An Airdrie resident is willing to go the distance to keep his favourite doughnut on the menu at Tim Horton's.
Long-distance runner Zacary Jeaurond is preparing for a 100-mile ultra-marathon next month, and is dedicating his last few weeks of training and his participation in the race to fighting for the walnut crunch – a limited-time menu item at Tim Horton's.
By sharing his crunch crusade with local and regional media, Jeaurond said he's hoping to keep his favourite tasty pastry on Tim Horton's menu, either as a permanent fixture or on a recurring annual rotation.
“I’ve been biking and training a ton as is, so I just decided to start dedicating my training toward advocating for the walnut crunch and trying to get it to stay,” he told the Airdrie City View on Monday, after his story was first reported by the CBC.
Jeaurond said he hopes his advocacy will demonstrate to Tim Horton's how popular the walnut crunch is, and encourage the company to keep it around long term.
“All the training runs I’ve been doing, I’ve been shifting to different ways to publicize [my advocacy] or make the walnut crunch more well known,” he said. “I’ve been trying to get a hold of Tim Horton’s to make sure they know people want it to stay, including myself and many others.”
In April, Tim Horton's announced the walnut crunch would be making a temporary comeback this year after a decade-long hiatus, as a way to celebrate National Donut Day.
As someone who fondly remembers eating the walnut crunch when he was younger, Jeaurond said he was excited when he heard it was finally coming back this spring. But he was later disappointed when he found out it would be for a limited time only.
“At that time, I was thinking – ‘How can I make sure it’s here to stay?’” he said. “Once it started getting closer and closer to the end of the walnut crunch, I thought, ‘I need to do something.’”
With his upcoming participation in the Sinister Seven – a 100-mile ultra-marathon race based in the Crowsnest Pass – on July 8 and 9, Jeaurond said he hatched an idea of dedicating his participation in the event toward fighting to keep the walnut crunch on the menu.
Jeaurond, a George McDougall High School alumnus and a nearly lifelong Airdrie resident, said the walnut crunch is “by far” his favourite doughnut.
“For me, it just checks off all the boxes – size, texture, flavour,” he said. “It has all of that.”
During a recent training run, Jeaurond completed a 15-kilometre loop around Airdrie, during which he stopped at each of the five local Tim Horton's locations to order a walnut crunch.
Perhaps ironically, he said eating the five doughnuts during his run will actually benefit his ultra-marathon training.
“Because I’m training for a 100-mile ultra-marathon race, a large part of that is training your party to be able to eat while running,” he explained. “In general, the human body can only digest 250 to 350 calories an hour. But if you eat more than that every hour while running, you can train your body to digest closer to 400, 450 calories an hour.
“Eating those five [doughnuts] in two hours was putting me at 800, 900 calories, so that worked well in my training in getting my body to be able to digest for more food,” he said. “So come race day, I can eat more and run out smaller caloric deficits during the race.”
As he approaches the ultra-marathon, Jeaurond said he has just one more week of intense training left before he tapers down his preparations to give his legs and body time to heal before the big race.
He said he plans to run from Canmore to Banff and back this week, running along the picturesque Goat Creek Trail on the way to Banff and then along the Trans-Canada Highway on the way back.
Of course, Jeaurond ensured the inter-municipal run will include pit stops at the two towns' local Tim Horton's for a sugary pick-me-up.
“I have a feeling they won’t have the crunch there anymore, so I’ve stockpiled a few that I’ll be bringing with me,” he said with a laugh.
To follow Jeaurond's journey, he encourages people to follow his Instagram handle, @Zaddy_Daycare_YYC
Editor's note: A comment from Tim Horton's regarding Jeaurond's efforts will be added to this story when a statement has been received.
