The Krispy Kreme Challenge hosted a record 7,500 participants this year and raised $122,000 for the North Carolina Children’s Hospital.

Krispy Kreme Challenge Co-Chairs Sudeep Sunthankar ‘12, Rachel Turner ‘12, and John Yanik ‘12 along with Chancellor Randy Woodson present a check to Chief of Pediatric Surgery Dr. William Adamson of the North Carolina Children’s Hospital.

Participants departed from the NC State University Belltower and had one hour to run two miles to the Krispy Kreme store on Peace Street, consume a dozen doughnuts, and return to the finish line at the Belltower. In order to supply the event, doughnuts were shipped to the Peace Street location from over ten Krispy Kreme stores across the state.

Dr. William Adamson, chief of pediatric surgery, accepted the check on behalf of the North Carolina Children’s Hospital. “The money raised will help support our mission of providing a family-centered, kid-friendly environment for our patients. Previous funds have supported the fully-accredited hospital school that keeps our chronic patients from falling further behind in their studies, and helped families who have no resources find a ride to the hospital or a place to stay when their child is sick,” says Adamson. “We strongly value our relationship with NC State University – an event like this transcends colors or sports.”

The race was initiated in 2004 by a group of Park Scholars from the Class of 2007 – Ben Gaddy, Peyton Hassinger, Chris McCoy, Greg Mulholland, and Saket Vora. Since then, the event has appeared on Sports Illustrated’s list of “102 More Things You Gotta Do Before You Graduate” and been featured on ESPN.

This year’s event was coordinated by Park Scholars Sudeep Sunthankar ‘12, Rachel Turner ‘12, and John Yanik ‘12, and staffed by a small army of committee members, as well as volunteers from NC State and the Raleigh community.

“Every step of planning, while requiring hard work, was worthwhile because of the goals we were determined to accomplish. Knowing that our donation goes towards such a great cause motivates not only the co-chairs but the entire committee to give 100%,” says Sunthankar. “Being out on race day and meeting the doctors and families from the NC Children’s Hospital was the perfect culmination to all of the effort we put forth for this year’s race making it one of the greatest experiences of my life.”

Garik Sadovy ‘12 and a group of runners at the starting line before the race.