Spokane, WA—On Sunday May 2, the Lilac Bloomsday Run will be celebrating the 28th running of Spokane’s annual road race and celebration of health and fitness. The Bloomsday tradition has been firmly established in Spokane for almost three decades now. Bloomsday is truly and event for everybody, whether an Olympic athlete, recreational runners, jogger, or walker.
This year, for the first time, Bloomsday has named Team Parkinson and Parkinson’s Regional Center of Spokane as official charities for 2004. This seemed like a natural for us, as our longtime Board member and past president, Bill Johnson, suffers from this disease. Please check out their websites for individual information and to donate to these deserving charities.
Parkinson’s Regional Center of Spokane
We are honored to have Joan Samuelson, winner of the inaugural women’s marathon at the LA Olympics in 1984, as our guest Bloomsday weekend. Joan will be speaking at the our “Women’s Forum” on Friday, April 30th at 5:30 pm and to the general public on Saturday afternoon, May 1. Both sessions will be held in the Spokane Convention Center Conference Theatre. She will also be running in the Bloomsday run on Sunday morning.
Once again world-class open and wheelchair racers will offer excitement to the event, as they compete for prize money. In addition, Bloomsday will host the sixth annual Washington State Road Running Championships, in which state residents will compete for prize money. For other top runners, competition among the local runners, Corporate Cup, and age-group contenders promises to keep the racing energetic.
The Fit for Bloomsday, Fit for Life training program for elementary school students now in its 19th year. Over 4,000 young runners are expected to participate in this year’s program. The program is co-sponsored by Bloomsday and the Dairy Farmers of Washington.
Bloomsday continues to offer on-line registration and a downloadable entry form from our website. Last year, over 15,000 people entered on line, and we continue to add more on-line registrations each year.
The on-time entry fee for Bloomsday is $10.00 and is one of the lowest fees in the nation for a major running event. Entry forms are now available at locations throughout the Inland Northwest. Mailed in entries must be postmarked by April 13 to avoid the late entry fee of $25.00.
Once again, Gart Sports will be taking entry forms at the two local stores. To avoid postal fees and late fees, they will take them up until 9:00 pm on the deadline day, April 13th. Entry forms are available for pickup at: area US Banks, Safeway Stores, Snyder Bakery Outlets, Premera Blue Cross, Holy Family Hospital and Sacred Heart Medical Center.
Come run Bloomsday & join the fun!