Todd Oliver, Donut 5K Race Director

What is the Donut 5K?

The Donut 5K has a little bit of everything. It started out as a traditional 5K run/walk but over the years different things have been added. With our partnerships with Jack’s Donuts, we have doughnuts available on the course and at the finish line. If people want to take doughnuts while they’re running, great, if they don’t want to, they don’t have to eat them. So there’s that fun experience. It’s become very competitive ever since we added a cash purse and age-group prizes and now it’s one of the most competitive 5Ks of the year. There are people who dress in costumes and have fun with it.

What is the community impact of the Donut 5K?

The event benefits local animal rescues. We have a silent auction and a grab-and-go component where people can pay $20 for a bag. There are thousands of items of clothes in the indoor tennis facility and whatever you can stick into your bag you can keep for $20. These are all things to raise money for the rescues. We chose these animal rescues based on how well they are performing. A lot of them are mom-and-pop owned, and all they want to do is to get dogs adopted and give them good homes. We’ve donated over $50,000 to animal rescues in central Indiana. This year so far we have chosen the Great Pyrenees Rescue and the Anderson Protection League. 

How is the Donut 5K different from other running events?

One difference is that we have a partnership with the Carmel Racquet Club as our start and finish line. We take over half their courts, cover them up and remove the nets so dogs can go inside. Every thing that happens post-race—so the awards, the food, the music, the silent auction, all of that stuff, takes place indoors. We believe we are the only event in the state of Indiana that offers such an indoor post-party.

What does the organization process look like?

Organizing starts four to five months in advance or longer. Basically, the first step is to get city approval by going through the filing and permits so they can look at the temporary road closures and dates. It then goes to the police and street department so they can see if there is any planned construction or projects. After they approve it, it gets announced to the public and advertised. On the back end, all the work is on the component of the event such as contracting vendors. You need people to build the hats, the shirts and deliver the port-a-potties to the right parts of the course. You need somebody to reach out to the volunteer groups to help support the events. All of those things need to be going on at the same time behind the scenes to make it happen for one day.

How has the Donut 5K evolved?

We’ve owned the event for 17 years since 2006. We started in downtown Indianapolis and at the time the event was called The 5Ks of Christmas. We moved it from Indianapolis to the Monon Center. At the Monon Center, we went from around 300 racers to about 1,000 and outgrew the space there. We moved from the Monon Center to the Carmel Racquet Club when we announced our partnership with Jack’s Donuts, and that’s when we changed our name to the 5K.

What was the motivation behind creating the Donut 5K?

People who enjoy physical activity and being active want choices and it’s fun to pull out and be active with other people. There weren’t a lot of holiday runs/walks because once it got so cold many of the event owners just decided they didn’t want to deal with it. We decided to go ahead and have one to serve that need that was unfulfilled.

What are the main groups of people who participate?

In 2021, we conducted a survey where we found that 46% of our 1,800 participants were families. This is about what the national statistics are on holiday runs/walks. People are in town for the holidays and they get their family and friends together and they go out and do this as a fun way to be active and kick off their weekend.

How has the Donut 5K affected the people who participated?

We had a walker come down from Kokomo that sent me a message afterward. She is a military veteran and she said she chose the Donut 5K because she knew it wasn’t super serious because of the doughnuts on the course. It gave her the courage to walk it with her service dog. After that, she had the confidence to participate in other 5K run/walks all because our 5K made her feel welcome. She was really petrified about coming in last place but now she comes every year.