In a Michigan tradition that blends elite-level running with a high probability of vomiting, Hope College’s Connor Vachon has once again rewritten the record books… sort of.
At the annual Chocolate Milk Mile held in Pinckney, Mich., on June 27, Vachon broke his own world-best time, finishing the four-lap, four-drink ordeal in a blistering 4:37.6.
That’s just 0.6 seconds faster than the mark he set at the same event last year, and a time that, while unofficial, is believed to be the fastest anyone has ever run under these gut-churning conditions.
The premise is simple: at the start of each lap, runners stop to chug a 12-ounce cup of chocolate milk, nearly a liter and a half total by the end of the race.
They have to flip the empty cup over their heads to prove they drank it, and there’s a strict no-vomiting-until-after-the-final-lap policy. The chug zone, affectionately referred to as “the kitchen,” spans 20 meters of the track and is the only place athletes are allowed to walk.
The event was started in 2019 by then-high school freshman Quinn Cullen, who ran a meme Instagram account for Brighton High School’s cross-country team.
That first race drew just 13 finishers, but the idea caught on—and got more serious. Now there are open and elite divisions, team formats, and college athletes like Vachon showing up with real speed (and stomach capacity).
There’s no official governing body for chocolate milk mile records. Cullen says the Beer Mile website used to keep a chocolate milk leaderboard, but no longer updates it. Guinness World Records hasn’t returned his calls.
Vachon, who also won the elite race in 2022 and 2024, didn’t compete in 2023, the same year the event was nearly canceled after Cullen slipped a highlight reel (complete with slow-motion gagging) into Brighton’s morning announcements.
That didn’t go over well with faculty, and with just two weeks to spare, the race relocated to nearby Pinckney Middle School, where it’s been hosted ever since.
Why is Vachon so good at this? Cullen has a theory: “No one I’ve ever met loves chocolate milk more than him,” he said. “He drinks three-quarters of a gallon after nearly every hard run.”
The event was inspired by the more infamous beer mile, which features a similar lap-and-chug format, just with alcohol. Canadian runner Corey Bellemore, widely regarded as the king of that event, was one of Cullen’s early influences. Bellemore even commented “not bad” on a recent chocolate milk mile Instagram post.
While the event might sound ridiculous, it taps into something undeniably real: the joy of racing, community, and shared absurdity. “Although it may get competitive, this is truly all about fun,” the race’s website reads.
For now, Vachon’s 4:37.6 stands as the time to beat. Just don’t try it on an empty—or full—stomach.
