Web Page Gives Bloomies Leg Up

You don’t have to leave home this year to register for Bloomsday.

For the first time in the race’s history, Bloomies can download the registration form from the Internet.

The catch is, it may take as long as 35 to 40 minutes.

To get the form, people must first download Adobe Acrobat Reader, a free program that enables people to view and print the application. Although the Bloomsday Web page has a link to Adobe Systems Inc., down-loading the program doesn’t happen in seconds.

So far, about 15 people have sent in downloaded entry forms, said Karen Heaps, race coordinator.

“People who have done it think it’s cool,” she said.

Downloading in the future will take less time as Bloomsday technology improves, Heaps noted.

Besides the registration form, the 1997 Lilac Bloomsday Web page - http://splnet.spokpl.lib.wa.us/ bloomsdy.html - contains all sorts of information, from the race’s history and last year’s top finishers to a map of the course and a finish time calculator.

This year’s Web page is also more sophisticated than those in previous years, Heaps said.

Last year’s page focused on content not design. Despite the running stick figures in the background and occasional photos of past Bloomsdays, the site primarily featured lists of unlinked information that went on for several pages.

“This year’s page comes in bitesize pieces,” said Steve Merryman, the 1997 Web page designer and co-owner of SIGMA Design in Spokane.

Merryman, who also created the Bloomsday ‘97 logo of a running figure against a colorful box of smaller figures, used elements found within the logo to organize the Web site information.

There’s the runner, the standing volunteer, the figure with the stroller and the wheelchair participant.

“I try to be inclusive,” Merryman said. “Everyone can participate in Bloomsday and I wanted that reflected in the logo and Web page.”

The Web page, which is hosted by Spokane Public Library, has been up for two weeks. About 50 people have logged on the site since Friday afternoon, when they first started counting Web site visitors, said Garvin Brakel, the library’s manager of automation systems.

Other Web sites also have incorporated Bloomsday in their designs.

Some sites belong to families such as the La Londes of Centralia, Wash. With a photo of runners in the background, the page contains information about family members and their past Bloomsday experiences.

Then there are companies. New Hall’s Wheels, which provides sports equipment for people with disabilities, featured Australian paralympian Paul Wiggans at Bloomsday. Enell Sports Bras even had a testimonial from a satisfied Issaquah, Wash., woman who bought one at Bloomsday.

And of course there are individual homepages with names, finishing times, photos and messages like “Here I am enjoying a hefeweizen and wearing my latest Bloomsday finisher’s T-shirt.”

, DataTimes