|
One thing I like about this girl is she got away with it. Large crowds gathered with their cameras poised at lunchtime on at least two Friday's in the Tib Street city centre to witness a jogger wearing nothing more than a pair of trainers, a scorpion tattoo on her back, and a smile.
Word spread fast and her audience grew.
Mark Radcliffe, 35, who works in a shop in Tib Street said: "I've seen her a few times now.
News of what she had been doing got around. A crowd of about 50 people were waiting to see her last Friday. "
I even saw someone following her in a car trying to get a picture of her on the camera phone.
"It's all very light-hearted with people laughing and joking," he said.
"People seem pleased to see her, I don't think anyone is offended. Tib Street must be the place to be. I'd like to see a lot more of it myself!"
Another shopworker said: "This has happened quite a few times now.
" She's run up the street once and then down the street twice.
" I don't know if she goes anywhere else other than Tib Street."
One spectator added: "I don't suppose she's doing any harm. I wonder whether she's doing it for a bet."
"A lot of workmen showed up because they are building some flats nearby. No-one knows who she is or why she is doing it and they're too stunned to watch where she goes afterwards. The mystery woman turned out to be Andrea Hall, 29, from Manchester, who decided to go public with her nude exercise regime to lift the nation's spirits and promote Manchester as the city of peace.
Andrea said: "I never thought it would get this much attention. I felt so helpless after the London bombings and I just wanted to bring a smile to people's faces.
"There has been nothing else in the papers or on TV recently. I'm a mother and I was thinking of all the mothers who might have lost someone and this was my way of expressing my freedom."
She sticks to a strict fitness routine to keep in shape and says she has been heartened by the shouts of approval she has received on her sprints. Her first run was the day after the London bombings on July 7, 2006 and she went on a second streak a week later. Andrea said: "Tib Street is like our equivalent of Soho and I wanted to promote how it is an open-minded place.
"It might have a seedy side, but it is exciting and has come a long way from the old days."
Greater Manchester Police said they received no complaints.
"The funniest comment I've probably had is when somebody shouted I was running the wrong way as Tib Street is one way only now."
|
