What is “Fit For Bloomsday”?

Fit For Bloomsday...Fit For Life—dubbed Fit For Bloomsday for short—is a training program for elementary school age children. The program was developed by Bloomsday volunteers in cooperation with PE instructors, coaches and parents in the Spokane area. The Lilac Bloomsday Association provides information, materials, structure and incentives for the 8-10 week program, which is administered by school personnel and volunteers at participating schools. Special coupons are provided by Riverfront Park, Mobius Kids, and the Garland Theater. Over 60 schools and nearly 6,000 children participate each year. The program prepares the kids to run or walk Bloomsday while teaching them the importance of fitness, nutrition and safety.

Photo by Sarah Kwak

How can my school sign up?

Schools sign up by filling out an application form and returning it to the Bloomsday office by the deadline (January 25, 2010). Applications can be accepted after that date, but Bloomsday can’t provide coaches shirts for late applications.

Which schools signed in 2009?

Photos by Sarah Kwak

History of Fit For Bloomsday

In many ways, the growth of the Fit for Bloomsday, Fit for Life Program is as remarkable as the history of the Lilac Bloomsday Run itself. Bloomsday started in 1977 with approximately 1,000 entrants. Two years later, it reached 10,000, and today, nearly 50,000 participate.

The Fit for Bloomsday program enjoyed similar success, with approximately 2,500 kids from 35 schools completing the program in the inaugural year of 1986. Today, nearly 6,000 kids from more than 60 schools participate.

The seeds of the program’s success were planted early. During the late 1970’s, teachers and parents preparing for Bloomsday at several Spokane-area schools began inviting kids to join them. By the early ‘80s, numerous schools around town had training programs in place.

Bloomsday officials were made acutely aware of the burgeoning interest in running among kids when they ran out of extra-small T-shirts after the 1985 Bloomsday Run. When they checked their records, they found that participation in the 12-and-under age group had grown from about 2,000 in 1984 to nearly 6,000 in a single year!

In a 12-kilometer event with 50,000 people, it makes little sense (and can be dangerous) to encourage kids to be competitive, so listings of top performances in the 12-and –under category were subsequently dropped. But the participation of young kids in Spokane’s favorite run was greeted with enthusiasm. In post-race discussions, Bloomsday officials wondered what they could do to help teachers prepare and motivate kids interested in Bloomsday. By the next spring, they introduced the Fit For Bloomsday program.

The goals of Fit For Bloomsday have essentially remained the same over the years: provide informational and organizational materials for teachers and parents who conduct non-competitive children’s programs, as well as rewards for those kids who complete a certain number of training sessions; help adults help kids prepare for Bloomsday, other area fitness events, or simply healthier living.

There is an ongoing discussion in the United States about what can be done to improve the fitness of the American youth. Here in the Inland Northwest, teachers, parents and fitness advocates have joined together to do something about it: Fit For Bloomsday -- Fit For Life.