Ten people rushed down Western Boulevard around 1 p.m. Sunday heading to Cookout for one of the fast food restaurant’s popular milkshakes – a very common event around Raleigh.
Except these ten undergraduate students didn’t head to the drive-thru – they didn’t drive at all.
The students were taking part in an event they created known as the Cookout challenge, as the runners had to run to Cookout, order and eat a milkshake, and then head back to the Quad.
While NCSU students are famous for their urges to form challenges around distance running and food, Stephane Henrion, a senior in electrical engineering, said the Cookout challenge pales in comparison to the more widely known Krispy Kreme Challenge.
“it was a lot easier than the Krispy Kreme Challenge,” Henrion, who finished first Sunday, said. “I didn’t eat all twelve donuts, [in the KKC], but from the few I ate, I [can tell I] had a harder time keeping them down than the milkshake.”
Henrion ate a peach cobbler milkshake, and while he said it was one of his favorite flavors, he said there was also some strategy to his selection
“Depending on the flavor, you had a deduction or handicap and [it had] the highest handicap of the flavors I enjoyed,” Henrion said. “They subtracted [minutes from your time based on] how hard the milkshake was supposed to be.”
Jared Bowman, a senior in psychology, said his strategy for the challenge was almost completely based on milkshake selection.
“Stephane is just faster than me,” Bowman said. “But, because of my milkshake, I was able to come in second.”
Fred Johnson, a junior in economics, finished after Henrion, but because of Bowman’s choice of a caramel cheesecake peanut butter fudge brownie milkshake, his timing deduction earned him second place.
“I knew I wouldnt be as fast as Stephane or Fred,” Bowman said. “But, I ended up with a six-minute bonus due to the grossness of my milkshake.”
While it allowed him to finish ahead of Johnson, the creative milkshake choice did cause Bowman some pain.
“On the way back it definitely started making me nausaus,” Bowman said. “I did end up throwing up and that wasn’t the most fun.”
