Engine behind race revs up for Sunday
Nancy Gould-Hilliard
Special to the Reporter
Mercer Island’s man-of-the hour resembles a cartoon character in supersonic motion as he stages a 4,000-person, 300-volunteer race here this weekend.
No introductions are necessary for Sam Sullivan, director of the Mercer Island Rotary Half Marathon and five other run/walks on Sunday, March 9. He is also the host of the March 8-9 Farmers Insurance Race Village in the gym at the Community Center at Mercer View, where sponsors will provide colon cancer and other health-related information.
It is Sullivan’s fourth year helping organize the Rotary Run — two years as director. And it is no small deal. For an entire year, he choreographs 30 core leaders, works with vendors, course certifiers, marketers, sponsors, news media, registration, T-shirts, memorabilia and medals, safety marshals, accounting, Web site, emcees for awards, timing, record-keeping and much more.
“My approach is to break down the tasks and delegate them to the incredibly capable people who make the run happen,” said Sullivan, the 50-year-old Rotarian with a shock of white hair. On ordinary time, he is a part-time financial consultant, family man, boater and home remodeler.
His payoff is emptying his garage of 4,000 Cliff bars and shots, medals, ponchos and other race materials so that his wife, Lucy, can park there again and filling Rotary’s coffers with an estimated $150,000 in proceeds to help fight colon cancer and support other charities.
Other rewards are watching racers dedicate themselves — some in teams — in tributes to others touched by colon cancer; brainstorming and finding solutions for as many as six daily snafus as race-day approaches; experiencing serendipity as problems arise and people with solutions surface. The greatest payoff is “being part of something so meaningful that does so much good in so many ways.”
Sullivan’s son, Dylan, 13, also goes the extra mile to help promote and staff the race, this year enlisting his fellow Islander Middle School students and creating and showing a film about the Rotary Run with the leadership class at IMS. He used to wear the Sponge Bob suit that accompanies the Kids’ Dash. But this year he plans to film the races and his buddy, Uriel Cohen, will stand in for him as Sponge Bob Square Pants.
Wave at him as you walk the Swedish Cancer Institute 13-mile half marathon, beginning at 7:30 a.m., or run it starting at 9 a.m.; do the half-mile Kid’s Dash (for ages 10 and under) beginning at 8:30 a.m.; run the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance 10K (6.2 miles) Bloomsday qualifier starting at 9:15 a.m.; or begin the Virginia Mason Team Medicine 5K (3.1 miles) run or walk at 9:30 a.m.
By the way, in all its 36 years, the only part of the event Sullivan has ever run is the half-mile Kid’s Dash in a Sponge Bob costume. He is no longer a runner. He just supports those who run.
For instance, Sullivan received an e-mail from a soldier at Fort Lewis preparing to deploy to Egypt soon after the race.
“I am running the race on my pass and would like a medal to show to my company to help boost moral among the troops deploying away from their families,” wrote Ulrich Baenziger.
Sullivan had several medals fabricated and put on red, white and blue lanyards. State Attorney General Rob McKenna will present them to deploying military participants at the awards ceremony at 10:15, 10:30 and 10:45 a.m.
Ready, set, go on Sunday.
