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Clad in a custom potato costume touting the nutrition benefits of America’s favorite vegetable, the first-ever Speedy Spud, Izzy Aguiar, crossed the finish line in style at the BMW Dallas Half Marathon on Dec. 15, 2024.
- What’s a Speedy Spud? Team Potato’s inaugural Speedy Spud sponsorship was a way to celebrate the fantastic benefits of potatoes for athletes of all fitness levels. Team Potato selected Izzy to be the first-ever Speedy Spud out of 90 applicants in a nationwide contest.
Why Team Potato Chose Izzy: A former collegiate runner and a future doctor, Izzy is passionate about fueling her performance with potatoes—and showing other athletes of all fitness levels how to do so, too!
- In her quest to become the fastest tuber on two legs, Izzy shared in her application, “According to all known laws of aviation, there’s no way a potato should be able to get off the ground. As the Speedy Spud, I will show you how high the potato can fly.”
Results: And fly Izzy did! The Texas Christian University medical school student placed eighth in her age group, completing the BMW Dallas Half Marathon with an impressive time of 1:39 — that’s about a mile every seven and a half minutes! This was a personal record for Izzy, which is even more impressive because she achieved it in a potato suit!
How Speedy Spud Promoted Potatoes: Izzy’s performance surprised and delighted runners, event organizers, and local media covering the event. She was interviewed by CBS News Texas for a segment that was published by CBS News’ national website. Potato Goodness social media followers were also able to join Izzy on her training journey with fun updates and recipe suggestions posted in the weeks leading up to the race.
- The goal of Speedy Spud was to educate people about the benefits potatoes provide as an affordable, delicious and nutrient-dense source of fuel. To boost that message, Potatoes USA had a booth on the ground at the BMW Dallas Half Marathon, sharing potato nutrition information and swag with the hundreds of runners and spectators who stopped by our location near the finish line.
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