Grabbing an energy gel midrace is one thing, but eating a dozen doughnuts? That’s an epic fail—or epic feat—waiting to happen. And on Saturday, February 5, 2022, thousands of runners will line up in Raleigh, North Carolina, to take that risk at the Krispy Kreme Challenge.
You’ve heard of the beer mile—four beers, four laps on a track, as fast as possible without hurling. But this race is a different beast. You’re not drinking liquid; you’re scarfing down a dozen sugary doughnuts.
“The race gains its challenge from the requirement to run five miles and eat 12 doughnuts all within an hour,” race director Megan Cislo tells Runner’s World. “The race requires training different from any other race due to the fact that it not only requires you to be able to run quickly, but to also eat a dozen doughnuts quickly.”
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Runners must run 2.5 miles to Krispy Kreme, eat a dozen glazed doughnuts, and run 2.5 miles back—all in under 60 minutes. The rules are strict: If you don’t eat all of the doughnuts or you take longer than an hour to complete the race, you’re technically not a finisher. Since its inception 16 years ago, the student-run event has become a bucket-list race for competitive runners and eaters alike.
The first competition began as a dare between a few NC State undergrads in December 2004. The friends agreed to run from the Memorial Bell Tower on campus to the Krispy Kreme 2.5 miles away, down a dozen glazed doughnuts, then run back. That year, junior Ben Gaddy, a member of the university’s club rowing team, finished the seemingly impossible task in a time of 34:27.
News of Gaddy’s feat was quickly picked up by local media and spread around campus, and the race soon grew into a massive annual charity event in Raleigh. Each year, a large portion of race proceeds go toward the UNC Children’s Hospital. Since its inception, the Krispy Kreme Challenge has raised more than $1.93 million for the hospital. The rest of the entry fees ($25 for students and $30 for adults) go toward course setup and purchasing doughnuts.
If you sign up for the event, you have a couple of different race options. If you don’t have the guts (literally) to race in the challenge, you can opt to race as a “casual” runner, which means you can carry the box of doughnuts with you to eat after the race. You can also participate as a “no-doughnut” runner, meaning you don’t get a box of doughnuts. (But where’s the fun in that?)
Before the race kicks off, the race team picks up around 3,000 boxes of a dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts, which are stacked on tables at the turnaround point, ready to be devoured.
According to race director David Horne, the best strategy is to run the first 2.5 miles as fast as possible. When he gets to the doughnuts, he smashes four together and dunks them in water to make them go down easier.
“On the back half, slowing down to breathe as needed helped me keep the doughnuts down and hold a respectable pace,” he said.
Race director Rachel Beall has also heard of one particularly creative, if disturbing, method.
“A few years ago, someone in the organization saw someone grab all their doughnuts and mash them into a ball. They then proceeded to eat it like an apple, which is definitely out there and not a common method.”
Amazingly, though they’re eating 2,400 calories at once, participants don’t throw up as often as you might think. “I’m always surprised at how well people can keep the doughnuts down,” Beall said. Still, she and the other volunteers set up plenty of trash cans along the course for runners who can’t hold their pastries in.
Oftentimes, participants stop eating—or running—before they get too nauseous. While 1,911 people attempted the doughnut challenge in 2020, 200 didn’t finish. Of the finishers, 340 were women and 1,371 were men.
While finishing the challenge alone is impressive, some race to compete. In 2020, Stephen Rathburn of Springfield, New Jersey, set the course record in 2020, running 28:29 in a 5:41/mile pace. According to his Instagram, it only took him four minutes to finish all 12 doughnuts. The first female finisher of 2020 was hometown hero, Amy Hogan of Raleigh, who finished in 39:48.
Last year, the Krispy Kreme Challenge went virtual because of the pandemic. Runners received a voucher for a dozen doughnuts and ran wherever they could. “It was very encouraging to see over 800 participants sign up to run from over 41 U.S. states, districts, and territories, as well as four countries for our virtual race week,” Cislo said.
Unfortunately, the 2022 event has been canceled as well. An email to participants cited “concerns over rising COVID-19 infections in Wake County and recommendations from UNC Children’s Hospital administration” as the reason.
Participants can still pick up their race memorabilia at the Expo, which will be from 9 a.m. ET to 8 p.m. ET on February 4 at the Talley Student Union on the NC State campus. Runners will receive a doughnut voucher redeemable at Krispy Kreme so they can complete the challenge virtually.
Hailey first got hooked on running news as an intern with Running Times, and now she reports on elite runners and cyclists, feel-good stories, and training pieces for Runner's World and Bicycling magazines.
Chris Hatler is a writer and editor based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but before joining Runner’s World and Bicycling, he was a pro runner for Diadora, qualifying for multiple U.S. Championships in the 1500 meters. At his alma mater the University of Pennsylvania, Chris was a multiple-time Ivy League conference champion and sub-4 minute miler.
