Collegiate team event debuts
There are certain things expected at every Bloomsday – the long list of Kenyans favored to win the elite races and, in the past decade, Saul Mendoza crossing the finish line first in the men’s elite wheelchair race.
Each year some come to compete and others come for leisure, but Sunday’s 31st running of Bloomsday boasts a new contest for the highly competitive side to the popular 12-kilometer race.
For the first time in Bloomsday history, a challenge will take place in the elite wheelchair division between the two teams that lead the wheelchair athlete community on the collegiate level.
A squad from the University of Arizona, a team familiar with Bloomsday, will take on newcomers from the University of Illinois-Champaign.
“This is the most exciting wheelchair division in 10 years,” elite wheelchair coordinator Tom Cameron said, citing the competition between the schools as one of the two reasons behind that statement.
While this may be a first for Bloomsday, it isn’t a first for these two teams.
The teams have developed a respectful rivalry and competed against each other in world-renowned events such as the New York City Marathon.
“As far as we’ve been able to figure out, no other schools in the country, maybe the world, have this type of competitive road race.”
The Illinois wheelchair sports program, which began in 1949 after disabled World War II veterans had returned home, is regarded as the traditional powerhouse program.
At Arizona, the program grew from a basic adaptive program into one that has more than 60 athletes in five sports, making it one of the largest programs of its kind in the nation.
The top two men, top two women and one quad racer’s scores will be totaled, and the winning school will take home the traveling trophy.
“We’re hoping they return each year so the trophy has a chance to keep moving and being a motivator to return,” Cameron said.
Leading the way in the men’s competition is Ill.-Champaign’s Joshua George, a racer that Cameron hails as the odds-on favorite to challenge nine-time defending Bloomsday champion Mendoza for the overall title.
In 2006, George finished second at the Indianapolis half marathon in 49 minutes, 23 seconds and the Chicago Marathon in 1:38.31. In the Indianapolis race, George’s finish was 1 second behind his coach, Adam Bleakney, who will also race Sunday and could potentially surprise the field.
Austin Snyder, who has finished fifth in the last two Bloomsday races, will lead the Wildcats.
“The men coming from the University of Illinois are strong racers,” Cameron said. “They will be tough competition for Arizona.”
The talented Arizona women’s team should create a balance in the team contest.
Defending women’s champion Shirley Reilly, who races for the Wildcats, is in the field and has a strong chance of winning again this year.
“Shirley is the odds-on favorite to win the women’s race and give her team points in the team race,” Cameron said.
She will likely be challenged the most by teammate Jaclyn Daya, who posted a 45:10 last year and finished in third place.
Bloomsday rookie Amanda McGrory from the Ill.-Champaign team could also present a problem for Reilly. McGrory finished second in this year’s Boston Marathon and won the 2006 New York City Marathon in 1:54.17.