Not every bike race is won by fighting shoulder to shoulder inches apart for hours on end in the gutter, sometimes it just takes a strong gut and a couple dozen donuts to achieve sweet victory.

On Saturday 12 July the 36th Original Tour de Donut rolled out from Staunton, Illinois USA with 653 competitors on a 34 mile route, including two “donut stops.” While race rules do not require riders stop and consume any of the 4200 Performance Enhancing Donuts (PEDs) specifically made for the event, those who do are awarded a 5 minute time bonus (deduction) for EACH donut consumed.

In a gastronomical scene similar to the annual Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, this year’s Tour de Donut champion, 43 year-old Doug Bristow, consumed a gut busting 24 glazed donuts en route to victory. He completed the route in 2:11:02, but earned a 2:00:00 time bonus (24×5) to record a final Tour de Donut GC (Glazed Classification) time of 0:11:02.

It was not even close.

Bristow was an hour ahead of runner up 59 year-old Andrew Henske, who finished in 2:19:16 after eating 13 donuts for a GC time of 1:14:16. Lucas Barker, 33, downed 10 donuts to slide onto the final podium position at 1:15:35.

22 year-old Mary Gordon won the women’s GC battle in 1:35:00 after eating a petite 2 donuts. Mia Gallagher, 19, was next at 1:39:26 with 4 donuts and Michelle Harrell, 43, stepped onto the podium at 1:45:06 using pure pedal power – no PEDs.

A group of traditional competitive riders opted to skip donut stops and try to win with pure speed, rather than pure sugar. Although they averaged an impressive 24mph and reached the finish in 90 minutes, not one made it into the GC Top 5.

Next year the 37th Original Tour de Donut will once again take place during the Tour de France, offering riders of all abilities a ‘hole’ lot of fun competition. Gravel riders interested in trying out this sweet racing format can also get in on the action at The Dirty Donut in Michigan – sprinkled with gravel of course.

Complete Tour de Donut results HERE

Photo Credit: Tour de Donut

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