaza. Participants' clothes will be donated to the Student Alumni Association Operation Cover-Up Gainesville campaign.
