An Oxford student has been selected as one of ten finalists in an attempt to represent Great Britain in the Naked Sledding World Championship 2014.
Francis Thomas, a fresher at Brasenose, has been entered into a public vote to determine which contestants will make up the two-person UK Championship team. 30 male and female participants representing 15 different countries will compete in a bare-all sledding race in Germany.
The winners of the Naked World Sledding Championship will be the first man and woman to cross the finish line at the end of an 89 metre downhill course. The agency’s website claims that, “Huge crowds will turn out to admire the unique sporting spectacle of men and women careering down the snowy tracks wearing nothing but a helmet and their pants.”
For the rest of the year, Braunlage is a spa town and health resort, but on the day of the Naked Sledding World Championship, huge crowds arrive to witness the event. In 2012, more than 25,000 gathered at the resort. More than 5000 people have applied worldwide to represent their countries at the Championship this year.
Offering thoughts on the unusual sport, James Baker, the undergraduate Sports Rep at St Anne’s College, said, “Extreme sports are always the most entertaining. It’s just a shame I can’t offer it as a college sport.”
Event sponsors Chillisauce.co.uk’s National Sledding World Championship webpage describes Thomas as “a lacrosse expert with magnificent calves (his words not ours), Francis categorises himself as ‘being heavy and fast on a sled.’ He may also be the only Oxford student in history with the ability to carry a pint on his head, which makes him OK in our book.”
Mike Chidzey, a spokesperson for Chillisauce.co.uk, said, “We’re ecstatic that so many people applied – we hoped for a large number of applicants in order to have a wide variety for the top 10, but we never imagined that almost 500 people would apply to represent the UK at the Naked Sledding World Championship. We had such a hard choice when selecting the top 10, but now we need the public’s help to determine the two lucky winners. Get voting today!”
News of the competition has both amused and bemused Oxford students. One Oxford student commented, “As a lifelong wintersports enthusiast, this takes ‘getting back to nature’ to a whole new level. Although you’d never catch me stripping off my ski gear, good luck to team GB!”
However, scepticism about the desirability of participation persisted. Matt Morrow, St Anne’s Entz rep, suggested, “He’s going to discover a new meaning of friction burn. And not the good kind.”
The Championship will be broadcast live on the Chillisauce.co.uk blog site. Results of the vote will be announced on Wednesday 5th February.
