Bloomsday Perennials - Special coverage at The Spokesman-Review

News > Spokane

Bloomsday Perennial: He missed his daughter’s graduation from college, but gave her plenty of warning

UPDATED: Mon., Nov. 17, 2025

Running Bloomsday every year has been so important for Perennial Dennis Doyle that when one of his daughters announced that she wanted to attend the University of Portland, he told her immediately that he would not be attending her graduation because the university always holds its graduation ceremony on the first Sunday in May.

News > Spokane

Bloomsday Perennial: Doug Clark put the ‘Finish’ in Bloomsday

Fri., Nov. 14, 2025

Bloomsday perennial Doug Clark vividly remembers the day in 1996 when he was driving back to his Seven Mile home from a fishing trip and saw a huge column of smoke that looked suspiciously close to his house. He called his wife Pam, who said she was throwing some essentials, including all their cats, in the car and evacuating.

News > Spokane

Bloomsday Perennial: Ken Hill helped create this ‘wonderful monster’

Tue., Nov. 11, 2025

Ken Hill is not only a Bloomsday Perennial, he was the vice president of the Jaycees when Bloomsday founder Don Kardong approached the organization about providing volunteers to help put on the first race in 1977.

News > Spokane

Bloomsday Perennials: Water mains and valves couldn’t stop Tom Leonard from finishing annual race

Sun., Nov. 9, 2025

Perennial Tom Leonard almost missed out on a Bloomsday when a 200-pound water valve fell and smashed his foot a week before the race one year.

News > Spokane

Bloomsday Perennial: Still ‘crazy’ after all these years, Linn Sampson readies for 50th Bloomsday

Wed., Nov. 5, 2025

Recently retired attorney Linn Sampson has been a runner for as long as he can remember, so it was only natural for him to sign up for the first Bloomsday in 1977.

News > Spokane

Bloomsday Perennial: Jack Tenold, fighting Stage 4 lung cancer, doesn’t think he’ll have the strength for race’s 50th year

UPDATED: Mon., Nov. 3, 2025

Bloomsday Perennial Jack Tenold, who has been fighting Stage 4 lung cancer since 2024, finished his most recent Bloomsday with his family by his side and an oxygen concentrator on his back. He already knows he won’t be able to do the 50th Bloomsday in May.

News > Spokane

Bloomsday Perennial: T-shirts in pristine condition and races meticulously recorded, Mike Tobey is ready for 50

UPDATED: Mon., Nov. 10, 2025

Mike Tobey recalls a time when a half-mile walk left him winded, pulse racing. Inspired by the 1973 book “You Can Do It” by William Proxmire, he got into shape.

News > Spokane

Bloomsday Perennial: Jim Parry has relied on beer cans, a sling and ‘a lot of luck’ to compete in every race

Sun., Oct. 26, 2025

Bloomsday Perennial Jim Parry once used two cans of beer to treat his wife’s sprained ankle mid-race, enabling her to finish on her own two feet.

News > Spokane

Bloomsday Perennial: Despite loss of inaugural T-shirts, he’ll keep completing Bloomsday ‘until God takes me home’

Wed., Oct. 22, 2025

There are two kinds of Bloomsday Perennials: the ones who have the rare and prized first T-shirt, and those who don’t.

News > Spokane

Bloomsday Perennial: Runner nearly missed recognition for completing each race

Sun., Oct. 19, 2025

For a few years, Bloomsday Perennial Robert Maudlin wasn’t on the official race perennial list because he didn’t complete the first race in 1977 under his own name. A phone call to race founder Don Kardong fixed that, however, and Maudlin is now on the list with the other runners who have spent 49 years running the streets of Spokane.