The Don Kardong Bridge along the Spokane County Centennial Trail, in the city’s University District has forthcoming improvements. Named for Olympic runner and Bloomsday founder Don Kardong, the bridge is a pivotal point on the Centennial Trail, connecting the north and south sides of the Spokane River, and has long been in need of some love.

Since bridge upgrades are expensive and time-consuming, the Friends of the Centennial Trail Coordinating Council has worked for years to make these repairs a reality. And now, thanks to $1.45 million of American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds, allocated by the Spokane City Council, this $2.3 million project is out for construction bids.

In addition to the ARP funding, the project will rely on a $726,000 Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program (WWRP) grant from the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office and $145,000 from local advocates and conveners, the Friends of the Centennial Trail (FCT).

FCT kicked off the project with a $55,000 grant to the Parks Department, starting the conceptual design and ensuring the project was shovel-ready for other funders.

WWRP is the largest source of trail support in the state of Washington and has funded projects throughout eastern Washington, including Dishman Hills, the Spokane River, and other projects on the Centennial Trail. Preliminary work of meeting with stakeholders, reviewing designs, and securing permits had already been done and the vote of city council for the ARP funding closed the financial gap to make this happen.

According to a press release from Spokane Parks & Recreation, repairs will include deck replacement from wood to concrete, some concrete pier repair, replacement of the bridge overlooks and guardrails, installation of a new lighting system, and bollards at each end of the bridge. Work is scheduled to be complete in spring of 2023. The bridge will be closed for renovations, with trail reroutes to be determined by the city.            

Upon its completion, runners and cyclists using the bridge will no longer have to choose between rain-slicked wooden decking and rain-slicked diamond-plate steel, and mile 22 will be even more beautiful and rider- and walker-friendly.

Find more stories about the Spokane County Centennial Trail in the OTO archives and learn about other recent trail news and improvements.

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Q: What are your favorite Bloomsday memories?

A: It’s hard to beat that first year, 1977. After months of planning, to be able to line up in a crowd and race down Riverside was a great thrill…to experience what had been just an idea as it became a reality was really exciting and gratifying.

Q: Which aspect of your role as race director have you most enjoyed?

A: The creative parts are the most fun: helping select the design for the finishers’ shirt, deciding what the souvenir gear will look like, reviewing the advertising and promotional items like the poster that our designers at Sigma create for us, and implementing new ideas.

Q: What will you most miss from your race director duties?

A:I’ll really miss interacting with all of our volunteers. I know I’ll still get to do that as a volunteer myself, but not as much as I am now as director.

Q: How do you envision Bloomsday in the future?

A: The basic heart of Bloomsday shouldn’t change. It will still be an opportunity for people to welcome spring [with] a giant gathering of their fellow citizens and visitors to the region—people who embrace the challenge of traveling 12 kilometers on foot. What will change are the embellishments, which I suspect will largely be technological. Things are developing so quickly in the running industry…. The ability to enhance the experience with any number of gadgets and feedback is going on at a rapid pace.

Q: What are your retirement plans?

A: I don’t have any specific retirement plans, but I’m already enjoying spending time with our four grandchildren, so I expect that to increase. And I’ll certainly be around the Bloomsday organization long after I retire as race director. //

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SPOKANE, WA—Don Kardong’s retirement as Bloomsday race director deserves an extra special send-off. Thankfully, Sweet Peaks Ice Cream, based in Western Montana, has come to the rescue with a brilliant, one-of-a-kind Inland Northwest ice cream.

Kardong earned a reputation when he said, “Without ice cream, there would be darkness and chaos.” Obviously, the ice cream is named Darkness and Chaos, and it features Northwest huckleberry ice cream with a chocolate fudge swirl and chocolate bark pieces. Stop by Sweet Peaks Ice Cream’s Spokane location (415 W Main Ave.) April thru Bloomsday weekend. But don’t wait until race weekend to taste Darkness and Chaos, because it will probably be gone.

[Feature photo courtesy of Kim Price Photography]

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OTO: What are some of your top Bloomsday highlights?

DK: It’s hard to beat that first year, 1977. After months of planning, to be able to line up in a crowd and race down Riverside was a great thrill…to experience what had been just an idea as it became a reality was really exciting and gratifying.

OTO: Which aspect of your role as race director have you most enjoyed?

DK: The creative parts are the most fun. Helping select the design for the finishers’ shirt, deciding what the souvenir gear will look like, reviewing the advertising and promotional items like the poster that our designers at Sigma create for us, and implementing new ideas.

OTO: What will you most miss from your race director duties?

DK: I’ll really miss interacting with all our volunteers. I know I’ll still get to do that as a volunteer myself, but not as much as I am now as director.

OTO: How do you envision Bloomsday in the future?

DK: The basic heart of Bloomsday shouldn’t change. It will still be an opportunity for people to welcome spring with a giant gathering of their fellow citizens and visitors to the region, people who embrace the challenge of traveling 12 kilometers on foot. What will change are the embellishments, which I suspect will largely be technological. Things are developing so quickly in the running industry…the ability to enhance the experience with any number of gadgets and feedback is going on at a rapid pace.

OTO: What are your retirement plans?

DK: I don’t have any specific retirement plans, but I’m already enjoying spending time with our four grandchildren, so I expect that to increase. And I’ll certainly be around the Bloomsday organization long after I retire as race director. //

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Hawkins writes, “Since 1979, Spokane has sent male or female distance runners to 24 of the 38 Foot Locker National Championships: that is over 60% of the time one town has been represented on a National level. There are over 266,000 male high school distance runners and 226,000 female high school runners comprising over 29,000 teams in the United States. The GSL [Greater Spokane League] is a statistical outlier in every respect.”

From 1993 to 2010, the Hawkins siblings raced at Ferris High School, and competed in one of the most competitive leagues in the country. Peter is the fifth of seven kids, and he raced within a string of state championship teams starting in 2003. Many of his brothers and sisters also landed on the podium at the state meet, and his older brother Isaac is now an assistant coach at Ferris.

Admittedly, the “Varsity Seven” story rolls along with a Hawkins-family bias; however, the author invested a solid portion of the book to emphasize many of the trailblazers and iconic Eastern Washington runners who paved the way for high school cross-country. The book contains unique interviews and special stories featuring Gerry Lindgren, Rick Riley, Don Kardong, Pat Tyson, and Jon Knight.

In the forward, legendary Mead High School Coach Pat Tyson writes, “The beauty of this book is that Peter Hawkins has crafted an accurate and detail rich story. All who are within these pages have been amazed at how this book rings true to the tenor of the time. Just as Spokane seems to be a city locked in time, like “The Wonder Years,” so too are these vignettes snapshots into an era. And Peter has done what he has seen other athletes and coaches do in Spokane; he has made this accessible to everyone.”

Even if you aren’t a runner, this is a great book. The tensions between various schools, and the rollercoaster rides for different siblings, and the struggles that coaches had to endure are woven together to make a fascinating story about running and family. At the heart of the book, the title, the story, and the family are all connected.

Decade after decade, Spokane proves it’s a runner’s town, thanks to Bloomsday, the Centennial Trail, running clubs like the Flying Irish, and forward-thinking programs like Active 4 Youth. Some say it’s because the legacy of past high school cross-country runners investing in their community. Others say it’s the current crop of high school cross-country runners and coaches that plant the seeds for the rest of the runners. Most likely, it’s a mix of all of the above.

Hawkins readily admits that the book is not a complete encyclopedia of Spokane running. There are “other families not mentioned in this book that were also bit by the running bug.” He also emphasizes there were lots of runners on the junior varsity squads that gave everything in practices and races, and made those varsity runners earn their place. This is just one small view of the Inland Northwest running landscape.

Lastly, the book succeeds on an emotional level, too. Where other running books serve as a catalog of fast times and top teams, “Varsity Seven” reveals some of the greatest successes and biggest heartbreaks that any runner could ever experience. Because sometimes the finish line is not the end of the race. Because sometimes runners endure more than miles. Because sometimes Spokane produces some of the toughest runners in the USA. //

Jon Jonckers is a Senior Editor at Out There Venture and an Assistant Cross Country Coach at Shadle Park High School.

[Feature photo: Jon Jonckers]

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The Spokane River is an urban treasure that many lifetime locals are still discovering along with astounded newcomers who are blown away that there is a swimmable, floatable, and fishable river of such beauty with trails along it right within city limits. A wide range of wildlife, including native trout, deer, beaver, otter, coyote, eagles, osprey, and other animals, also make their home in and along the river. Yet, sadly, our river, both upstream and downstream from Riverfront Park, is being abused and it’s getting worse as summer drags on. Illegal camps, many with accompanying piles of trash, needles, fire pits, bottles, toilet paper, and human excrement, have become a serious threat to the health of the river, our urban public lands, and public safety.

Despite a new city ordinance that makes camping on public lands within the city limits a criminal misdemeanor, the number of illegal camps along the river near downtown Spokane has skyrocketed since the ordinance passed a few months back. The law is intended to limit the impact such camps have on the river and natural areas and also increase outreach to the homeless and offer them help finding shelter and other services. Enforcement of the ordinance is also suspended when the city’s homeless shelters fill up.

There’s no doubt that this issue—a complex combination of economic disparity, lack of proper services and shelter for those in need, undiagnosed or untreated mental health issues, substance abuse, domestic abuse, and other societal problems—is emotionally and politically charged. Protecting the river and taking better care of the growing number of people in need in our community who are suffering are intricately linked, and we need to do whatever we can to make meaningful progress on both fronts.

The Spokane Riverkeeper, a non-profit group that helps safeguard the river, emphasizes the complexity of the issue and need for a holistic approach. “Like many other service providers in our community, the Spokane Riverkeeper is responding to the issue of homelessness along the Spokane River,” says Spokane Riverkeeper Jerry White Jr.  “More folks on the riverbanks creates more impacts—litter, sewage and a host of other issues that affect the river and river-users. For us, it is important not to oversimplify the problem, nor judge the homeless who are often very powerless in this situation. In these times, many folks are one medical crisis away from living outdoors.” According to White, the Riverkeeper’s response has been to double down on riverside litter pick up and continue outreach to the homeless, which includes taking SNAP and other social service providers down the river by boat to help access camps and conduct needed outreach to homeless people along the river.

If you are out along the river and see a camp or trash on Spokane city park land, Carl Strong, the assistant divisions manager for park operations, says calling 311, the My Spokane city customer service hotline, is an important first step. When a report is made, Strong explains, a neighborhood resource officer, once they are free from other more pressing law enforcement duties, will post a notice that campers have 48 hours to remove property. Social services will then attempt to make contact and assist individuals with finding shelter and other resources before parks staff, often accompanied by a police officer, go in and remove trash that’s left behind. The biggest bottleneck in this process right now, says Strong, is not having a dedicated staff to get out on the ground to post notices at camps once they are reported. “More staff for the clean-up work would also really help,” he says.

The outdoor recreation community, including river and trail users, should also do their part. Always take note of the location of camps and trash on city park land along the river, which includes much of the undeveloped land downstream from the Spokane Falls to the TJ Meenach Bridge, and call 311 to file a report. With the increase in camping and campfires in the area, wildfires have also been on the rise. Anyone who encounters campfires, brush fires, obvious drug activity, or violent or threatening behavior anywhere in the city should immediately call 911. We should all also consider lending a hand to those in need by volunteering with or making a donation to an organization that helps the homeless and other people in need in our community. //

Derrick Knowles is Out There Venture co-publisher and a regular Spokane River floater and riverside trail walker, runner, mountain biker, and trash gatherer.

[Feature photo: Trash and camp upstream of the Don Kardong Bridge. // Keith Quien]

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Why do you run? You could ask a hundred runners that question and get a hundred different answers: to get stronger, for mental clarity, to get the dog out of the house, for the endorphins—the list stretches on and on. A few local runners shared how running has been a part of their own stories: a longtime competitor and coach, a beginner who runs with her dog, a cancer survivor-turned-Ironman, and a young person finding her groove. Their lives are as unique as they are, but they agree on one thing: running has left them better off than they were before.

Jackie Kaps

When Jackie Kaps started running in 2011, she was fulfilling a promise she’d made to her dying mother. She’d spent six years providing care for her parents, and before her mother passed away, she asked Jackie what was going to happen to her.

“I said, I’m gonna get off of the couch, start running, stop smoking, get healthy,” Kaps says. She did exactly that, breaking her smoking habit—a pack and a half a day for 35 years—and registering for races, first Bloomsday and then the Windermere half marathon.

Running didn’t come easily. “I didn’t know you needed to learn to run,” Kaps says. Wanting to train better, she joined No Boundaries, a beginning training program offered by running store Fleet Feet Spokane. “You’d run for a minute and walk two for an interval of four,” she says. It was difficult, but she completed the program just before receiving a life-changing call from her doctor: she had stage two breast cancer.

For some, that would have been an excuse to slow down, but Jackie kept training. In 2013, she ran the Jingle Bell Run after two rounds of chemo. “I was bald as a cue ball,” she says. “My hemoglobin was so low it’s amazing I was walking, let alone running.”

“When you’re diagnosed with cancer, your world revolves around treatment and the disease process,” she says. “Running gives you a different focus. It makes me feel whole and healthy. Cancer takes a lot away from you. Running gives it back. Whether it’s a quiet, early morning run or a group event like Bloomsday, it adds beauty back into my world.”

After chemo, a double mastectomy, and reconstructive surgery, Kaps set her sights on the triathlon. Her first was Wonder Woman, in 2015. “It was the very first time I had tried to bike, swim and run all at the same time,” she says. “I fell twice. I wrecked my bike.”

Undaunted, she pursued even bigger challenges. In 2017, she finished the Portland marathon and Ironman Arizona. Her current goal is completing the Coeur d’Alene Ironman, a feat she’s attempted twice but hasn’t accomplished, getting cut off on the course the last two years.

Some might find that discouraging, but Kaps knows better. As she told her running coach after her last attempt in Coeur d’Alene, she may not have finished, “but I’ve come farther than I’ve ever come before in my life.”

Ken Bell

For Ken Bell, one race changed everything. He was a 14-year-old in the 1960s, growing up in the tiny community of Tonasket, Washington, when the track coach needed someone to race the mile. Bell had never run farther than 400 meters but said he’d try. He remembers going into “that one race, not knowing what I was doing. I got done and everybody was like, ‘Oh my gosh.’” His time was 4:43. Ken’s now 67, and he’s been running, and coaching running, ever since.

After high school, where he was the state’s Class A 2-mile champion in 1969 and 1970, Kansas State offered him an athletic scholarship for running. Later, after teaching for a couple of years, running friends including Don Kardong encouraged him to race in Europe. What was meant to be a short stint abroad turned into a successful running career and three decades of teaching and coaching running on military bases in England. He raced all over Europe between 1977 and 2007, in “everything from the marathon on down.”

Bell retired to Spokane and began volunteering with the Ferris cross-country team alongside coach Mike Hadway. In 2013 he applied to coach cross-country at Rogers. As a youth, he trained there with famed coach Tracy Walters, one of the people who had been “such a big influence on my running life,” he says. He’s been at Rogers ever since.

Bell’s had many notable achievements—if asked, he’ll talk about his 4:05 record for the mile, his 8:43 for the 2-mile—but that’s not what makes him proudest. “My biggest accomplishments are the athletes I’ve coached,” he says. “All of those guys are my kids.” At Rogers, he celebrates the diversity of the student body. In the warm-up, students will count in their native languages, one in Russian, another in Swahili, one in Erdu. “I’m always teasing, ‘We’re the United Nations,’” he says.

Bell talks about the incredible work ethic he’s seen among students, some of whom are taking AP classes and holding down jobs in addition to competing in team sports. Bell helps them meet goals and shave off time, knowing that with a little success on the track or the cross-country course, new opportunities might follow. Running could be the ticket to college, just like it was for him. One race can mean a lot. “I mean, that just opened up everything,” he says.

Kate Hellenthal

“I lost that ‘being active’ part of my life for a while,” says Kate Hellenthal, 27. A native Spokanite who was active in sports growing up—skiing, volleyball, basketball—she quit after a series of injuries. Running has changed all that.

Last year, while she was living in Brooklyn, Hellenthal was impressed when a friend signed up for a half marathon. “Watching the work she put into it was inspiring and motivating,” Hellenthal says. So she started running, often with her dog, Alfie. When Hellenthal moved back to Spokane this past year, she started signing up for races—the Sunday Sundae, the Spokane Half Marathon, and the Jingle Bell Run. She’s got plans for a spring half marathon and a 10k. Racing, she says, helps her stay motivated as she builds toward her goal of completing a marathon in 2019.

Running gives Hellenthal something other sports didn’t. “It clears out the clutter that lives in your brain all day long,” she says. “There is something about the solitude combined with physical activity that has really affected me.”

Having lived away for 10 years, running is reacquainting her with her hometown. “Running has definitely helped me see more of it and explore more of it,” she says. The challenge is fitting it into her schedule. As a kindergarten teacher with Spokane Schools’ new Spanish immersion program, Hellenthal is on her feet all day and already up plenty early. Sometimes after-school runs are about all she has time for. Luckily, Alfie—an “extremely active dog”—is always ready to go. “Running has strengthened our bond,” she says. “We have to read each other and respond to each other, especially on our long runs.”

Hellenthal loves the transformation she’s felt this year. “I feel incredible,” she says. “My legs and lungs feel so strong—a relatively new feeling for me, considering I have exercise-induced asthma and have had pneumonia seven or eight times. I’ve lost weight, and I look and feel healthier than I have in a long time. It’s been a really nice feeling, to combine physical and mental/emotional strength.”

Lauren West

Lauren West has many talents. She’s a bass guitarist. She plays soccer and basketball and climbs at Bloc Yard Bouldering Gym with her younger sister. She likes painting, and mountain bike racing, and backpacking, and cross-country skiing. But when she gets home and wants to shake off the stress of the day, running is this 12-year-old’s go-to activity.

“If I get back from school and I’m like, I’ve got to get my head out of this, I’ll go. I’ll just leave,” West says. She’ll either head out with a parent or her dogs, Hank and George. When she’s running, “I don’t think about school,” she says. “I just focus on right, left, right, left.”

Running has always been part of West’s life. As a toddler she was pushed along by her mom in a jogging stroller. Lauren did her first race in Leavenworth when she was about 5.

As time has passed, she’s gotten stronger. She’s faster than her family members now. Her endurance has increased, and so have her running accomplishments. On her first Bloomsday, in first grade, she ran 2 of the 7.5 miles. The next year she ran half the course. In 2017 she ran the whole thing. She runs cross-country, and qualified for All-City this fall. “I was really proud of that one,” she says.

West has plans this spring to run Rapid Rabbit and Bloomsday (she hopes to finish in under an hour), and a trail half marathon this summer. She wants to run a 6:30 mile. She also has a personal goal: “I’d like to beat my friend Darius,” she says. “He’s always ahead of me.”

Long-term ambition? Running in the Olympics. At 12, it’s impossible to know exactly what the future holds, but running has already shown West that it’s worth it.

“It makes me happy once I’m done,” she says. “I feel completed.”

//

Sarah Hauge will be running Bloomsday this May and hopes to try a new-to-her half marathon this summer. She wrote the Run Wild column in the March issue.

Feature photo: Running Gear // Jon Jonckers

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A few years back, during the Kendall Yards Centennial Trail construction phase, I brought my young son down to ride on the pavement one day ahead of the ribbon-cutting ceremony. While he was riding along, and I was snapping a few photos, I remembered how my dad introduced me to the Centennial Trail in Riverfront Park, and we planned to ride to the Idaho Border together back in 1990. Incremental changes have transformed this paved community trail dramatically, and I predict we will see even more cranes and construction in the coming years along the 40 miles of the Spokane River Centennial Trail to renovate the Don Kardong Bridge, connect to the Children of the Sun Trail, and for other trail projects.

Ultimately, the ripple effects of an ever-improving Centennial Trail extend to the Fish Lake Trail, the Ben Burr Trail, multiple connections around Liberty Lake, and across the state line where the Centennial Trail continues as the 23-mile-long North Idaho Centennial Trail. None of these trails are perfect; however, they give back more than they take away. Whereas some naysayers might resist urban trails, multiple studies conclude that paved non-motorized paths reduce crime, raise property values, and reduce traffic by providing commuter alternatives. Everybody wins.

This issue of Out There highlights two outdoor themes, running and family outdoor activities, that may not seem to have a lot in common. Paved urban paths like the Centennial Trail, Fish Lake Trail, and others, however, provide safe, accessible places for both runners and families to get outside right in their own backyard. Kids can ride without traffic or stoplights. Moms jogging with strollers and families walking or biking with small children can cruise along the Spokane River with additional safety. The running clubs and anyone training for Bloomsday or other races benefit from these trails too. In case you haven’t noticed, many charity runs, walks, and bike rides for local causes take place along part of one of these trails, as do major events like SpokeFest, the Windermere Marathon, Negative Split races, Coeur d’Alene Marathon, and the Lilac Century family bike ride.

According to a “Trails for All Americans” report, published by American Trails, “Americans are seeking trail opportunities as never before. No longer are trails only for the ‘rugged individualists’ pursuing a solitary trek through breathtaking wilderness…users include young people and senior citizens, families, individuals and organized groups, people with disabilities and the physically fit.” This report published in 1990 makes a great case that these trails are for everybody to enjoy. While I couldn’t agree more, the work to complete, connect, and expand the Inland Northwest’s world-class paved trail system is ongoing and will need our support for years to come. //

Feature photo: Jon Jonckers

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“For many of us, the Lilac Bloomsday Run is a kind of anchor for the year,” says Roast House owner Deborah Di Bernardo. “It’s a motivation to train, a marker of the sweet turn from spring towards summer, a chance to tour the city at a leisurely, or gut-busting, pace. Bloomsday celebrates the spirit of Spokane, and we are happy to now celebrate and support Bloomsday with their own custom blend.”

Roast House worked closely with the Bloomsday crew to formulate the perfect companion coffee, and they definitely succeeded. From the very first sip, the familiar, satisfying flavors (chocolatey notes of the best South American beans) combine with a dash of exquisite fruit tones (from high quality Ethiopian beans). I intentionally brewed it extra strong during one tasting, and it maintained a smooth quality without any hint of bitterness. The aroma from grinding the beans always make you excited for your next cup.

“Bloomsday champions have come from two of the three countries whose beans are included in Bloomsday Blend,” said Bloomsday Race Director Don Kardong. “That’s not why they’re in the mix, but it’s a fun connection between the event and a very tasty coffee.”

All proceeds (beyond production costs) from Bloomsday Blend go directly to Bloomsday, which in turn supports dozens of local charities and youth events. Orders for Bloomsday Blend from Roast House are fulfilled daily, ensuring customers get only the freshest, best, organic beans. //

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