A great way to start off the New Year, the annual Hotcake Hustle establishes a foundation for good health and vitality. At the run in Addison, participants can enjoy a fun run, 5k, or 10k. All proceeds go to Run Project and Addison’s Midday Rotary Foundation. Run Project seeks to “bring together those who love to race, those who want to give back and support, and those who want to keep it local,” while Addison’s Midday Rotary Foundation continues “their ongoing effort to serve various community programs and non-profit organizations.”
Early on the morning of Saturday, January 11, members of the Jesuit Interact gathered at the Addison Convention Center, sacrificing precious sleep to continue the race’s great tradition. Assisting in setting up, cheering on the weary runners, and passing out water to parched participants, these Interacters did all that they could to make the race as enjoyable as possible.
Meeting at 6:45 at the Convention Center, volunteers signed in, received their t-shirts, and got information for their assignment after shaking off morning drowsiness. Setting up tables for the water station, Jesuit students spent close to an hour laying out hundreds of cups of water. Assigned to the lone water station on the track, the Jesuit group served as a beacon to many dehydrated runners, providing not only water but shouts of encouragement as well. Quickly passing cup after cup, volunteers distributed much needed fluids to allow the runners to finish the race strong.
Benito Buksh ’15 enjoyed this, mentioning that “encouraging the runners was quite enjoyable and they thanked us graciously for it.” Drew Curran ’15 shared similar feelings, saying “it was fun to encourage the runners and joke around with them as they passed by.”
As the race began to wind down and the cups were scattered across the street by the wind, volunteers began picking them up and putting away the tables. Having served hundreds of passers-by since the crack of dawn, they were ready to go get some pancakes.
As its namesake indicates, there were plenty of hotcakes to be served, and countless runners and volunteers were ready to indulge. After a great start to a day of physical fitness, the participants loosened up a bit for a couple of warm breakfast treats. Curran enjoyed this aspect of the event, remarking that the pancakes were “surprisingly good” and a “nice summation to the morning.”
After all of this, the awards for the fastest runners were announced. Broken up by gender and age group, there were many victors. Despite not awarding prize money, this year brought a score of blazing fast runners. Thirty-four-year-old Leo Frayre won the 5k overall with an incredible time of 16:48 with 16-year-old Drew Cummings trailing only five seconds behind. In the 10k, 30-year-old Derek Yorek led all other competitors by over a minute with a time of 32:51 followed by 17-year-old Grant Buley at 33:56.
More importantly, the Run Project really achieved its goal of bringing people from all across the metroplex. Ben Ovenshire ’15 noted that the race “drew a lot of people together not just cross country runners and running enthusiasts” and that people were there for the “community aspect” of the race as well as the physical aspect.
Promoting strong community ties as well as a healthy lifestyle, the Hotcake Hustle provided an excellent opportunity for a happier 2014.
