Image may contain: Smile, Portrait, Face, Swimwear, Clothing, Bikini, Person, People, Human

These York students waxed their legs and ran across campus naked for charity

You wouldn’t catch me doing the ‘mankini mile’ at this time of year


For the last 26 days, a dedicated team of four York students have been committing acts of varying degradation in order to raise money for four different charities.

Ever hear of killing four birds with one stone? Avee Dhandwar, Ben Smith, Tom Cadman and Dan Proud – also known as ABCD – have so far raised a massive £1,000 pounds for their chosen charities.

At great personal risk, the boys dyed their hair in varying repulsive shades of the rainbow. The daring gents have co-ordinated their new hair colours with their respective charities – Green for SASH (Avee), Green again for Shelterbox (Ben), Blue for York Mind (Tom) and Pink for Dementia UK (Dan). A man's pride is in his mane, and thus our selfless heroes decided to ruin their best assets.

Image may contain: Poster, Paper, Flyer, Brochure, Money, Person, People, Human

Unimpressed with the available options? Perhaps. Immediately regretting his decision? Absolutely.

The boys next step was to bathe in the freezing waters of the unforgiving North (a standard issue bath with 50 bags of ice from Morrisons poured in), in what must surely have been their most challenging obstacle to date.

Image may contain: Tub, Bathtub, Person, People, Human

Things are shrinking

Not content with merely freezing themselves in one element – ABCD – as they shall now be colloquially known as for all time, next undertook the intense battle of public humiliation. That famous and under appreciated garment, the mankini.

Dubbed the "mankini mile", ABCD ran in the (more or less) nude in a circuit around Hes West, attracting and scandalising in equal measure, but most importantly begging the question, "what the hell possessed them to do such a thing?" The answer: their generous hearts.

Image may contain: Man, Underwear, Clothing, Person, People, Human, Vehicle, Transportation, Bike, Bicycle

Errrm…one of them is just naked I swear?

Next up, they took a step back and decided to go into ghost mode…brightly coloured, publicly exhibited ghost mode. Morph suits are uncomfortable and unnerving, which is exactly how any regular student would have felt upon being confronted with such a sight.

The objective of creating a hubbub of gossip surrounding their charitable endeavours was surely achieved by this stunt.

Image may contain: Pc, Laptop, Electronics, Computer, Furniture, Couch, Person, People, Human

The Red Menace

Almost at the end of their titanic mission, ABCD now decided on pain as the next enemy to be defeated. Leg waxing is most commonly undertaken by the more feminine individuals in our society. Undeterred by gender norms and determined to shake the foundations of our beliefs, ABCD grabbed the bull by the horns (or the leg by the hair) and went full 40-Year Old Virgin. Warning – some of you may find this next image disturbing.

Image may contain: Person, People, Human

The horror

Personally, I would only do this if someone had a gun to my dog's head, but these four exceptional men will stop at nothing in their quest to help others, regardless of pain, humiliation, or partially self-abusive acts.

The final task for ABCD was a trek to conquer the Yorkshire Three Peaks. Hopefully their new aerodynamic design, thanks to the shaved legs, would help them climb the mountains in record time.

Next week, the boys will be holding a very sexy charity car wash for anyone who needs four, semi-shaven, highly colourful gentlemen to drape themselves over their car with some soap and sponges.

As a final hurrah, ABCD will be releasing their charity single under their new band name – The Bleach Boys.

These guys have put in a fantastic shift and raised over a thousand pounds for four different charities. Their inventive and tireless efforts have brought amusement to many, and sheer horror to many more.

If you would like to donate you can find their Justgiving page here and you can also keep with their antics on their Instagram.