Girl who went global after running near-naked in minus 20C reveals reason for her bikini jog

Alina's run, with spectators whistling and drivers hooting their horns, went round the world on the web. Her bet with a female friend was too personal to divulge, she said coyly. 

'Sorry, but it is a secret about my bet - it is only me and my friend who know about it,' said the Tomsk woman, who works in the beauty industry. 

'It wasn't a card game, nor about money or something like that. It was about my private life - and I've got to stop here. 

'I just can't say more. No-one knows besides the two of us. 

'We made the bet and whoever lost had to run in a bikini along the main boulevard in the middle of the road. And as I lost, I had to do it. 

'No, I wasn't scared and I didn't think of not doing it. I gave my word and so I had to run even though it was minus 20C at the time.'

Alina was fined 200 roubles - or $6.50 - after traffic police saw the footage which has become an internet sensation. 

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Alina insisted her boyfriend - a paratrooper doing his army service three time zones west of the Siberian city of Tomsk - knew all about her losing the bet, and the consequences. 

'My boyfriend is 19 and I'm waiting for him to get back from the army,' she said. 

'He knew about me losing the bet and that I was going to run. 

'Please make sure you don't get cold', he told me. He saw the video and laughed. 

'My parents? Well, I was raised by my mother, and she was shown the video after I did the run. 

'She told me: 'Have you gone mad?', but then laughed and said that she was glad everything went well and that I had fun.'

Despite the icy temperatures, she insisted: 'I wasn't cold - I was actually hot.  Adrenalin was pumping in me, the cars were beeping, my friends cheering. It was unforgettable. And yes, I'm a tough Siberian girl and that's why I wasn't cold. In fact, I was so hot that didn't even want to get into the car when I finished the run.

'I try to keep fit but I'm not much into jogging. It was the first time I did  such a distance but it was a short run, only two and a half minutes.  

'If I lose another bet, I'd do it again.'

Alina ran from outside the The Youth Theater to Lenin Square in central Tomsk. 

'Me and my friends made sure that the run did not disturb the traffic. As soon as I realised that I lost my bet, I called all my friends and said 'please come and support me'. 

'So they did. We decided that cars would drive around me like a cortege. I didn't want to cause any accidents by drivers getting distracted by this unusual site of my running in my swim suit. 

'I was scared it would be too slippery to run on the snow, but it wasn't. 

'Luckily it was a lot easier than I thought. My friends were whistling and hooting, they all had a great fun. Like me'.