Holiday Hustle 2025

 Every year, Oklahoma Christian University hosts the Holiday Hustle, a timed 5k race around the university’s trail. Arianne Gillham, the director of the fitness center, who also heads up Team OC, the fitness and wellness initiative on campus, spoke with the Talon about this year’s race.

“The Holiday Hustle is one of our official timed races on campus. It’s open to the students, employees, and the whole community. Anybody can come and run in it,” Gillham said.

The race has several defining factors; the cost, officiality, and timing. However, the officiality aspect is its greatest distinction.

“I think the thing that makes it unique is that it’s an official race. You have your bib with the time chip on it, and you’re tracked so that you can get official race times… That patch at certain points around the trail, the chip gets tracked, okay, and then you get all of your stats,” Gillham said.

Several groups on campus assist with this race, such as Oklahoma Christian’s Student Government Association, the cross-country team, and outside volunteers. This involvement allows for more benefits to participants, Gillham explains.

“It does cost, and the students get a great discount in part from the [Oklahoma Christian] SGA and Team OC,” Gillham said.

“I open up the volunteers to everybody on campus, not to off campus [explicitly], but I wouldn’t turn them away if they wanted to volunteer. So cross country is the biggest one. We couldn’t do it without them… Professor Lindsey Long encourages her students to either run or volunteer, so a lot from her classes and then just other staff have helped us run it every year,” Gillham said.

Gillham said the greatest challenge this year has been the number of participants.

“So the biggest thing I’m thinking of right now was two weeks ago, we had less than 100 people registered for it, and I wasn’t panicking, but I was like, ‘Okay, we gotta wrap this up,’ but now we already have about almost 200, I think… So a couple of weeks ago I was a little worried; today we’re fine. We normally have about 300 people run it, so that’s just kind of a month out, but since Covid, I don’t know, people just don’t like to pre-register anymore,” Gillham said.

When asked to describe the race route and what participants should expect, “picturesque” was the word that came to mind, Gillham said.

“Oh my gosh, it’s the [Oklahoma Christian] trail, obviously. And we love the [Oklahoma Christian] trail. It’s our 5k loop, so it’s all the way around campus. I would say, past the pond on the west side of campus and…[to] Boulevard. So that’s always a really nice picturesque area… It’s all the way around campus, so you get to see everything,” Gillham said. 

The race is crafted to involve the whole community: students, faculty, alumni, and others in the area around Oklahoma Christian.

“Obviously, they’re all invited, and so they just get to mingle before the race. And of course, some people like to compete; it is a competitive race. So there’s that aspect, and then the pancake breakfast. At the end of it, everybody is in the student center enjoying their pancake breakfast with live Christmas music playing. A student plays the piano for us. Yeah, [it’s] just a way to be together, and you know, in an unofficial environment, everybody’s just enjoying the same atmosphere and is there for the same reasons—to enjoy an activity together,” Gillham said.

Proceeds are donated or used to cover the cost of the race.

“It’s 50/50 with the cross-country team and Team OC. So you know, it covers our cost to put on the race,” Gillham said.

Sponsors are a major contributing factor to this race. This year, OK Runner is a new sponsor, accounting for the timing equipment and cash prizes. In-store credit is given to the top three finishers in each age group category listed on the Holiday Hustle website: www.oc.edu/holidayhustle.

“So if you run the 10k, you can get prize money. So [there is] prize money for the 10k, and then there’s in-store credit at OK Runner… OK Runner runs the timekeeper as well.” Gillham said.

“So the SGA gives us money every year for [the race], and that helps us lower the student fee and registration fee. And then we have official sponsors… Wedel Rahill is our biggest sponsor, and they sponsor, like, the fitness center and everything. So they’re great. Then TFCU is one of my most loyal, and I love them. They give us all of these little freebie things to give away. They’re great. Tap Tap Eat is our former race director, but he’s opened up his own business, and he still comes and does [the race] and enjoys the event… Memorial Road Church of Christ, Team Darcy, is the Team OC founder and she’s passed away, Matthews Funeral Home, the Red Team, Happy Dog Farm, and then U-Dining donates the pancakes, so that’s their donation to the event… We do purchase the sausage and hot chocolate, everything else that comes with the breakfast,” Gillham said.

The race’s mission and purpose are to build the community and benefit students’ studies around this time of year.

‘It’s really to build community. It’s always run the Saturday before finals to get the students outside and clear their brains to get ready for finals. So that’s a big mission for me, to help the students prepare. But you know, the overall mission is to get community: get people from on campus, people from off campus, and our community involved and out on campus,” Gillham said.Registration links, maps, and more information can be found on their website: http://www.oc.edu/holidayhustle.