Earlier this year nearly 50 people lined up to brave the elements and bare their nether regions to take part in the annual Homer Tunnel Nude Run.

In what has become an annual tradition, the Nude Run attracts a diverse field of runners who are mostly drawn from the Milford Sound summer seasonal workforce.

Well known Fiordland businessman Rosco Gaudin of Rosco’s Milford Sea Kayaks, has been organising the event for the past 18 years and said this year’s field was down by about half with fewer workers based at Milford sound due to Covid-19.

Mr Gaudin said the runners lined up at the eastern portal and ran the entire length of the 1.2 kilometre tunnel wearing nothing but a smile and a pair of running shoes.

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“The run is a bit of fun” he said and in the end it was all in a good cause with several thousands of dollars having been raised for local Fiordland causes over the years.

This year the run produced eleven hundred dollars, despite the reduced field of runners, which was handed over to the Fiordland Marine Search and Rescue Trust (FMSAR).

Mr Gaudin said the FMSAR was an essential service formed in 2016.

There had been no dedicated emergency service in Fiordland prior to the formation of FMSAR, he said, and it was involved in about six search and rescue missions each year.

Last year the service rescued 24 people off the Great Walks tracks affected by a massive flood event in February 2020 just prior to New Zaland’s initial Covid-19 shut down.

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