Zak Wood/ Colorado Daily

Runners dressed as Batman & Robin are seen here leading the pack in a photo from the 2007 Bolder Boulder. This year's 30th Bolder Boulder Memorial Day 10k Road Race will feature several changes to the race-day format.

Though the Bolder Boulder is an annual Memorial Day race, now in its 30th year, it is anything but repetitive.

While the experience is new every year for those involved, in order to keep the race itself fresh for participants, the organizers of the event have made some major changes to the race-day format in recent years and this year is no exception.

Last year tag timing was introduced. This entailed placing tags on each racer's shoe so that their times could be easily calculated at the start and finish of the race, as well as at each mile. The method worked but had some problems so the folks in charge of the Bolder Boulder have come up with a few refinements.

This year Bolder Boulder race director Cliff Bosley is proud to announce the race will use RFID (radio frequency identification) timing.

"It's pretty cutting-edge," said Bosley. "What's unique about [using RFID] for the Bolder Boulder is that it is the largest timed race in the country. There's isn't anybody that times as many people as we do at this point."

The RFID timing allows quick and easy access for all the racers. After someone finishes, they can see how they compare to other racers, for example friends and family. The tag-timing allows the information to be processed much sooner after races in a more organized way.

Starting this year, racers will not only be able to compare their times with friends and family, but they can also see how they competed relative to professional racers.

"This year we're going to have the pros on the same course that everyone else who does the Bolder Boulder runs," said Bosley. "[People will] be able to look and say, 'Oh, wow. Look how fast [U.S. Olympic marathon runner] Ryan Hall is at 5 miles. It took me twice as long to get there as it did him.'"

There will be several other professional runners competing whom amateur runners will be able to compare themselves against.

CU Alumni, and twin brothers, Eduardo and Jorge Torres will be competing in the Men's Pro Race, along with the aforementioned U.S. Olympic representative, and American record holder in the half-marathon, Ryan Hall.

Another U.S. Olympic marathon runner, and bronze medalist in Athens 2004, Deena Kastor will provide comparison for the women.

"We have both Olympic marathon champions racing at the Bolder Boulder," Cliff Bosley enthusiastically said, in reference to Hall and Kastor.

There is also 9-time Bolder Boulder winner, and course record holder, Saul Mendoza giving the average racer a look at the best of the best in the Men's Wheelchair Race.

Cliff Bosley said that the coordinators of the Bolder Boulder are extremely honored to have all of these high caliber racers here on Monday, May 26.

There is another significant change this year in terms of scheduling. The Memorial Day Tribute, which Bosley says is the most popular event in terms of attendance, will be integrated with the starts of the men and women's pro races.

By placing the Memorial Day Tribute in between the starts of the two races, it will help condense events into a smaller amount of time. Attendees won't have to stay a full day to see the most popular events.

"This is the first time we have ever had overlapping events running concurrent with the Memorial Day tribute," said Bosley, "It will allow more people to see more of the events."

This new multitasking of events coincides with a transition from TV broadcasts on channel 4 CBS, to FSN Rocky Mountain. With more frequent events, in a shorter amount of time, it will better suit FSN's time-constrained TV broadcast.

Along with a new channel comes a new and unique perspective. FSN will air the race coverage live during the day Monday. They will also air re-broadcasts Monday evening, as well as Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday nights.

In the past, unless they had TiVo or recorded it by other means, the actual racers couldn't view the TV coverage. This year they will have several broadcasts after the race to choose from.

Bosley is excited about FSN's coverage of the event, though he greatly appreciated CBS' coverage of the community aspect of the race. He thinks FSN won't necessarily do a better job covering the race, but will, instead, provide a fresh and original perspective.

"FSN is a little different in that they're all about sports," said Bosley. "They've got a different audience and a different story to tell."

With all these new additions and changes, it appears that this year's Bolder Boulder, like its new home on television, will have a different story to tell.

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Contact Eric Peterson about this story at (303) 443-6272 ext. 112 or sports@coloradodaily.com