The Thrill of Victory, the Agony of De-Treat
Run Hard, Get Whooped
This article was generously sponsored by The Witham Family Hotels Charitable Fund.
BAR HARBOR—The runners plotted out strategies. Maybe they should split the bun and shoot the cream. Maybe, instead, they should dunk the whole pie in water? Maybe they should gulp? Slowly chew. Should they sprint? Run? Just walk really fast and try not to vomit? Each of the dozens of contestants in the Whoopie Mile World Championships had their own plans.
“I wanted the dog to be our designated eater,” one runner said of his lab as it rolled around on the grass.
Sadly, that was a no-go for the team. The dog did, however, get a lot of belly rubs and before the event was over, so did some of the runners.
The runners stretched as much as they could. They stretched their arms. They stretched their legs. They stretched their bellies.
They created cheers. Some made no sense to anyone but the team itself, like “cheddar on three” and “cheesy popcorn!” That didn’t matter.
What mattered was that eventually a whole lot of runners ate a whole lot of whoopie pies and had a whole lot of fun.
How many? And why?
As Patrick Caron, organizer, wrote on Facebook.
“Just picked up 84 whoopie pies for tonight's Whoopie Mile World Championships!
“Cashier: ‘Is it for charity?’
“Me: ‘No it's for stupidity’”
It might have been silly, but it was a messy and glorious event full of joy, camaraderie, and stickiness. It’s not every event where you begin at the College of the Atlantic’s whale skull, shove a whoopie pie through your own gullet, and then run .25 miles before doing it again. The entire race is one mile.
The whoopie had to be completely finished before runners started moving forward. There were relay teams competing for best times and there were solo competitors. There was also an endurance contest where time doesn’t matter, just eating a massive amount of whoopie pies does. This year’s endurance winner Chris Manwaring took the glory with seven whoopies after succumbing to a moment of vomit last year on his fourth. It was a bitter sweet victory as he took that last bite and then did the final lab, groaning a bit. But, he said, it was worth it.
“He’s been training all year,” Caron said.
The record had previously been held by Devon O'Connor who completed five laps and five whoopie pies. That had earned O’Connor the 2023 championship.
The burps come up on a small hill at the back side of the quarter-mile loop. That’s the danger zone that takes out most competitors.
Vomiting, by the way, is an automatic disqualification.
“Really,” one member of the JPH Bathroom Cleaners said of their win and trophy. “This is something greater than ourselves. We should sell it on Ebay.”
One dad described the winning team, all employees of Jordan Pond House as a “killer team.” And they were. The team members devouring the Boston Cream Pie’s previous record of 13 minutes 39 seconds with their time of seven minutes 34 seconds.
The solo winner Ethan Bruce methodically and quietly also consumed Francis Meisenbach’s record of 13 minutes 16 seconds with his own time of 10 minutes and 18 seconds.
There were six solo competitors signed up; there were ten teams in the relay. In the endurance category there were four competitors.
ABOUT MOVE FREE
The event was organized by Move Free.
According to its website, “Founded by free spirit, adventurer, and professional mountain ultra trail athlete Patrick Caron, Move Free was born out of a love for the natural world. Time spent outside has given us a deep appreciation for this planet we all inhabit, and we are determined to share this passion for movement and nature with others.
”Headquartered on Wabanaki land, in Acadia National Park, Mount Desert Island, Maine, our mission is to inspire adventure and give back to the planet. We design consciously crafted activewear for outdoor athletes and adventurers that is both environmentally and socially responsible, and provide curated running and travel experiences exploring the landscapes we love.”
The organization is involved in multiple coalitions, sells items, and also gives back in multiple ways. It also hosts running retreats on Mount Desert Island.
It’s about running, community, connection, nature and the planet. And sometimes to spread that mission, you create an event like the the Whoopie Run.
THE WHOOPIE PIE CONTROVERSY
The whoopie pie may be Maine’s official state treat, but its origin is a bit controversial. Both New England and Pennsylvania claim to have birthed the tasty treat.
Most food historians believe that the pies, made of two pieces of cake (typically dark, usually chocolate) and that are pressed against a center of sweet, white frosting, first hit mouths in the 1920s, give or take a few years.
The Food History Timeline writes, “Whoopie pies descend from cream-filled sandwich cakes popular in the Victorian era. Delicious recipes graced most European countries. Chocolate cake variations became popular in the late 19th/early 20th century when advancements in food technology made this ingredient available to the masses. Contemporary products are typically composed of chocolate/devil's food and vanilla cream. Sizes, thicknesses, and cream textures vary according to region. Some American culinary pundits tout Amish origin but offer no supporting historic print evidence for this claim.”
It was first advertised in New England in 1931 from the Berwick Cake Company, which is in Roxbury, Massachusetts.
Closer to Mount Desert Island, Lewistons’s Labadie’s Bakery has made the pies for almost a full century. Jennifer Smith-Mayo and Michael Mayo write in Maine Icons: 50 Classic Symbols of the Pine Tree State that the company began producing whoopie pies in 1935.
For one of Friday’s runners it was the first time eating a whoopie pie and it turned out? She didn’t actually like it. She made it through anyway and did her lap.
Other runners had a different take.
“It’s delicious!” one woman shouted. “Bring them on!”
THE THRILL OF VICTORY
THE AGONY OF DE-TREAT
OTHER PHOTOS FROM THE EVENT
All photos: Shaun Farrar and Carrie Jones/Bar Harbor Story
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