Naked Sledding Event Draws 14K to Small Town

(MYFOX NATIONAL) - A small town in Germany had to quickly find a way to deal with a crowd of 14,000 who came to be spectators for a sledding event where participants stripped down to practically nothing.

German news site The Local reports that 14,000 people came out to the German town of Braunlage to witness 30 people get practically naked before sledding down a mountain. The BBC has video of the contest.

A radio station sponsored the event and authorities in the Lower Saxon area of Germany were taken by surprise with the sudden influx of people. Police weren’t quite sure what to do.

Braunlage police chief Michael Huth said, “The traffic is huge problem for us.”

The race took the sled riders, who stripped down to their underwear, down a course that was a little 300 feet. Christian Schmidt, a 26-year-old from the town of Blankenburg won the race reports The Local .

Although Schmidt won, crowds were more impressed with a 70-year-old man who decided to strip and race down the hill after the race had concluded.

“We had a lot of luck with the weather. A proper winter for naked sledging,” André Gierke from the radio station said. (Warning: the reports contain nudity.)

Wacky winter sports and events can be witnessed around the world.

This past January in Vladivostok, Russia the China Economic Net web site reports that Russian ice swimmers known as “walruses” were eager to compete in a winter swimming competition. The swimmers believe that it is necessary to swim in the cold water to prevent sickness as they go through the long winters.

In America, winter swimmers are often a part of the Polar Bear Club . Founded by Bernarr Macfadden in 1903, he believed that swimming in the winter ocean built stamina, virility, and immunity.