The Lion’s Athletic Association, in partnership with RaceTrac, is sponsoring a “Battle of the Sexes” competition in order to raise money for Southeastern Athletics.
The competition started on Feb. 1 and will continue until April 30 so students can help raise money for the school’s athletics.
While gas does not count as a purchase, students and faculty members can earn points by buying items inside the store. The purchase competition includes male and female students, as well as faculty and staff members.
“It is any items that are purchased inside the store: coffee, cokes, hot dogs. RaceTrac wanted to make a donation to the university, and we wanted to make it fun and engage both the students and faculty,” said Erin Cowser, executive director of public and governmental affairs.
Every time a student makes an in-store purchase at any of the three RaceTrac locations in Hammond, the cashier will swipe a male or female barcode to keep track of which gender is ahead.
According to Cowser, “The staffs at all three RaceTrac locations in Hammond have two different bar codes, one for male and one for female. If you go in and show your Student ID, they scan the barcode to keep track of the girls’ and the boys’ participating.”
RaceTrac’s community marketing manager, Jason Kilpatrick, approached Cowser with the idea.
“The contest was kind of a loosely conceptualized idea from our RaceTrac Rivalry Bowl that we have started with high schools that has shown to be a large success,” said Kilpatrick. “With that basis, I just tried to expand the parameters and attempt to create a broader atmosphere.”
The winning gender will have $2,000 donated to their sports, and the runner-up will be awarded $1,000.
“On top of that, there will be a day where the winning gender will be awarded at the main RaceTrac across from the mall, freebees and other prizes. This way everybody that participated gets to win, and it’s not just about the donation,” Cowser said.
Another perk of Southeastern being partnered with RaceTrac will come during the week of midterms.
“One of their coffee vendors has agreed to set up a location in the Union to give out free coffee during midterms, which I thought was appropriate since everybody could use a jolt of caffeine during midterms,” said Cowser.
“The relationship between RaceTrac and Southeastern has been everything I could have hoped for. We are very proud to call Southeastern one of its community partners,” said Kilpatrick of the new partnership with Southeastern.
The Hammond RaceTrac location across from the Hammond Square Mall off I-12 is striving to be the main Southeastern community store.
“The community stores and I really believe that this program can be a huge success with not only the new guest development but more importantly the bond that we will create with Southeastern,” said Kilpatrick.
For more information on how to get involved with the competition, visit RaceTrac’s Facebook page, ‘Racetrac Louisiana,’ or contact Erin Cowser at [email protected].