The Lilac Bloomsday Run, also known as Bloomsday, is an annual timed road race in the northwest

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, held on the first Sunday of May since 1977 in The course length is 12 km (7.456 mi). The run has had over 38,000 participants every year since 1986, and peaked in 1996 with 61,298 The number of finishers in 2015 was 43,206. Lineth Chepkurui set an unofficial 12 km world record in the 2010 women's race. The course record of 33:51 was set in 2008 by Micah Kogo, a pace of 4:32.4 per mile and an average speed of . 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 .

Don Kardong Donald Franklin Kardong (born December 22, 1948) is a noted runner and author from the United States. He finished fourth in the 1976 Olympic marathon in Montreal. Biography Kardong graduated from prestigious college-prep school, Seattle Prep i ...

, 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." The shortened name

Bloomsday Bloomsday is a commemoration and celebration of the life of Irish writer James Joyce, observed annually in Dublin and elsewhere on 16 June, the day his 1922 novel '' Ulysses'' takes place in 1904, the date of his first sexual encounter with his ...

is usually associated instead with

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the Modernism, modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important ...

's 1922 novel '' Ulysses'' and celebrations of June 16, the day in the life of

Leopold Bloom Leopold Bloom is the fictional protagonist and hero of James Joyce's 1922 novel '' Ulysses''. His peregrinations and encounters in Dublin on 16 June 1904 mirror, on a more mundane and intimate scale, those of Ulysses/ Odysseus in Homer's ep ...

that the novel chronicles. Kardong had hoped for five hundred participants for the inaugural edition in 1977, and got nearly triple that. The second edition had over five thousand, and the third in 1979 was over ten thousand, with fifty thousand spectators lining the streets. The sixth edition in 1982 had over 22,000, and despite rain and some snow, there were over 30,000 in 1984. The early editions were around in length. A new course was introduced

Course

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 Spokane Falls Community College (SFCC) is a public community college in Spokane, Washington. It was established in 1967 and is part of the Community Colleges of Spokane. History The land upon which SFCC is located was given to the city after ...

before heading up "Doomsday Hill" and back downtown past the Spokane County

Courthouse A courthouse or court house is a building that is home to a local court of law and often the regional county government as well, although this is not the case in some larger cities. The term is common in North America. In most other English-spe ...

and ending at the Monroe Street Bridge. Every finisher of the race receives a Bloomsday T-shirt.

Results

Bloomsday 2008 - Fort George Wright Drive 20080504

:Key: *Early editions were around in length.

Notes

References

External links

* {{Ulysses Culture of Spokane, Washington Long-distance running competitions Sports in Spokane, Washington Recurring sporting events established in 1977 Tourist attractions in Spokane County, Washington Road running competitions in the United States