Runners of all ages ran in the 81st annual Cake Race hosted by Omicron Delta Kappa Nov. 4 at Rosen-Hutsell Track.
This year, approximately 85 runners participated in one of Auburn's oldest traditions.
"Anyone can come out and run," said Cake Race Chair Abby Northcutt. "It can be students, boys, girls and people from the community."
The course went 2.5 miles around and through campus. Runners started at the old track and ended where they began completing a circle.
"The first place male gets a kiss from Miss Auburn, and the first place female gets a kiss from the SGA president," said ODK member Patrick Llewellyn, senior in biomedical sciences. "The top 20 males and the top 20 females all get a free cake, which have all been donated by ODK."
The cake race started in 1928 with head coach Wilbur Hutsell. Hutsell began the team in 1921 and coached at Auburn for 42 years.
Hutsell started the race to recruit members for the track team. When it began, the race had 800 to 900 participants.
"All the freshmen men on campus had to run in the cake race," said Mel Rosen, head coach of the track and field team from 1955 until 1991. "If they didn't run, they paddled them."
Hutsell had to use the race to find runners for the team because they did not have scholarships. Along with the free cake and kiss from Miss Auburn, the men that won got positions on the track team.
Although the race started as an all male event, women became eligible in 1970, as it is no longer for recruitment purposes.
"We're not using it as a recruiting tool as much as to keep it going," Rosen said.
The race is free to all participants and remains in tact to uphold one of Auburn's oldest traditions.
"I'm trying to keep it going because there's no other traditions," Rosen said. "There's none of the things we used to have years ago. I want to keep something going that's unique to Auburn University."
Since the start of the race ODK has been linked with the race. Hutsell was the faculty advisor for the honors society and paired the
organization with the race.
"ODK was founded at Auburn in 1928, and ODK has always done the Cake Race," said ODK President Clay Parker.
The winners of this year's event were Robert Bedsole and Alissa Walker.
"I thought I heard 13:55," Bedsole said.
He was well ahead of the rest of the group when he crossed the finish line.
"The first place guys winner was booking it," Llewellyn said. "He was so far ahead of the second place guy. He was almost literally on the bumper of the lead car."
Although the coaches, ODK and the athletic staff uphold the tradition, the numbers dwindle from the original races.
"It's one of the oldest traditions on campus," said Cake Race Chair in ODK Mariglenn Golden.
Rosen and the athletic department want to keep the tradition alive.
"It's a fun race," Rosen said. "If you jog around campus or if you walk around campus and you're in good enough shape, 2.5 miles has nothing to it, and you can be a part of this tradition."
So each year they work to let people know of one of Auburn's unique traditions that they keep alive.
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