Krispy Kreme Challengers eat donuts to help kids

Allure of glazed dozens, bad weather does not turn runners away

Caroline Barfield

Staff Writer

Saturday morning the area surrounding the Bell Tower was glazed over with anxious runners as they prepared to inhale a dozen doughnuts.

Despite the weather, large crowds showed up, though snow followed just an hour and a half later.

Katie Starr, a junior in international studies, was among the top challengers as she placed third in women’s. 

She said it was really cold but managed to down her doughnuts in eight minutes and complete her total run in 39 minutes.

“I don’t typically eat a lot of sweets, but I do run a lot.  Somehow I ate all 12 donuts,” she said.

She said she did, however, see some pretty interesting techniques for eating doughnuts.

“There were tables with stacks and stacks of doughnuts, we had to grab a box and eat out in the parking lot.  People were crouched over their boxes, trying different techniques of stuffing the doughnuts down faster.  I saw a guy step on his doughnuts before he opened the box trying to get them smaller.”

She said she found that dunking her doughnuts in the water and washing off some of the glaze was very effective.

Starr said they started at the Bell Tower, then took a left on St. Mary’s Street, ran on Glenwood for a bit, then finally reached Krispy Kreme on Peace Street.

“The run to Krispy Kreme was nice but the run back was brutal.  I was so full from eating all of my doughnuts.”

She also said 6,000 people registered, which is the most the challenge has ever had. There were people on the sidelines and at the finish lines of the race to cheer people on.

Starr said she had goals for the race; to win a doughnut medal.

“I kind of set the goal to win a doughnut medal. My roommate came out to support me, I received a plaque, a gift card from Athlete’s foot and literally, a doughnut medal.  I was kind of surprised I placed third; I noticed a lot of girls ahead of me,” she said.

“Luckily I didn’t see anybody throw up; probably because I was so focused and there were more people behind me.  I didn’t eat anything for the rest of the day.  I was on a sugar high for a while, then crashed.  When I woke up I still wasn’t hungry.”

Some attended the race as support and to help out.

Robert Rudd, a sophomore in political science, went to cheer on his buddies and help clean up afterwards. 

“The race was fun; I enjoyed seeing my friends stuff their faces.  It was really cold but we were lucky it didn’t precipitate on us.  I was kind of expecting some snow,” he said.

Others, such as Eli Banks, a sophomore in business management, registered as a casual runner, where you don’t have to eat all of the doughnuts.

“Before the race started, it was intense and people were running around crazy — it was wild,” she said. “It took me 40 minutes, though I didn’t eat my doughnuts. My friend and I thought it would be smart to save them, so we ran ours back.”