A gray sky, similar to the one that blankets Ireland, graced Semple Street at 2 p.m. this Saturday for Oakland’s second annual Ginger Run. Luck was in the air as swaths of redheads raced across the finish line in the event of the season at the St. Patrick’s Day celebration.
Pitt students began gathering on Semple Street around 1 p.m. dressed in various shades of green, with some leaning heavily into American St. Patrick’s Day alcohol-based traditions by carrying borgs and playing beer pong. Music thumped throughout Semple as kelly green shirts slowly took over the street in preparation, creating a thick mob which the redheads waded through to get to the Sample and Bates starting line.
Tension began to build for the race in the minutes leading up to 2 p.m. as the large crowd of students pushed onto the narrow sidewalks of Semple, with some opting to sit on porches instead of swimming in the flood of excited and slightly inebriated students. As a redhead among the familiar sea of copper, I joined the giddy crowd at the Bates Street starting line. Gingers, both dyed and natural, conversed energetically amongst one another about last year’s run or midterms, while others joined in on the frequent “ginger” chants. There was talk throughout the crowd about trampling, a problem at last year’s Ginger Run, but my fire-headed compatriots and I agreed that the best strategy to avoid falling was to start near the back and “always stay standing.” The chances of winning the ginger run were quite low, and those truly determined to claim the $50 prize were at the front of the line, like tigers waiting to pounce.
The Pitt Irish Dance Club, which organized the Ginger Run, teamed up with Barstool alongside sponsors Red Bull and How To Be A Redhead to host the event. Organization and planning for this year’s run changed drastically from last year, when the Pittsburgh police raided the festivities. This year, Pitt Irish Dance Club acquired a special events permit from the City to shut down Semple for two hours, and Pittsburgh police assisted with event control, at one point slowly driving through the crowd to make a path for the runners. Shauna Meehan, president of the club and senior psychology major, talked about the changes between last year and the present, along with the process of planning with the city to create a safe and fun event.
“Last year we just wanted to do the ginger run, and Barstool was also hoping to do the same. So everybody just kind of showed up at one time, and we were just like, OK, ready, set go, and they just did it,” Meehan said.”The police are here as well to help us with crowd control … We have a permit with the city. It’s a special event permit. It’s like, the equivalent of getting a permit for, like, a marathon or a 5k.”
The event featured free items from both Red Bull and How to Be A Redhead — the former handed out cans of Red Bull to attendees, and the latter sent free redhead mascara, keychains, stickers and tote bags. Alongside free items, some clubs used the Ginger Run as an opportunity to fundraise. Spencer Aramburu-Perkins, junior bioengineering major and president of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, teamed up with the Society of Black Engineers to fundraise during the Ginger Run by selling hot dogs. Perkins spoke about how the idea to fundraise during the run arose in comparison to past fundraisers.
“We did [fundraising] last semester, during finals week. It was just freezing cold, and so that was kind of a bust, Perkins said. “It was so cold. And then with everything, with all the people falling through roofs, I was like, maybe they’re hungry.”
Worries about the race extended beyond simply winning in light of the recent Semple Street Roof collapse, an event that left 16 hospitalized the day before the race. Roofs were noticeably empty lining Semple street, and Pittsburgh police watched closely to ensure safety at the gathering. Students at the Ginger Run were cautious about the hazardous behavior, but wouldn’t let it dim their fun. Hannah Vancas, a first-year dental hygiene major, expressed sympathy for those hurt from the roof collapse but remained positive about the festivity.
“I hope everyone’s okay, but I think [those hurt by roof collapse] would want everyone to still have a good time, and I think everyone will,” Vancas said.
The race began, and from the perspective of a slow-paced ginger, I could only describe it as a very terrifying, very fun mess. I never heard go, but took the sight of fifty redheads before me beginning a mad sprint as a dependable sign. I began to dash, but was quickly stopped by my greatest fear — the trampling. Phones, wallets and vapes flew from the pockets of participants, and a domino effect began as people stopped to pick them up, causing redheads to stumble on top of each other. Large pileups grew before me, but I recalled the words “Always stay standing” from my time in the queue and grounded myself as people flew. The race kept going and so did I, picking up my fellow gingers and plopping them on their feet before speeding past an inflatable leprechaun towards the $50 pot of gold at the end of the Semple Street rainbow. As I chugged past lion manes of all shapes and sizes, Pitt students cheered me on with loud screams and a wall of phones lining the pathway, all recording the Olympic-worthy trot. The finish line was less of a ribbon for late finishers like myself and more of a crowd of redheads with nowhere else to go as the sea of people thickened.
As my moment in the pseudo-Irish sun came to a close, I took a moment to reflect on the Pitt community that came together to celebrate the holiday. First-years and seniors alike set their amber locks free to revel in the magic that is Americanized St. Patrick’s Day and enjoyed a bonding moment with over a thousand of their classmates. March 15 was a glorious day on Semple Street, a fresh start to a tradition that I hope will bring smiles to Pitt leprechauns for many years to come.