On the last Sunday of January, men dressed in manly attire took to Audubon Park with beer and cigars in hand to walk a little over a mile.
These men were taking place in the second annual Man-a-thon, which was described by the event’s Facebook page as a “run/jog/swagger/death crawl,” was started in 2009 by Jimmy Williams, A ’09.
Williams explained that the Man-a-thon started when one of his colleagues decided to forgo shaving for the entire month of January. “You were supposed to shave your face New Year’s Day and then not shave all throughout January,” he said. “And then at the very end we would have Manfest.”
Williams said that Manfest would be the last Sunday in January and would culminate in the Man-a-thon, an event which participants were required to complete in various atheletic contests with beer and a cigar in hand.
With the main focus of the event being a beard-growing contest, it may be easy for some to draw comparison to No Shave November, but Williams points out there is a key difference in the purpose of the two events. “No Shave November is to raise money for cancer and all that good stuff. This was kind of just being dumb,” he said, laughing. “It was silly manliness and we thought it was really cool so we did it.”
The 2nd annual walk around Audubon Park started off with an ominous rendition of “Ride of the Valkyries,” played on Williams’ tuba, in order to get the estimated 20 runners ready to go around the park. The participants then started on their way around the park, only stopping to use the exercise equipment on the side of the concrete path. The focus of the event was never lost, however. One participant used only one hand on the chin-up bar so that he could hold his cigar in the other.
In addition to carrying out what the participants believed to be manly ideals on the walk, the group was also successful in recruiting two more Loyola students to join the parade. “Me and my friend were brainstorming for a novel about zombies over at the park and we saw the Man-a-thon walk by,” said English writing freshman Andrew Labuzienski. “They called out to us and asked if we were man enough to join.”
After some brief consideration, Labuzienski and his friend, general studies history freshman Kevin O’Sullivan, joined the group as they made their way around the park. Gaining the interest of underclassmen will be key for the event’s continuation. Lead organizers of the event will graduate this spring, leaving the Man-a-thon without a leader. Williams said this was a problem when he graduated. It caused the Man-a-thon to go on hiatus for a year.
When the jog had been completed, those who had survived the 1.2-mile walk were joined by roughly 40 more people and a brass band, led by The Dirty Bourbon River Show, for the roasting of the Man-a-thon pig.
Pig roast master and Loyola A ’10 Sergio Gonzalez saw the pig as more than just a meal, but as something at the base of male bonding. “Every person shares that primordial feeling when there is a meat being cooked on an open fire,” he said.
Because of the increased numbers from the previous Man-a-thon, Williams is optimistic for its continuation in the future “I’m very happy with where it’s at,” he said. “It was resurrected and I thought it was gone, but it’s now back in full force.” He went on to say that since the first Man-a-thon only had six participants and the second one had 20, he expects somewhere from 50 to 100 people to take to Audubon Park next year.
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