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The first Utah Undie Run smashed the previous world record of a gathering of people in their underpants with 2,270 officially counted participants, although many more were in attendance dressed in costumes and other apparel. The Guinness Book of World Record committee certified that the event, which took place on Sept. 25 in Salt Lake City, is the largest recorded gathering of its kind. The previous record was 550 people and it was set in England.
One of the organizers of the event, Nate Porter, said while the world record is an admirable goal, the real goal was to show that Utah has open-minded people and doesn’t always fit the conservative stereotype.
“It was a huge success,” Porter said. “It’d be great to get the world record, but that was secondary to the larger goal of showing the world there’s a lot of cool people that live in Utah. We wanted everyone to know that not everyone who lives here supports Prop. 8 and crazy liquor laws. … It was a protest against being uptight.”
Many people painted or drew slogans about why they were running and some attendees sported pro-gay and lesbian messages, such as “No H8″ and “Equal rights.” Some had messages supporting transgender rights. Many supported such hot topics as liquor and huka laws. The gathering attracted people of all ages, races and although to be officially counted, participants had to be wearing only underwear, many people were in costumes.
The next Undie Run is scheduled for Aug. 25, 2012 and organizers hope to attract even more participants.
QSaltLake posted nearly 100 photos of the event on their Facebook page.
