ESPN Serves Up Krispy Kreme Challenge

How long would you run for a dozen Krispy Kremes? (We'd rather just go out, buy a box and avoid the exercise, but that's besides the point.) N.C. State organizers are expecting more than 5,000 participants in this year's Krispy Kreme Challenge to be held Feb. 7 in Raleigh. The point of the Challenge, at least for the so-called "Challenger Runner": Run two miles, devour 12 Krispy Kremes, run back two miles, all in under an hour. The "Casual Runner" does not have to finish in an hour, nor does he have to eat any donuts. So basically, he runs four miles.

Or, as Monica Martin, a member of the Challenge's PR committee, wrote in a release to The Chronicle: "2400 Calories. 12 Donuts. 4 Miles. 1 Hour."

And now, ESPN is recognizing the eating, um, contest as a sport. Sort of. The Worldwide Leader will broadcast highlights from this year's race on SportsCenter, The Technician reported Monday:

Scott Harves, the producer from ESPN assigned to the feature, said since the Krispey Kreme Challenge is still several weeks away, the details are subject to change. However, he and his co-workers are throwing several ideas around.

"We are definitely kicking around a lot of thoughts, but the race will speak for itself," Harves said. "We could probably just roll tape for an hour and come up with some pretty good stuff."

Harves said one of ESPN's producers in the features unit caught wind of the story through a press release sent out by McMillan and her team, and since then, they have been thinking up interesting ways to cover the race.

"We're also toying with the thought of having one of our own reporters run the race," Harves said. He offered no hint as to who that reporter might be.

We're proud to announce that The Chronicle—well, let's say The Sports Blog for this one—will be sponsoring a participant in the Challenge (take that, Kenny Mayne!). And by sponsoring, we mean assigning a freshman reporter to run and hoping he doesn't pass out from diabetic shock.