What started as a dare between a group of friends nine years ago has culminated in a fundraising effort totaling $551,000.
The ninth annual Krispy Kreme Challenge raised $177,000 for the North Carolina Children’s Hospital, setting a new record for the fundraiser.
Eight thousand competitors lined up Saturday morning ready to run five miles from the Bell Tower to the Krispy Kreme Store on Peace and Person streets and consume 96,000 doughnuts, or approximately 19.2 million calories, in an effort to test their endurance and their gastrointestinal fortitude.
Participants showed up in a variety of costumes, including Trojans, Pac-Man, banana-men and chefs, with the honors going to a gentleman who dressed up as a Krispy Kreme delivery man with his own “truck” and a group of women dressed as Krispy Kreme coffee cups.
Even groups such as the Raleigh Police Department and UPS workers competed.
Runners were as young as seven and came from all backgrounds. Competitors included recreational athletes and seasoned marathoners.
Competitors took off from the Bell Tower at 8:30 a.m. Timothy Ryan, of Madison, Wi., made it back in 31:32 to win the race.
Not long after, runners began to come in all at once, and although the race had taken its toll on a fair amount of them, many stood tall, reveling not just in their own accomplishments, but in the joy they were going to bring to deserving children.
“This was my first time, and I was glad to be part of such an established tradition,” Stephen Klingman, a freshman in aerospace engineering, said.
“All the runners today, whether or not they were able to eat all 12 doughnuts or not, contributed to a huge cause, and I can’t wait to hear about what the money is able to do, or the lives that will be positively affected by it.”
“If the doctor or nurse at the hospital sees a need not being met, or a shortage of some kind of resource, they can apply for a specific grant, the additional money we’ve raised can help them,” Ryan King, a junior in mechanical engineering and an organizer of the event, said.
“The sickest kids with the rarest diseases go there, and the hospital doesn’t turn anyone away, so it’s really great that we can help them out through a huge event like this,” King said.
The 9th annual running of the Krispy Kreme Challenge took place Saturday, Feb. 9, 2013. All proceeds go to benefit the North Carolina Children's Hospital.
