Tighten your shoe laces and bring your sweet tooth – it’s time for the Krispy Kreme Challenge.

The challenge is not a race, project coordinators said, rather it recognizes all competitors that return to the Belltower having finished a dozen doughnuts as winners.The relay is recognized by Sports Illustrated as number 85 in the ‘102 More Things You Gotta Do Before You Graduate,’ and will donate all of its proceeds to the N.C. Children’s Hospital.

All participants will meet at the Belltower on Saturday at 9 a.m. for the challenge.

Registration is required, but is available until Friday night – with late registration on site the morning of the event. The $10 fee includes a T-shirt for participating.

The local franchise owner donated all the doughnuts that will be eaten at the event, according to Brice Nielsen, a senior in biological sciences and one of the coordinators for the event. Nielsen is also the chairperson for Dance Marathon.

For such a unique challenge, unorthodox training measures are recommended by past participants.

“You have to go there two days before and have one Hot Now doughnut and a glass of milk,” Ben Gaddy, a senior in electrical engineering, said. “You enjoy it because it will be the last doughnut you’ll ever enjoy.”

Gaddy finished with the fastest time in 2004, the only other N.C. State competition, at a time of 34:26. He said contestants can literally feel syrup coming through their pores.

Chris McCoy, a basketball guard, originally pitched the idea for the challenge and caught the attention of other athletes who took part in the event.

After the event’s co-creator, Greg Mulholland, approached Gaddy with the details he said he wasn’t thrilled at the prospect.

“I thought it was the stupidest idea I’d ever heard,” Gaddy said.

Students around the country would disagree.

“Everyone that’s tried it has loved it,” Mulholland said, explaining that he’d received e-mails lauding the challenge from students at other universities who’d heard of the event’s success.Mulholland pointed to the stories following the event as his favorite part of the challenge.

He said the coordinators are scouting for participants from local universities, such as UNC-Chapel Hill, as well as area high schools.

“They’re getting a head start on their education,” Mulholland joked.

After Gaddy and Mulholland reflected on the past challenge’s success, comprised of 10 competitors total in 2004, they said they were surprised to see how eagerly everyone accepted the idea.

“We looked at each other and we said, ‘We might be responsible for starting one of the newest traditions’,” Gaddy said, and noted that there had been approximately 35 registrants as of yesterday afternoon.

The event, ironically, comes after Mulholland was quoted in Sports Illustrated as saying he would like to turn the challenge into a fund raiser – possibly the American Heart Association.

Aside from the lightheartedness of the sugary venture, Nielsen said the mission of the challenge is the most important consideration. All proceeds are directly sent to the neo-natal intensive care unit at the hospital.

“Maybe in 18 years, one of those little babies will be running in the Krispy Kreme Challenge,” she said, with a giggle.