Commander starts thousands in race.Maj. Gen. Kenneth L. Privratsky is used to leading a large Army organization. Recently, he led an entire city. Privratsky served as the celebrity starter for 45,753 runners at the 26th Bloomsday road race in Spokane, Wash. May 5. "U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Ken Privratsky waved the quilted flag to symbolically start the race, then fell into formation with 120 Army recruiters and ROTC members from Eastern Washington
Privratsky, a 1969 graduate of Eastern Washington University Eastern Washington University - A university 20 miles southwest of Spokane, WA on the edge of the rolling Palouse Prairie. http://ewu.edu/. Address: Cheney, Washington, USA. , received his Army commission from the ROTC program there as well. Privratsky led the runners on the 12-kilometer (7.46-mile) race course through light rain and gusty gust·y adj. gust·i·er, gust·i·est 1. Blowing in or marked by gusts: a gusty storm. 2. Characterized by sudden outbursts. winds. The temperature hovered at a bracing 45 degrees all morning. The Bloomsday run is one of the largest road races in the country. The name was selected by race founder Don Kardong Donald "Don" Franklin Kardong (b. December 22, 1948) is a noted runner and author from the United States. He represented his native country in the men's marathon at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada. as a joining of Spokane's favorite flower and a word with distinctive meaning in the James Joyce novel Ulysses. "The real story is the people," said Privratsky. "When you see more than 45,000 people engaged in a collective activity, it's truly inspiring. Several runners carded American flags honoring the nation's crisis. They got cheers among the spectators along the entire race course." Top winner in the elite men's division was James Koskei James Koskei (born 23 November 1968 in Eldoret) is a Kenyan runner. At the 1999 World Cross Country Championships he finished fifth in the short race, earning a place on the Kenyan team that won the team competition.[1] Nowadays he runs marathons. , of Kenya, who ran the course in 34 minutes, 25 seconds. Top runner in the elite women's division was Colleen de Reuck Colleen De Reuck (born April 13, 1964 in Vryheid, Kwazulu-Natal) is a long-distance runner from South Africa, who became an American citizen on December 11, 2000. She made her first appearance for Team USA , of Boulder, Col. De Reuck finished the race in 38 minutes, 53 seconds. Special honors went to runner Dana Gaber, of the Spokane Valley. When she became the 24,481st person to cross the finish line May 5, she became the annual run's one-millionth overall finisher in its history. Among Gaber's prizes was the red, white, blue and lilac quilted starter's flag--created by Chris Mewhenney, of Fairfield, Wash.--that was waved at the starting line by Privratsky. "It's totally cool," Gaber told Spokesman-Review.com reporter Adam Lynn. "I'm blown away." Gaber has competed in 13 of the last 15 Bloomsday races. This year's race included participants from 45 states, the District of Columbia District of Columbia, federal district (2000 pop. 572,059, a 5.7% decrease in population since the 1990 census), 69 sq mi (179 sq km), on the east bank of the Potomac River, coextensive with the city of Washington, D.C. (the capital of the United States). , the Virgin Islands, and numerous foreign countries. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion