Lilac Bloomsday Filling Up At Record Pace

Spokane’s biggest road race is more popular than ever.

Written by David Monti

(c). 2011 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved.

Used with permission. Already the largest fully timed 12K in the world with 50,661 finishers in 2010, the field for this year’s Lilac Bloomsday Run in Spokane, Wash., is filling up faster than ever. Race officials annoucned this weekend that early entries are running 40% ahead of last year’s pace and their popular Corporate Cup competition reached its 250-team limit in just three days.

“The early interest is a great sign,” commented Bloomsday Association president Carol Hunter through a media advisory. “Last year we had our largest number of recorded finishers since 1996 and it’s looking like this year we’ll have another increase.”

The 2011 race, scheduled for Sunday, May 1, will be the 35th edition of the event, founded in 1977. Consistently one of the most competitive road races in the United States, the Bloomsday has been won by some of the sport’s true legends: Anne Audain (7 times), Arturo Barrios, Steve Moneghetti, German Silva, Colleen De Reuck (twice), and Yobes Ondieki. Kenya’s Lineth Chepkurui has won the women’s race the last three year’s in a row, clocking an ARRS world record 38:10 last year in the all-women’s elite race.