Toronto Chipotle Strava challenge ends in spicy controversy
Did you really think a year's worth of free burritos would come drama-free?
The promise of free burritos for a year had hungry Torontonians running in circles–literally. On Jan. 31, Chipotle’s Strava challenge wrapped up after a month of intense competition, with runners vying to complete the most laps around a designated Chipotle restaurant to claim the title of Local Legend. Toronto’s challenge came down to the wire, with an unexpected twist, as one runner vaulted to the top of the leaderboard in the final hour to claim the win–even though 10 days earlier, he’d indicated he was injured and would withdraw.
View this post on Instagram
Canadian Running’s own Marley Dickinson believed he was leading by about 150 segments when, on the final day, with just 40 minutes left in the challenge, Jérôme Sakoun uploaded 230 segments and was declared the winner.
On Jan. 21, Sakoun uploaded a run, sharing photos of himself receiving treatment. “Hips and ankle down,” he wrote in his caption. “Chiro told me to stop [for] a bit. It was fun, ngl [not gonna lie].”
“Wish you a speedy recovery,” one user commented on the run, to which Sakoun responded, “Don’t think so, I’ll do 1-2 times on the segments to say I did it again, but I think it’s done.” The delayed upload showed he ran 15 km the following day.
A surprising recovery
Over the next 10 days, Sakoun completed more than 230 laps, each measuring 600m–bringing his total mileage during that period to at least 138 km.
Delayed uploads are allowed, according to the challenge’s rules. After declaring he was injured, Sakoun waited until the final evening to upload the runs to his Strava account, to keep other competitors from seeing and responding to his lead. Before declaring he was injured, he had completed 196 laps; he won with nearly 430.
The rules also include guidelines about “acting in an unsportsman-like or disruptive manner, with the intent to disrupt or undermine the legitimate operation of the Contest”–which is, of course, open to interpretation.
We asked Sakoun about his tactics. He responded, “When I said I was ‘done with the challenge,’ that was genuinely how I felt at the time due to an injury,” he told Canadian Running. “However, after visiting my chiropractor, I was able to get some relief and continue competing within the rules before the deadline. It was never my intention to mislead anyone–I was just sharing how I felt in the moment.
“That said, the Chipotle Challenge was a unique and rewarding experience—one that required a great deal of determination, perseverance, and introspection,” he continued. “It gave me the chance to push my limits, stay motivated and truly enjoy the essence of running.” Sakoun, a manager at Toronto’s French Italian Eatery Vinoteca Pompette, is a member of the Food Runners Run Club, a group of runners who work in the restaurant industry.
“It’s definitely a good deal of mileage for an injury,” said Mitchell Chow, the runner who placed fourth in the challenge. “If the efforts were hidden, I suppose there’s no rule saying that it can’t be done, but it’s not the most sportsmanlike thing.
“If this comes back next year, that means whoever is at the #1 spot really can’t relax,” Chow continued. “[They] will need to keep running laps, no matter how far ahead they seem. It would make it much worse mentally.”
Should Chipotle uphold this win?
Our bias is clear–Dickinson is a Canadian Running staffer. But he says it’s difficult to keep pushing without any competition, and that he would have welcomed the chance to try and beat Sakoun, which would have allowed for a close, exciting and fair battle in its final hours. Together, Sakoun and Dickinson accumulated 60 per cent of the laps run during the entire challenge. To defend the lead he believed he had, Dickinson even parked himself in a restaurant near the segment for most of the final day to ensure he could respond to any last-minute efforts.
Dickinson asked Chipotle to consider the circumstances of Sakoun’s win. Vice president Erin Wolford responded that they would honour Sakoun’s win: “After reviewing, we are upholding the Local Legend as they completed the segment the greatest number of times in January. Toronto was not the only city where runners used unique tactics to throw off their competitors.”
Next year, we hope Toronto’s competition mirrors the genuine and hard-fought battle seen among Arizona’s Chipotle challenge participants.
Check out the latest buyer's guide:
