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Bloomsday’s winningest team

The Eastern Washington University Red Team won the Corporate Cup at Bloomsday for the 15th year in a row. Team members are, from left, chemistry professor Jeffrey Rahn, health and P.E. professor Scott Melville, English professor Grant Smith, chemistry professor Jeff Corkill and computer lab manager Carl Combs. (Holly Pickett / The Spokesman-Review)
Stefanie Pettit Correspondent
The Eastern Washington University Red Team won the Corporate Cup at Bloomsday for the 15th year in a row. Team members are, from left, chemistry professor Jeffrey Rahn, health and P.E. professor Scott Melville, English professor Grant Smith, chemistry professor Jeff Corkill and computer lab manager Carl Combs. (Holly Pickett / The Spokesman-Review)

What’s the best way to see four professors and one computer wizard in running shorts?

Heading away from you, of course.

Which is pretty much the only way competitors see the Eastern Washington University Red Team as it leaves the field behind on its way to yet another Bloomsday Corporate Cup victory.

This year, the team placed first for the 11th year in a row as 40,323 runners, including approximately 280 Corporate Cup teams, completed the 12-kilometer road race on May 6.

EWU Red is not a bunch of young athletes. The youngest member is 41; the oldest, 69.

But the team members have the winning formula: They run for the health of it.

“It’s really about wellness,” said Grant Smith, professor of English, unofficial team leader and organizer of EWU’s Corporate Cup teams. “Most communities celebrate something, and what we celebrate in Spokane is wellness. It is positive and life-affirming, and that, to me, is the meaning of Bloomsday.”

While all EWU employees who want to be on a Corporate Cup team are placed on one by Smith – “we’re all-inclusive,” he says – the school does try to field at least one seeded team in the men’s and women’s divisions.

The men’s team – EWU Red – began winning in 1983, coming in first that year, again in ‘84, ‘85, ‘93, ‘94 and every year since 1997. In 2004, the team had a perfect score.

In addition, this year, EWU’s seeded women’s team placed second.

The top three scores of the five-member teams count toward the team’s overall score, using a formula involving individual times compared with the top time in the age division.

This year, Jeff Corkill, professor of chemistry, came in first in his age division (60-64) in 45 minutes, 38 seconds while Jeffrey Rahn, also a chemistry professor, won the 45-49 age division in 43:07. Smith, the senior member of the team at age 69, was fourth in the 65-69 group in 56:32.

Rounding out the team were Scott Melville, professor of physical education, who placed 24th in the 55-59 category at 55:17, and the youngster of the group, Carl Combs, 41, manager of EWU’s computer labs, whose speedy time of 42:25 placed him 10th in the 40-44 group.

Smith is the cheerleader-in-chief for the wellness message. He underwent radiation therapy for prostate cancer during the first three months of 2000, but he still trained and ran Bloomsday that May, coming in fourth in his age division.

Occasionally, some of the team members can be seen running along the country roads near Cheney together, but they train mostly on their own.

“It’s our personal responsibility, just like wellness is,” said Smith, who usually runs 30 to 35 miles a week. “It’s the same reason you floss your teeth. You floss the ones you want to keep.”