'The magic of Bloomsday': 50th annual race in Spokane marks return of prepandemic participation

May 3-Shoes pounded the pavement, hearts beat fast and runners sweated through the afternoon heat Sunday during the 50th Bloomsday in the Lilac City.

Bethany Lueck, the Lilac Bloomsday Association spokesperson, said of the 43,670 people who registered for the race, about 38,335 Bloomies crossed the finish line. Of the total registrants, approximately 2,200 completed the 12-kilometer course virtually.

The race marked the first year that Bloomsday numbers fully recovered from the major decline during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the event shifted to a virtual format in 2020 and 2021. There were more finishers than any year since 2017 and more who registered since 2016.

Lueck said there were no major injuries to report during this year's run, and Spokane police Officer Tricia Leming said there were no incidents of consequence to report.

There were several reports of heat exhaustion due to the unseasonably warm temperatures.

"I think it is one of the warmest on record," Lueck said. "I think the warmest was the first one, because they had a 1 p.m. start time."

The high that day was 81 degrees.

Miranda Cote, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said the high for the 50th Bloomsday was 78 degrees around 4 p.m. Between noon and 2 p.m., temperatures reached 73 to 75 degrees. At 9 a.m., during the start of the race, Cote said the temperature was 62 degrees.

"Rain or shine, we do it," said Stacia Ray, a 40-year-old Bloomie who's competed in Bloomsday almost every year since she was 18. "And it's always fun."

Lueck said they had to delay the start of the wheelchair leg at 8:45 a.m. because someone left their bike on Doomsday Hill and they had to clear the course. Another short delay occurred in the red group because of "sheer massive numbers."

"I think today was just the perfect way to encapsulate the magic of Bloomsday and what Bloomsday represents for our community," Lueck said. "That culture of moving your body and getting outside and being with the people that you love is what this is all about."

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