Lilac Bloomsday Run on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
The Lilac Bloomsday Run, also known as Bloomsday, is an annual timed road race in the northwest
* Delay due to COVID-19 pandemic. First virtual race.
:Key:
*Early editions were around in length.
The Lilac Bloomsday Run, also known as Bloomsday, is an annual timed road race in the northwest United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, held on the first Sunday of May since 1977 in The course length is 12 km (7.456 mi).
The run had over 38,000 participants every year since 1986 until 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. Registration peaked in 1996 at 61,298 with 56,156 finishers. 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 . Veronica Loleo, of Kenya, broke the Women's course record by one hundredth of a second in 2025. Loleo navigated the 49th annual edition in 38:00.02. The previous best, 38:00.03, was set in 2016 by Cynthia Limo.
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." The shortened name Bloomsday is usually associated instead with James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (born James Augusta Joyce; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influentia ...
'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, 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 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.Results
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