After 16 years, the Krispy Kreme Challenge is still a sweet Raleigh spectacle

What keeps people coming back to the Krispy Kreme Challenge — Raleigh’s grueling annual tradition that asks participants not just to run five miles in the cold, February weather, but to also eat a dozen doughnuts while doing it?

Around 5,500 people attempted it Saturday morning, lining up at N.C. State University’s Memorial Belltower to make the run, now in its 16th year. The runners dashed to the Krispy Kreme store on North Person Street, where they painstakingly mixed water and crushed glazed doughnuts into their stomachs, before trudging back to the belltower to finish the race.

It’s 2,400 calories in total, and it leaves many looking like the walking wounded at the finish line, hobbling down Hillsborough Street and recounting to friends where exactly they vomited along the five-mile trek.

Some people, however, truly excel at the race. The winning time this year — accomplished by Stephen Rathbun — was 28:29, good for a 5:41 mile on average.

Krispy Kreme run raises money for charity

The combination of the event’s absurdity and its charitable cause has truly made it one of Raleigh’s signature events.

“It’s unique and everyone has fun,” said Jen Mahone, who has been coming to the race for the past 14 years with her son Quinn. “The charity is a bonus, but I think it is the craziness of it” that keeps everyone coming back.

That craziness includes more than just doughnuts. For some, it’s the costumes that are the main attraction.

Despite temperatures hovering around 40 degrees, many runners sported nothing but speedos. Multiple people, dressed up like Forrest Gump, sushi or a banana, could be seen carrying a box of a doughnuts. And somehow, two people managed to run in unison while crammed inside of a camel costume.

This year’s event raised around $175,000 for the UNC Children’s Hospital, according to Elise Romola, one of the main organizers of this year’s race and a junior at N.C. State. The event has now raised more than $1.8 million for the hospital across its history, which Romola said makes the Krispy Kreme Challenge the hospital’s largest unrestricted donor, meaning the funds can be used for whatever the hospital chooses.

“Five miles and 12 doughnuts is unheard of [for a race] and that keeps people coming back,” Romola said of the event’s staying power. “But, at the end of the day, it’s really the community rallying around the cause, and for us it’s UNC Children’s Hospital.”

5,700 doughnuts — and not all stay down

The number of registered participants was up a couple hundred people this year, Romola added. Last year’s race had around 5,300 participants and raised $190,000, The News & Observer reported.

For this year’s race, the challenge organizers purchased around 5,700 doughnuts in total. (There is a special No Doughnut category for people who want to run the race but not eat doughnuts.)

“It was incredible to see,” Romola said of the numbers. “Everyone so far has enjoyed it — well a couple people have thrown up, but that is normal.”

Still, beyond the charity and the costumes, the event’s genuine difficulty is also a draw. Many who have failed for years to complete the race in the goal of one hour keep lining up to see if they can beat the challenge.

Will Hager, 18, was back this year for his fifth attempt. This time wearing a tuxedo shirt and bow tie. In previous attempts he wore a unicorn onesie and a bathrobe.

“It’s the fifth time I have done it,” he said while downing his fourth doughnut. He added that while he’s trained for the running, nothing can prepare your for how fast you need to eat the dozen doughnuts.

“That is where I struggle. I threw up last year.”

But the local bragging rights that accompany beating the challenge are worth it, Hager said.

“It would mean so much. I’d really love to finish it.”

Santos Perez, a first year student at N.C. State, was on his first attempt at the challenge.

Despite an injured ankle, Perez said he would be disappointed as a State student, if he didn’t give it a go. Completing the race before you graduate has now become a Wolfpack tradition.

“I don’t care if I throw up,” he said, squishing four doughnuts into manageable size, “as long as I finish it I’ll be okay.”

This story was originally published February 1, 2020 at 12:02 PM with the headline "After 16 years, the Krispy Kreme Challenge is still a sweet Raleigh spectacle."