First ever “Sugar Rush 5K” to raise funds for diabetes research

BYU Sugar Rush 5K

Although they study diabetes in classes and research a cure in the lab, several BYU students want to do more to find a way to fight diabetes. So they are enlisting the community’s help in their efforts by organizing the BYU Sugar Rush 5K on Saturday, September 19.

The race has two purposes: to raise awareness and funds to support diabetes research at BYU. Plus, the students hope to have some fun too.

“The race is going to be an extremely fun time,” said Brian Parker, one of the Physiology and Development Biology students who is organizing the event. “Cosmo will be there, we’ll have vendors, raffles, entertainers and prizes. Then, of course, when you think about the cause that we’re running for, it’s going to be an incredible time.”

Parker hopes that the cause is a biggest motivator for people to run and contribute. In fact, 100 percent of the proceeds from the race will go towards student-driven diabetes research at BYU.

“The diabetes research going on at BYU is vibrant and is making a change,” said Benjamin Bikman, one of BYU’s Physiology and Developmental Biology professors helping organize the event. “We have filed two patents on molecules that we have found might be effective for Type 2 diabetes, and students are driving all of it. It is all students’ efforts.”

David Thomson, another Physiology and Developmental Biology professor helping organize the event, said, “Diabetes is one of the biggest health problems of the upcoming years, but we know we can do something about it. We can find solutions, or at least options, that can bless and help the lives of people with the appropriate research.”

The Sugar Rush 5K will begin at the West Annex of the Smith Fieldhouse at 9 a.m., on Saturday, September 19. Advance registration (which includes at t-shirt) is $20 on sugarrush.byu.edu. Day of registration is $25, although there is no guarantee of receiving a t-shirt.