Maybe it’s the clean air. Or the healthful lifestyle and outdoor activities.

Whatever the reason, Big Timber, Mont., is one of the fastest towns in Bloomsday, posting an average time of one hour and 15 minutes for its 11 runners last year.

That’s second only to Boulder, Colo., which sends a host of invited runners to the race.

“We don’t have a whole lot of crime and not too many drugs,” said Jim Devenny, mayor of Big Timber, about 80 miles west of Billings. “It’s like Newt Gingrichville, you know what I mean?”

Devenny himself is a runner. He runs 6.2 miles in 50 minutes.

“I would’ve done (Bloomsday) in the average,” he said proudly. But he had never heard of Bloomsday before.

Boulder and Big Timber posted the fastest average times of the 268 towns and cities that sent more than 10 runners to Bloomsday last year.

The 13 runners from Pocatello, Idaho, averaged one hour and 47 minutes. The 26,328 runners from Spokane finished in two hours and two minutes on average. The 23 runners from Cocolalla, Idaho, averaged two hours.

On the other side of speed, the 14 runners from Lake Stevens, Wash., averaged two hours and 35 minutes. That’s the slowest average time of any town with more than 10 runners.

“I’m not sure why we would be so slow,” said Diana Hale, mayor of Lake Stevens. “We were just laid-back.”

Further investigation found several possible explanations - a jump in elevation, lack of training, fear of being hit by a car.

“What we need is a jogging trail all the way around the lake,” said Jeff Page, track coach at Lake Stevens High. “People are scared to run on the narrow road around the lake now because they’re afraid of all the cars.”

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: DID YOU KNOW… The farther they come, the faster they run. Cities and towns from outside the region seem to sport faster runners than area cities. Here are last year’s slowest and fastest towns, the number of runners from each town, and their average times. SLOWEST Lake Stevens, Wash. 14 2:35 Wilson Creek, Wash. 13 2:33 Tensed, Idaho 14 2:28 Tekoa, Wash. 41 2:20 Pomeroy, Wash. 26 2:19

FASTEST Boulder, Colo 18 0:42 Big Timber, Mont. 11 1:15 Springfield, Ore. 16 1:17 Cochrane, Alberta 17 1:18 Salt Lake City 23 1:19