Scaroni first area women’s wheelchair winner
Mon., May 6, 2013
Scott Parson, right, battling it out with a rival heading up Doomsday Hill, repeated as men’s champion. (Tyler Tjomsland)
Susannah Scaroni’s Bloomsday times have improved each of the nine years she has competed in the women’s open wheelchair race.
Scaroni, 21, reached her peak Sunday when she became the first Spokane-area woman to win the event.
Scaroni, who attends the University of Illinois, has lived in Tekoa, Wash., since she was 2. She has competed at every Bloomsday since she was 12, placing second last year.
“It feels incredible because this is the only race I’d done before going to Illinois, really,” Scaroni said. “My community in Tekoa, they’re a huge part of why I’m here.”
Scaroni warmed up for Bloomsday by winning a half-marathon in Indianapolis on Saturday. She also won the Los Angeles Marathon in March.
“I love this race,” Scaroni said. “The crowds are so wonderful and it’s good to be home.”
Scaroni had been installed as the prerace favorite over fellow Illini Jill Moore.
“There’s a lot of chance in every race, I think,” Scaroni said. “You never know what’s going to happen.”
Favorite Scott Parson, 53, repeated as men’s champion, holding off Laurens Molina at the finish.
Local journalism is essential.
Give directly to The Spokesman-Review's Northwest Passages community forums series -- which helps to offset the costs of several reporter and editor positions at the newspaper -- by using the easy options below. Gifts processed in this system are not tax deductible, but are predominately used to help meet the local financial requirements needed to receive national matching-grant funds.
Subscribe to the sports newsletter
Get the day’s top sports headlines and breaking news delivered to your inbox by subscribing here.
