Man caught leaking during Rotorua Marathon

Among the photos of beaming runners finishing the Rotorua Marathon is one photo fail that is unlikely to be framed on the family mantlepiece anytime soon.

A photo taken at the race yesterday shows two packs of runners pacing down the road seemingly oblivious to the man off to the side covering his groin with his hand.

Dressed in bright active wear, it was possible the man was a runner who was in more urgent need of dashing to a bathroom rather than the finishing line.

But if the man was hoping to catch a moment of privacy, the sidelines of a race attracting more than 3500 people from across 27 countries was not the place to do it.

The badly timed photo caught the attention of commentators on reddit, who discussed that it was possible the man had been locked out of a toilet block.

"We've all done that at least once in our lives", said one reddit commentator.

Many commentators saw the humour in the situation.

"Wouldn't that piss you off?" said one commentator.

"He could have at least smiled for the camera", said another.

About 1250 people participated in the half marathon while another 1250 people took on the full marathon.

The event allowed runners to tackle distances ranging from 5.5km through to the full 42km.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission.