Race #18 – 2009 Krispy Kreme Challenge (Raleigh NC) – 02/07/09

So today we traveled 200 miles down Tobacco Road to run the Krispy Kreme Challenge in Raleigh along with 5,000 other sweet-toothed runners. Run 2 miles, eat a dozen doughnuts, and return to the starting point. The “challenge” is to finish in one hour. This was a race without a real sense of urgency, so I stayed with Linda throughout the race and we just kind of ran in mosey mode. Just as well, because when we arrived at the Krispy Kreme that was our destination there was a bit of a logjam (as you can see in the photos) with a few thousand other people trying to get and then eat their dozen doughnuts. The mess on the ground was pretty bad, but didn’t really compare with the organizational mess of this race. It took probably 15-20 minutes just to get the doughnuts so it was probably best to not worry much about how quickly you were going to finish the race. I was in the “Challenger” (timed) category and Linda was in the “Casual” (untimed) category. Before the race I wondered how the challengers might be organized in order to be sure they ate their doughnuts — possibly long tables with judges being sure everything went down before sending you speeding on your way, but nope. It wasn’t that critical. You could have just thrown the doughnuts away or even have just picked up an empty box and took off out the other end (throwing the empty box in a big pile was your proof that you finished). Oh well, it was all for a good cause and they raised lots of money for charity. I bought one of the “finisher” T-shirts on the way out, which should be a nice conversation piece but was an extra 15 bucks. The regular T-shirt given to all the participants was a real disappointment and probably the worst T-shirt I’ve seen in any race. Awards were given only to the Top 5 men finishers and Top 5 women finishers as well as the one person with the fastest split eating time… no age group awards at all. The porta potty situation was also a mess. Luckily most people couldn’t find them at all, which kept the line down to a hundred yards or so. There were a total of 10… that’s 1 for every 500 runners, not counting spectators. Overall, we had fun and I’m glad we ran but I won’t be coming back for seconds next year.

Race Rating:

6 – 4/6 Number of Participants (4 for less than 100; 6 for 100 or more)
5 – 1-10 Awards (Quality of medals, trophies, etc.) (1 to 10)
5 – 1-10 Awards Presentation (PA system, stating winning times, etc.) (1 to 10)
5 – 1-10 Food for Race Participants (1 to 10)
2 – 1-10 T-Shirts (1 to 10 with 5 being average)
4 – 4/6 Part of Race Series (Grand Prix, etc.) (6=Yes and 4=No)
6 – 4/6 Online Registration (6=Yes and 4=No)
6 – 4/6 Chip Timing (6=Yes and 4=No)
3 – 3/7 Certified Course (by USA Track & Field) (7=Yes and 3=No)
6 – 1-10 Course (1 to 10 with 5 being average)
3 – 1-10 Parking (1 to 10 with 5 being average)
9 – 1-10 Entertainment (1 to 10 with 5 being average)
3 – 3/7 Age Groups (7 if 5-year groups; 3 if 10-year groups)
2 – 1-10 Bathroom Facilities
0 – 1-10 Other

TOTAL – 65