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Mass appeal

Bloomsday thrills despite race-day chill

Hilary Kraus  •  Staff writer
Published May 8, 2006

Bloomsday runners pass over the Monroe Street Bridge after finishing the race. This year's race featured 40,613 runners, joggers and walkers plus a new timing system. (J. Bart Rayniak The Spokesman-Review ) Photos downtown | the racers | scenes from the course Multimedia The sights and sounds of the race

The used sweat shirts were almost as popular as the new T-shirts.

During Sunday's Lilac Bloomsday Run when the temperature stalled at 48 degrees, the sweat shirts traditionally flung into trees and onto curbs became a hot commodity.

More than 90 minutes after the fastest groups had begun the 7.46-mile run, the baby-stroller set was due to start. After standing in the cold for so long, the quick-thinkers began putting on the discarded gear. A practically new Shadle Park High School cross country team sweat shirt was scooped up by one shivering back-of-the-pack participant. A Richland Bomber sweat shirt had no problem finding a new owner.

It was a Bloomsday in which people were cold but caring as 44,749 runners, joggers and walkers were introduced to the new chip-technology timing. A total of 40,613 finished the course, up from last year when 43,842 people were registered and 40,012 completed the course.

Gilbert Okari of Kenya devoured the course in 34 minutes, 14 seconds to win the men's race, ninth-fastest ever. lsabella Ochichi of Kenya won the women's race in 38:36.

"It was good weather for being out there running," said Don Kardong, Bloomsday founder and executive director, who finished in 56:33. "It was comfortable for the runners, but not the weather we prefer. It cools down the post-race enthusiasm."

The National Weather Service reported it was 48 degrees at 9 a.m., and it never warmed up throughout the race. The average temperature for May 7 is 64 degrees. With winds gusting at 15 mph to 20 mph Sunday, at times it felt like 40 degrees.

However, it still was more comfortable than in 1984, when it snowed.

While many gave the cold shoulder to the post-Bloomsday party in Riverfront Park, the spectator scene along the race route also was lighter than usual.

Some onlookers were wrapped in blankets; others wore gloves, muffling the applause that traditionally is handed out to the thousands of participants.

A gymnastics troupe on the Dominican Center property at west Fort George Wright Drive looked too cold to tumble. But the belly dancers at the corner of Lindeke and Broadway braved the breeze and bared their bellies throughout the morning.

And for some, it was a longer-than-usual Bloomsday morning.

Under the new timing system, every racer wore an ankle bracelet that held a computer chip. Their times were registered when they stepped on start- and finish-line mats.

Participants began the race in waves, beginning at 8:40 a.m. with the invited wheelchair competitors. Fourteen gun-starts later, the last group's race began at 10:30 a.m.

Announcer Bill Roe reassured each wave of runners they didn't have to push through to the starting line.

"You are going to get your own 12K time. That's better than you've ever gotten before," Roe assured everyone from the under-one-hour runners to the stroller pushers, some upset with the late start.

In past years, the Bloomsday caboose pulled out of the station closer to 10 a.m.; however bottlenecks inevitably formed near the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture on Riverside and later on the Marne Bridge.

This year, the only reported backup was at the T-shirt pickup line on Spokane Falls Boulevard. For the first time, competitors finished at the north end of the Monroe Street Bridge and were funneled downtown.

Jeff Reed, Bloomsday board member in charge of the starting line, said the starts were spaced out a little longer under the new system. His committee plans to review film and look at the traffic flow to see what can be improved. "Our course can take 50,000 only so fast," Reed said.

Kardong said that within the next few days, he'll hear it all – from praise to complaints.

"I don't know if the 10:30 (start) is correctable," he said.

However, a racer's time of arrival is adjustable.

The Esvelt family of Spokane Valley, always fashionably late, couldn't have timed its Bloomsday better. Grandpa Larry Esvelt, mom and dad Allison and Mark Esvelt, and children, Cassie, 6; Annika, 3; and Derek, 9 months, arrived at 10:15 a.m. They were in the last group to start Bloomsday, but they waited only 15 minutes.

It took them two hours to walk the course, double-wide baby stroller and all.

"It worked for us," Allison Esvelt said.