Lilac Bloomsday Run | |
---|---|
Date | First Sunday in May |
Location | Spokane, Washington, U.S. |
Event type | Road |
Distance | 7.456 miles (12 km) |
Established | 1977, 46 years ago |
Course records | 33:51 (2008); Micah Kogo Women: 38:03 (2016) Cynthia Limo |
Official site | bloomsdayrun.org |
The Lilac Bloomsday Run, also known as Bloomsday, is an annual timed road race in the northwest United States, held on the first Sunday of May since 1977 in Spokane, Washington. [1] [2] [3] [4] The course length is 12 km (7.456 mi).
The run has had over 38,000 participants every year since 1986, [5] and peaked 27 years ago in 1996 with 61,298 registered. [6] The number of finishers in 2015 was 43,206. [7] Lineth Chepkurui set an unofficial 12 km world record in the 2010 women's race. [8] [nb 1]
The course record of 33:51 was set 15 years ago in 2008 by Micah Kogo, a pace of 4:32.4 per mile and an average speed of 13.217 mph (21.3 km/h). The women's record of 38:03 was set in 2016 by Cynthia Limo, a 5:06.2 per mile pace and an average speed of 11.758 mph (18.9 km/h).
Don Kardong, who founded the race, explained the name as "a starting event for the Lilac Festival … you know, lilacs blooming. And of course, I like it because it rhymes with doomsday." [1] The shortened name Bloomsday is usually associated instead with James Joyce's 1922 novel Ulysses and celebrations of June 16, the day in the life of Leopold Bloom that the novel chronicles.
Kardong had hoped for five hundred participants for the inaugural edition in 1977, [1] and got nearly triple that. [3] The second edition had over five thousand, [12] and the third in 1979 was over ten thousand, with fifty thousand spectators lining the streets. [13] The sixth edition in 1982 had over 22,000, [14] and despite rain and some snow, there were over 30,000 in 1984. [15]
The early editions were around eight miles (12.9 km) in length. [3] [12] [13] [16] A new course was introduced in 1980. [17]
The course starts in Downtown Spokane and heads northwest along the far west end of town, passes by Mukogowa Ft. Wright Institute and Spokane Falls Community College before heading up "Doomsday Hill" and back downtown past the Spokane County Courthouse and ending at the Monroe Street Bridge. Every finisher of the race receives a Bloomsday T-shirt.
Thomas E. Sneva is a retired American race car driver who won the Indianapolis 500 in 1983. He primarily raced in Indy cars, and was named to the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2005.
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Donald ("Don") Franklin Kardong is a noted runner and author from the United States. He finished fourth in the 1976 Olympic marathon in Montreal.
Lineth Chepkurui is a Kenyan long distance runner.
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The 1976 Idaho Vandals football team represented the University of Idaho in the 1976 NCAA Division I football season. The Vandals were led by third-year head coach Ed Troxel and were members of the Big Sky Conference, then in Division II. They played their home games at the Kibbie Dome, an indoor facility on campus in Moscow, Idaho.
The 1975 Idaho Vandals football team represented the University of Idaho in the 1975 NCAA Division I football season. The Vandals were led by second-year head coach Ed Troxel and were members of the Big Sky Conference, then in Division II. They played their home games at the Kibbie Dome, an indoor facility on campus in Moscow, Idaho.
The 1974 Idaho Vandals football team represented the University of Idaho in the 1974 NCAA Division I football season. The Vandals were led by first-year head coach Ed Troxel and were members of the Big Sky Conference, then in Division II. They played their home games at new Idaho Stadium, an unlit outdoor facility on campus in Moscow, Idaho.
The 1973 Idaho Vandals football team represented the University of Idaho in the 1973 NCAA Division I football season. The Vandals were led by fourth-year head coach Don Robbins and were members of the Big Sky Conference, then in Division II. They played their home games at new Idaho Stadium, an unlit outdoor facility on campus in Moscow, Idaho.
The 1972 Idaho Vandals football team represented the University of Idaho in the 1972 NCAA University Division football season. The Vandals were led by third-year head coach Don Robbins and were members of the Big Sky Conference. They played their home games at new Idaho Stadium, an unlit outdoor facility on campus in Moscow, Idaho.
The 1970 Idaho Vandals football team represented the University of Idaho in the 1970 NCAA University Division football season. The Vandals were led by first-year head coach Don Robbins and were members of the Big Sky Conference, then in the college division of the NCAA. Without a usable stadium on their Moscow campus for a second year, they played their home games at Rogers Field at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington.
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