7 Trampled, 3 Missing in Wake of Ginger Run

Duke University students woke up on Tuesday, March 17 eager to celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day — with only one celebration on their minds. Though festivities included Guinness-swigging at Krafthouse, wearing green attire and an Irish food feature at Marketplace, the most anticipated event by far was the Ginger Run, a gathering of redheads in the community to race through Duke’s campus. 

Sophia Jones, a 3rd-year student studying computer science and history, expressed her love for the event as a self-proclaimed “ginger ally.” 

“Even though I’m brunette, I feel a kinship towards my ginger peers, almost like a motherly love,” Jones said. 

Jones explained that she’s been passionate about gingers since childhood, and has been working to raise awareness for prevalent issues in the ginger community: gingerphobia, resources for gingers who are struggling with their soullessness and the ginger community’s impending extinction. 

“When I get the privilege of seeing them all in one place, moving together — it’s like watching  my little chickadees spread their wings and be independent,” she said. “Who’s going to be there for them in the real world?” 

Despite the high hopes for the event, excitement quickly turned into terror when the ginger run spiraled into a ginger trample. After the gingers were all lined up on Abele quad to begin their journey, a naïve passerby misunderstood the wall of orangey-red manes and panickedly shouted “FIRE!” into the crowd. With gingers leading the charge, every student present scrambled to flee the grounds. In the chaos, seven students were trampled, and three more are missing in the wake of the event. 

Though President Price has declined to comment, Duke released an official statement promising to review the hazardous conditions that led to the tragedy. With tensions running high, students are anxious waiting for confirmation of whether or not the event will be banned in posterity, something that has elicited mixed opinions. 

“Even though all those people died … the community that shows out knows the dangers of concentrating so many redheads in one place. So, yeah, I say why let those peoples’ bitter families ruin it for everyone?” said one onlooker. 

Meanwhile, students who are pro-ban have used their organizing privileges to garner additional support. Set up on BC plaza,  protesters proudly hoist signs that read “Euthanize the gingers!” and “Red heads or red HANDS? NO COMPLACENCY!” Fluke staff were able to secure an exclusive interview with the cause’s most dedicated protester, Emily Taylor, age six. Standing small but mighty at 3-foot-8, Taylor made it clear that she wasn’t going to let her new lisp stop her from speaking out about losing her teeth in the craze.

 “Timeth like thithe remind me why the death penalty thould be legal,” she professed, not upset at the loss of her teeth, which were already wiggly, but rather the missed opportunity for a visit from the tooth fairy. “Thothe ginger cunths will pay.” So far, there’s been no word about the decision, and the school and surrounding communities are waiting with bated breath. 

Families of the victims have asked for privacy during this time, and while it’s uncertain if the red-headed rampage will ever make a comeback, it’s clear that the 2026 Ginger Run will be talked about for years to come.