You’ve probably seen the videos on social media: a crowd of redheads dressed in green, being cheered on by their classmates as they sprint down the street during a university’s St. Patrick’s Day festivities for the Running of the Gingers.
Sophomore Anna Faith McIntyre wanted to bring an event like that to Samford.
“I saw a video on Instagram, and it was Notre Dame doing a Running of the Gingers,” said McIntyre. “It was so funny, and I thought we should do it.”
McIntyre also wanted to organize the event to help unify and create a fun space for the gingers at Samford.
“I feel like gingers do get made fun of a lot. They get picked on. I got picked on for being ginger in high school, even though I’m not,” McIntyre said. “They called me Ed Sheeran.”
McIntyre joined forces with Grace Sizemore, another sophomore, and together they started planning for it.
“Grace has her own GroupMe, the Carrot Top Cruisers, just to support gingers at Samford,” McIntyre said. “And we were like, well, why don’t we organize something together?”
Sizemore has been wanting to participate in an event like this for years, ever since she first heard about it in her senior year of high school.
“My sister’s university had their own take on the Running of the Gingers,” Sizemore said. “I was really disappointed because they were having it when I couldn’t be there. So, I’ve always wanted to participate in one of these as a ginger myself.”
The turnout of the actual event may have been low, but spirits were high. Amid the sounds of Britney Spears’ “Lucky” pouring from a speaker, and shouts to pinch the Mr. Beeson statue (he wasn’t wearing green!), the participating gingers ran around the quad in a small loop, cheered on by the crowd of spectators on Ben Brown. The winner took home a St. Patrick’s Day themed gift basket, complete with clover-shaped glasses.
Hopes are that the event will pick up more traction and have a bigger turnout in future years.
“This year, we did it, and I hope next year it’ll build some nostalgia, and build a legacy to make people want to come back and do it again,” McIntyre said.
Staff Reporter
