Krispy Kreme runners take sugary challenge for charity

[n2doc]

Matt Phillips of Charlotte tries to finish his doughnuts Saturday during the annual Krispy Kreme Challenge in Raleigh, during which participants run 2.5 miles, eat a dozen doughnuts and try to run 2.5 miles back.


BY COLIN CAMPBELL - [e-mail]

RALEIGH -- The real winners of Saturday morning's Krispy Kreme Challenge didn't eat a single doughnut.

Sure, the gold medal went to a UNC-Chapel Hill student who managed to run five miles and down a dozen doughnuts in under 30 minutes. But he shared the stage at the N.C. State University Bell Tower with 8-year-old Nathan Proctor of Oxford.

Nathan didn't run the race, but he has benefited from the annual festival of gluttony and speed. Though some mistake the race for a glazed doughnut promotion, it's actually organized by N.C. State students with one goal: making treatments easier for patients at the N.C. Children's Hospital. The organizers got the 92,400 doughnuts eaten Saturday at a discount, paying Krispy Kreme about $20,000.

Nathan, who has chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, a neurological disorder that weakens and impairs the arms and legs, couldn't walk or stand when he first came to the hospital. Now he's playing baseball and doesn't even need regular medication. Through countless treatments, he got to enjoy video games, computers and other activities funded by what the challenge raises every year.

"It helps us provide the atmosphere to feel like they're still at home," said Wesley Burks, the hospital's director of pediatrics. Saturday's race brought more than $100,000 to the cause - the final number's not in yet - and Nathan helped present the oversized check. And with a record 7,700 runners participating, organizers think the final tally could exceed last year's $122,000 total.

"I think the kids are really excited to be here and feel the support of the broader community," Burks said.


Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/02/05/1831184/krispy-kreme-runners-take-sugary.html#storylink=cpy

[appleannie1]

1. I can't even eat one of those doughnuts. I can't imagine eating a dozen.

I love doughnuts but have never liked them. How can something be even sweeter than the sugar they put in it? They are gross. I would just donate the money and to heck with eating the doughnuts.

[arikara]

2. That is really disturbing.

Raising money for sick people by making other people sick.

[Dreamer Tatum]

3. Why can't money be raised without glorifying and wasting food?

Jesus. The amount of food that gets wasted is insane.