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Girls: bunhuggers or shorts???
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 14, 2000 6:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi,

My name is Emma, I'm 15, I run 800m and XC and I live in Kinsale, southern Ireland.

In my country all women and girls run in what we call athletics briefs and I believe you Americans call "bunhuggers". I love that name!

When I first started running about a year ago I really hated them because I felt really exposed, it was like running about in my undies, and I thought a lot of pervy guys would be looking at me.

I thought I might be getting used to them when I saw an American magazine where maybe half the girls and women were running in shorts, and a few even in long trousers. Wow!

How does it work in your country? Does everybody get to wear what they want, or is it maybe that certain schools insist on briefs/bunhuggers and others on shorts? Are there any schools or running clubs where they *make you* wear shorts or trousers? That must be really weird!!!

What do you prefer and why?


thanx


Emma

[Anonymously Posted by: 'Emma Burton']
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Dan
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 14, 2000 7:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Being a guy, I can't exactly comment on preferences... I believe schools must decide on a consistent outfit for the team, be it shorts or "bunhuggers," but at least some teams are able to decide for themselves on a yearly basis. I doubt there are any such regulations for club competition, but I could be wrong. High school and college tends to over-regulate such things...

Dan
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 14, 2000 10:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It must be really strange to be at a school where you get to vote every year on shorts or bunhuggers. What happens if there's a change - I guess the girls have to throw their old gear away?

Also what happens in races, do you ever get one school in shorts and the other in briefs/bunhuggers?

Also Dan what's your perspective as a guy? Be honest, do you ever look at girls in bunhuggers in a pervy way?

[Anonymously Posted by: 'Emma Burton']
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Dan
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 15, 2000 4:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Oh sure, put me on the spot... Smile

Most, if not all, schools keep the uniforms each year and merely check them out to the athletes, so the old gear would probably be kept in storage. It's quite common to see a race with different schools wearing the different types of outfits. Here are a few such examples.

As far as preferences, I suppose it can be appealing or unappealing, so it's pretty much a toss up in my mind.

Dan
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 15, 2000 12:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dan, thanx for the link.

I looked at your site, and for 23 Sept 2000 you had some pix of the girls team. I guess your school is the one with the white singlets and dark red shorts. At first I thought all the girls from your school were in shorts until I noticed just one girl on the very right of the picture (the one where they're waiting for the start), who is wearing normal briefs/bunhuggers.

So is it that each girl gets to choose, or the coach has a certain number of items of clothing which are given out first come first served?

Also I did see some other girls in the pictures who were wearing briefs/bunhuggers - some are in all green, others all purple. Looking at the pictures, though I don't really love wearing them myself, I can see they are more ladylike.

Things are really different in your country than mine. We have to buy all our own sports kit, it isn't given to us by our schools.

[Anonymously Posted by: 'Emma Burton']
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Dan
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 15, 2000 6:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Actually, the girl on the right of that picture is not part of our team. I think she might have been running unattached, but I don't know who it is.

The team as a whole chooses; I don't know of any situations where the coach chooses for the athletes, but I'm sure it has happened. In general, the bigger schools go with the more "elite" outfits, which tends to be bunhuggers for women and bodysuits for sprinters. The runners in green would be U of Oregon.

Dan
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 23, 2000 1:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Emma, as Dan has said most schools do take a vote every couple of years. I think most go for huggers because they project a more competitive image.

Personally I too feel self conscious in them and I have had a couple of scary incidents where guys yelled unwelcome comments but I agree they're more professional and streamlined so I know it's the right thing to wear them

[Anonymously Posted by: 'Cath']
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 27, 2000 9:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I really love wearing bun huggers, they are realy comfortable and I don't understand why any girl or woman would want to run in shorts except for wanting to look like the guys. It has been proven that buns make you quicker:

http://www.endureplus.com/attire.htm

[Anonymously Posted by: 'Dreamin Jo']
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Dan
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 28, 2000 5:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The article you refer to is hardly proof, and it does sort of admit to such. As I mentioned above, In general, the bigger schools go with the more "elite" outfits. Odds are very good that the better runners are wearing body suits or bunhuggers and the same runners would dominate regardless of how they were attired.

Clothing may well make a difference in shaving hundreths of a second at the championship level, but it's very unlikely it is a telling sign prior to that point. If you feel faster in them, you probably will run faster.

Dan
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 29, 2000 2:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dan,

I have another theory for why the article that Jo linked to could be right about bunhuggers making girls run faster.

When I first started to run I was, let's say, a little bit of a lardy-butt. Do you have this expression in America? It means my bottom was bigger and wobblier than it ought to be.

If I'd been allowed to run in shorts or trakkie trousers I probably wouldn't have done much about it but because I felt so exposed in running briefs I lost about half a stone in weight and also did a lot more exercise, especially circuit training.

I would imagine that the embarrassment of having to wear what you Americans call bunhuggers is behind a lot of girls getting in shape (which would tend to make them more competitive). Maybe that's why so many schools and colleges keep making girls run in them, despite so many of us really hating them?

Also it may explain why Ireland, which is a really small country, has so many talented international runners compared to the number of men at the same level.


Emma

[Anonymously Posted by: 'Emma Burton']
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 29, 2000 3:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Emma,

Good point -- that's largely what I meant by, "if you feel faster in them, you probably will run faster." So much of it comes down to perceived value and its effect on overall motivations. Anything that makes you dedicated to training and conditioning is bound to be a good thing. Smile

Interesting observation about the Irish men and women. Is it true that there are significantly more internationally competitive women? I thought it was fairly even...

Dan
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 29, 2000 4:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dan,

Thanks for your message. I guess I would say "if you feel *fatter* in them, you'll get in shape, which will make you run faster". A lot of girls don't feel too good about how they look in bunhuggers and yet they do seem to help with running fast.

I have another question for you and any girls here which is (slightly) like one I asked before. I've looked on the various Run-Down photo galleries and in pretty much every race all the girls are wearing only bunhuggers apart from maybe one who if you look closely is in shorts (or in a couple of the XC pics, trakkie trousers).

When 95% of the girls are having to run in briefs and there's just the occasional runner in shorts, don't the girls who have to wear the bunhuggers resent the ones in shorts?

I'm trying to imagine what it would be like in Ireland if a few girls had special dispensation to wear trousers and I think they would get bullied and called names something rotten by the others.

xxEmmaxx

[Anonymously Posted by: 'Emma Burton']
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Dan
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 29, 2000 5:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Fatter, faster, what's the difference? Wink

I doubt there's any real resentment. Us ugly Americans are much more friendly than that... Shocked If I were wearing something I thought made me faster, I certainly wouldn't resent those who chose not to wear it -- their loss.
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 29, 2000 6:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dan,

You have a nice way of putting things. I started off, seeing American girls running in shorts in magazines, feeling jealous. But now you have made me think of it differently, that I'm the lucky one to be in bunhuggers like the pro's.

Thanx!

xxEmmaxx

[Anonymously Posted by: 'Emma Burton']
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 07, 2000 9:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Dan!

I've found another reason to be happy about having to run in briefs aka bunhuggers.
I've just been to the irishrunner.com website and there's a report on the NCAA national championships which I think happened somewhere in America a couple of weeks ago. Runners competed from lots of different countries, including a few from Ireland.
Apparently the temperature was *really* cold, way below freezing, with wind chill on top. It was so cold that most of the girls wore trakkie trousers, tights or at least shorts. Our three brave Irish girls though, not being allowed any of these options, kept going in their usual kit.
Here's what Kathryn Casserly said about the weather when she was interviewed after the race: "The weather was grand! It wasn't too bad. It was 20 when I ran with wind chills being negative 17 degrees. It's the coldest I ever ran. You just have to hang in there and be tough."
There's a full report and pictures at:

http://irishrunner.com/xcnc00.html

[Anonymously Posted by: 'Emma Burton']
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