Bloomsday check-in, trade show moved

One major change will mark this spring’s Lilac Bloomsday Run: Check-in and the trade show will be in the new Spokane Convention Center Group Health Exhibit Hall.

“This will provide a great opportunity to increase the efficiency and flow of check-in and improve the visibility of trade show vendors,” Jon Neill, a former Gonzaga University cross country runner and new Lilac Bloomsday Association president, said Tuesday at a news conference. Organizers are expecting 45,000 participants for the 7.46-mile race on May 6, said Don Kardong, race director.

For the second year in a row, runners will wear chip timers, start on Riverside Avenue and finish on the Monroe Street Bridge.

Kardong said organizers think they’ve solved a glitch discovered last year with the timers worn on the ankle: If a runner’s timer got too close to another’s, both devices were zeroed out.

To prevent that, runners this year will be instructed to wear their timers on their right ankles, Kardong said.

The Marmot March, a popular children’s event initiated last year, is on the agenda again. The noncompetitive, 1.2-mile tour of Riverfront Park will take place May 5, the day before the big race, and is open to the first 300 children who sign up.

Online registration for all events is at www.bloomsday-run.org. Printed entry brochures soon will be available at locations throughout the Inland Northwest. Enter in person at the Sports Authority’s two Spokane stores from March 5 through the race deadline of April 17.