Though formal registration for the Krispy Kreme Challenge is over, some hopefuls that missed the deadline and are now scrambling to find a spot in the race by any means necessary.
The Challenge expanded its participant capacity by 25 percent this year to 7,500; last year, the race had a cap of 6,000 runners. Even with the expanded capacity, some potential doughnut runners are on the outside – and still trying to get in.
Some hopefuls that didn’t register in time have turned to Craigslist for a chance to race, like Durham’s Ed Hubbell, who said he doesn’t want to miss out on the fun. Hubbell said he loves the race because it is a rare opportunity to be both competitive and ridiculous at the same time.
“I want a registration so I can run with my son or daughter,” Hubbell said. “Tell most adults you are running 2 miles, eating a dozen doughnuts and running back, and they’ll think you’re nuts. To children, it seems completely logical.”
Brian Szews, a participant in the 2009 Challenge, registered too late this year. He is still hopeful he can land a spot in this year’s Challenge, even though he suffered a spot of embarrassment the last time he participated.
“When I got [doughnut] number 11 down the hatch, I suffered what we in the competitive eating industry like to call ‘a reversal,'” Szews said. “That was not pleasant, especially since there were five photographers standing around me taking pictures. Somehow one of those pictures ended up being forwarded to a vice president in my company.”
The Challenge organizers said they know people may be selling their tickets for a higher price online, but that they have no control over it.
John Yanik, a co-chair for the event and senior in biomedical engineering, said up until a few days ago people were able to transfer their registration.
“We were doing transfers,” Yanik said. “But now we have to freeze our data because we have to begin printing race bibs and ordering T-shirts.”
Sudeep Sunthankar, Challenge co-chair and a senior in biomedical engineering, said people have e-mailed the Challenge asking for registration help, but the current number of registrants is all the Challenge can handle because of road capacity and the amount of doughnuts the race requires.
“We went down to talk to the guy at Krispy Kreme and told him 7,500. He said, ‘We can do it but it’s going to be a bit of a challenge,'” Sunthankar said.
Both Sunthankar and Yanik said they don’t like keeping potential participants out of the race, but it is necessary for safety and proper planning. Based on last year’s race, the course has been changed to avoid high congestion areas, which should help the race run more smoothly.
Yanik said they want the race to be as big as possible to benefit the N.C. Children’s Hospital, and they will do everything they can to make that happen.
“We’re really glad that there is a lot of support out there for the race. Our hope is, in years to come, that we can continue to grow the number of people allowed in the race,” Yanik said. “If we can redesign the course to let more [runners] in, we will.”
