14,000 participants put the fun in St. Patrick's Day Run

In the constellation of fun runs that dot the Seattle calendar, few can rival the exuberance, or perhaps just plain silliness, of the St. Patrick's Day Run.

Despite the rain — or maybe because of it — runners came to Seattle Center on Sunday for the 3.8-mile race dressed like leprechauns, fairies, cans of Guinness Stout, even the devil.

"We were looking for a costume, and he said 'tutus,' and I said 'no,' " said Michael Affronti, of Seattle, who ran with his friend Jud Adcock, of Shoreline, in black tights and, yes, green-tulle tutus.

Adcock eventually convinced Affronti that real men could pull off the tutu look. (When Adcock placed the order online, the woman at the other end wanted to make sure he knew he was getting a size large, and Adcock assured her, "It's for me.") The tutus arrived by mail in the nick of time.

"It was a blast," Affronti said of the run.

Tutus were hardly the most outrageous costume out there: One man wore nothing but a green Speedo-style bathing suit and running shoes, and at least four other men did the race in their tighty-whiteys — green ones, that is.

Cody Looney, of Lynnwood, was a leprechaun from head to toe, including an emerald-green hat, jacket, knickers, false red beard, yellow-and-white striped socks and black-buckled booties that went over his running shoes. In all, about 22 outrageously attired people from Looney's Mukilteo gym did the run, including a guy wearing nothing but a kilt, and the previously mentioned Speedo guy.

"Costumed is the only way to run this race," Looney said.

Four runners — well, OK, they were really kind of jog-walking — did the race wearing body-size black cylinders painted to resemble Guinness Stout, the classic brew of Ireland. And another man ran the race with a beer keg — we assume it was empty — balanced on his shoulder, prompting a passing runner to shout, "Now that's what I'm talking about!"

Beer was a pervasive theme during the 8:30 a.m. run, and after it was over, at an hour when most people are just waking up to their morning coffee, racers jammed into the Red Hook beer-garden setup at Seattle Center for a cold one.

Most runners shrugged off the rain as they raced up Highway 99 to the Aurora Bridge and back.

The St. Patrick's Day Run was first organized in 1984 when former University of Washington track coach Alan Bonney was training local runner Regina Joyce, who needed to do a short race to try to qualify for a world cross-country event for the Irish team. (Joyce is Irish.)

Not finding anything on the local racing circuit that fit the bill, Bonney organized the dash and expected about 1,000 runners to sign up. It drew more than 4,800 and has been a hit ever since. On Sunday, about 14,000 people participated.

Joyce, a former NCAA 3,000-meter champion for the UW and an Olympic marathon competitor for Ireland, has run the race almost every year and still finishes at the top. Last year, at the age of 53, she was the fifth woman finisher overall, with a time of 23 minutes, 53 seconds. "Not too shabby," said Joyce, who used to coach the Edmonds-Woodway High School track team.

This year, Joyce clocked an even faster time, 23:31, but placed 13th among all women — apparently, the field was speedier this year. She was first in her age group and won the race's masters division.

Joyce had company this time out — her children Caitlin, 23, and Brendan, 21, also did the dash for the first time. Did she beat them? "Oh, handily," Joyce said, laughing.

In the men's division, the winner this year was Jeff Helmer, with a time of 18:15. The top woman finisher was Rose Wetzel, with a time of 20:44.

The dash was sponsored by F5 Networks, with all proceeds going to Camp Fire USA Puget Sound Council and Seattle Children's Autism Center. The Detlef Schrempf Foundation is the beneficiary of the run.

Schrempf, a former UW and Sonics basketball player, emceed the race and also ran in it. He hoped it would raise about $100,000 for his charity.

Schrempf, a former UW and Sonics basketball player, emceed the race and also ran in it. He hoped it would raise about $100,000 for his charity.

Race organizers said one runner, a man, collapsed at the end of the race and was taken to a hospital but was doing fine.

Katherine Long: 206-464-2219 or klong@seattletimes.com