Manas welcomes spring with Bloomsday Run

Published May 11, 2009
By Maj. Damien Pickart
376th Air Expeditionary Public Affairs

MANAS AIR BASE, Kyrgystan (AFNS) -- There's nothing like a run to usher in spring.

At least that's what Airmen here thought as they participated in the first Manas Bloomsday Run May 4.

Three dozen runners took part in the run, which started 13 time zones before some 50,000 other runners did the same in the 33rd annual Lilac Bloomsday Run in Spokane, Wash.

"This is a pretty popular event back in Spokane where the whole city comes out for some fresh air, exercise and festivities to shake off the winter blues," said 1st Lt. Shane Moran, one of the events organizers. "Fairchild has been deploying Airmen here nonstop since Manas stood up in December 2001. By putting on a Bloomsday Run, I think it helped many of us feel a little closer to home despite being so far away."

The 12-kilometer run included participants from the U.S., France and Spain, as well as Kyrgyz base employees and even a local 85-year-old World War II veteran.

The Spokane Lilac Bloomsday Run has become an annual tradition the first Sunday in May since 1977. According to the event's official website, it was started by Don Kardong, an avid local runner, during the running boom that swept the United States in the late 1970s. It has since grown to average more than 50,000 runners and brings out scores of festivities and shows along the route.

Although Fairchild Airmen have held unofficial Bloomday runs here in the past, this time they went a step further and reached out to Bloomsday Run organizers back in Spokane. Lieutenant Moran, and fellow organizer Capt. Katherine Christ, coordinated via e-mail with Mr. Kardong to make it a success.

"Having just arrived at Fairchild last July, I haven't run the Spokane race yet and I didn't know a lot about its history," Lieutenant Moran said. "I was surprised afterward to find out I was coordinating with the original founder of the Bloomsday Run. Don was very helpful in getting us the poster design and t-shirts for those who registered and the top three male and female finishers."

And while the Manas Bloomsday Run route was a bit less festive than the carnival-like atmosphere in Spokane, the race lived up to its name by offering runners a beautiful view of wildflowers in bloom along the way and the snow-capped Ala Too Mountains in the distance.

"We had a pretty decent turnout, including several who have run the Spokane Bloomsday Run," Lieutenant Moran said. "It was a little warm, but everyone who started finished."

The Manas Bloomsday Run veterans and first-timers also had the unique honor of completing the 12K race with a veteran of another kind; a World War II hero injured 66 years ago during the battle of Kursk in the former Soviet Union.

Wounded twice and placed in a mass grave, he was discovered by a team checking to make sure no wounded were buried. Mr. Chesnokov took up running at age 50 when a doctor suggested it might cure the partial paralysis he had in his left leg and arm as a result of being shot twice by Nazi machine gunners.

"I didn't want to walk with a cane the rest of my life so started running," said Mr. Chesnokov. "I could only run a few steps when I started, but I have since run in races in Russia and Central Asia, including the annual Moscow Victory Day run. I still run six days a week. When I heard about the Ganci Base run, I asked if I could join them and they said yes."

Despite being nearly four times as old as the youngest participant, 85-year-old Pyotr Chesnokov completed the Bloomsday Run wearing a smile on his weathered face.

For him, the Bloomsday Run was just another feather in the cap of an accomplished veteran runner who got a late start in running.

"It's not every day that someone gets to say they ran a 12K race with a decorated World War II veteran," said Capt. Jonathan Hannon, 376th Air Expeditionary Wing protocol officer. "It's also kind of interesting that I deployed 7,000 miles from my home in Washington to race in the Bloomsday Run."

But for some Spokane-based Airmen who ran the race, the event helped make home seem that much closer.

"The run was awesome," said Lt. Col. Patrick Rhatigan, 22nd Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron commander and a past Spokane Bloomsday Run veteran. "Everyone came out and had a great time, gave it their best and for those of us deployed from Fairchild, it made us feel a little closer to our Spokane neighbors and families back home."

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