Ready, Set… Thousands Of Kids Expected For Saturday’s Junior Race

The only wild card is the weather.

“Just get out there and have fun,” said Dan Petek, volunteer coordinator of Junior Bloomsday. “Don’t worry about the weather. Kids are not fair-weather runners. The only ones who will probably worry are the parents.”

As many as 9,500 children will run loops ranging from one-half to 2 miles on the Albi Stadium course Saturday.

They’ll run in waves: The 12-year-olds start at 9 a.m., the 11-year-olds at 9:30 a.m., the 10-year-olds at 10 a.m., the 9-year-olds at 10:30 a.m., the 8-year-olds at 11 a.m., the 7-year-olds at 11:30 a.m., the 6-year-olds at noon and the 5-year-olds at 12:30 p.m.

Petek advises parents to arrive at least a half-hour before their children’s race time.

Parents of the largest groups, 7- and 8-year-olds, should arrive at least an hour early.

Parents also need to pick up their children’s race numbers between 3 and 8 p.m. today or Friday at the kid’s expo at the Spokane Convention Center.

“You can’t run without a number,” Petek said. “They have to show up.”

At the expo, there’ll also be book exhibits, freebies for kids, public-service announcements and a Nike black-and-white Humvee.