Some Runners Hit The Wall Early Bloomsday Course Can Be Hazardous

Watch out for parking meters.

They can be deadly when you’re running with 60,000 people.

Every year, several Bloomies run into parking meters while running the first mile of the course. Those who don’t occasionally encounter other obstacles: the median on Riverside Avenue; the downhill slope toward Latah Creek; the merge point downtown.

Not to mention the crowds.

“The first two miles are rather tight and compact,” said Ed Rockwell, a Spokane physician who’s been in charge of the Bloomsday first-aid stations for 20 years. “Sometimes, someone takes a fall.”

Every year, about 200 people are forced to go to one of the eight aid stations during the race. Another 800 stop by just long enough to get a bandage for a blister or some Vaseline to ease the chafing.

Most of the injuries aren’t major, Rockwell said, but the majority of them happen in the beginning of the race.

That’s why the first station - located at the two-mile mark on Government Way - is one of the busiest.

There, medics treat everything from scrapes to sprains - injuries that are a result of running into signs and unexpected curbs, or getting squished by the crowd.

People also worry about potholes, but most of them get patched up in time for the race. A month before the big event, Bloomsday and city officials also start looking out for construction activity to make sure the roads get clear by the first Sunday of May.

“We don’t want to see people hurt,” said Dave Mandyke, assistant city manager.

For the Bloomies who make it past the first two miles, the course improves as the crowds thin out and there are fewer objects to run into.

But that’s when the accidents become potentially more serious.

At this point in the race, people are suffering from illnesses, not injuries, Rockwell explained.

Medics begin to see more cases of heart problems and heat stroke.

“When (runners) go all-out on Bloomsday, they hurt like the devil,” Rockwell said.

Heat stroke’s the major culprit.

For the most part, it hits people in the front third of the pack. Victims are usually young and healthy - people who are “in good shape but haven’t trained at a fast rate or in warm weather,” Rockwell said.

Of the five serious heat stroke cases last year, three involved kids under 12, he said. The volunteers at the first-aid stations see an average of 15 heat stroke cases during the race.

“The further down the course people run, the more likely they are to develop heat stroke,” Rockwell said. “When their body temperature shoots up … they lose consciousness and become so confused that they don’t know what they’re doing. They stagger, then collapse.”

Heart attacks are another potential hazard.

Those who have them sometimes don’t pay attention until the end of the race. Rockwell and other medics have heard excuses like, “I thought I was having a heart attack, but I wanted to get a T-shirt.”

The two people who have died while running the race both suffered heart attacks.

Drinking enough water is essential, said Donna Michelson, who manages the Bloomsday water stations.

The seven stations provide more than 500,000 cups of water, she said.

“(Dehydration) catches up to people,” said Michelson, a Bloomsday volunteer for 12 years. “It hits them when they reach the finish line.”

Most of the injuries and illnesses can be prevented if people train well and pay attention to their bodies, Rockwell said.

And watch out for those killer curbs.

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