Bowling them over with wonder during annual Only Fools Run at Night to celebrate Juneau’s solstice
- Mark Sabbatini
- Jun 21
- 4 min read
Updated: Jun 21
41st annual race under late-night sun sees colorful field of participants being more than kind of blue
Life as a bowling ball isn’t easy when you’re taking part in a fun run, said Neve McNamara, 10, during warmups for the 41st annual Only Fools Run At Night on Friday evening.
"I have significant head damage from rolling on the ground," she said in jest.
Part of the warmup for McNamara involved knocking over her 10 adult teammates who were dressed as bowling pins, telling other race participants and spectators "this is right up our alley" just before impact during pre-race costume judging contest. Organizers said about 100 people participated in the one-mile and 5K courses that started and finished at Centennial Hall.
The lead bowling pin — proverbially at least — was Carrie Hiser, president of a Dallas-based company that assists first responders with training, who said she learned about the race online while looking for something her employees could do for solstice during their work trip to Juneau.
"There’s only 11 of us left so we had to come up with what can you be with 11 people," she said.
"We couldn’t be eggs," Moira Whelan, a consultant for the company and McNamara’s mother, chimed in.
Costumes more than competition is generally the way of things during the Only Fools Run, which originated during the 1980s as the Only Fools Run At Midnight and took place during that dusky solstice hour in Juneau. The event was at one time Juneau’s biggest annual road race, with 800 to 900 people participating in the first one, and registration fees have been used to raise funds for a variety of local causes.
But there was a six-year halt to the race that came to an end last year when it was revived as the Only Fools Run At Night with a 9 p.m. starting time. Proceeds from that race and this year’s are going to the cross-country team at Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé.
The most colorful participants in this race — at least in the eyes of costume contest judges (and crowd asked to judge with their applause) — were the "Blue Man Group" trio of Maeve Wolf, Kaylee Brown and Trevor Daniels. They were more than kind of blue in their replica head paint of the New York performance art group, with the additional touch of large empty paint cans they were carrying along as drums.
"I have done this costume for a bouldering competition before with a team of three and it's just a crowd favorite," Wolf said.
The trio said they were walking the one-mile course, not planning to work up a smeary sweat doing the 5K.
The youths with the best costumes (and second overall) in the eyes of judges were the "Wonderland 2.0" trio of Morgan Adams (Alice), 11, Kimberly Klawonn (White Rabbit), 10, and Cianna Kahl (Mad Hatter), 13. All were wearing their costumes from their roles in from a recent local production of "Alice in Wonderland."
"We had 36 kids in that routine, but then it was only us being able to come so we didn't want to call it ‘Wonderland’ because not everyone's there," Adams said. "So we called it ‘Wonderland 2.0.’"
For Klawonn and Morgan Adams is was a continuation of their recognition they received in last year’s Fools Run when they were dressed as the lead characters from “The Emperor’s New Groove” while carrying a giant inflatable llama.
The race took place under sunny late-night skies and warm temperatures. Finishing first in the 5K was Joey Dyson in 19 minutes and 55.18 seconds, who said he moved to Juneau from Florida a month ago and this was only the second road race he’s ever run.
"I run a lot of my own time, and I just graduated college and I rowed crew in college, so my fitness was there," he said.
The top women’s finisher was A.J. Carothers with a time of 21:28. She said she’s working seasonally in Juneau this summer and learned about the race from coworkers.
"I ran cross-country in high school and then I’ve run recreationally since then," she said.
Carothers was in classic running clothing rather than costume, which she said wasn’t entirely a planned decision since she forgot about the race until the day before and there wasn’t time to come up with something.
Another participant without a costume — but not really needing one to stand out — was David Phillips who crossed the 5K finish line with a time of about 27:50, a fraction of a second behind his daughter, Jane, 2, who was being pushed in a stroller. He said he’s taken her running elsewhere in Juneau casually, but the road race was a first.
"She not used to the midnight sun so she’s awake anyhow," he said.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.
More photos from the 2025 Only Fools Run At Night
I love the coverage and photos of the Fools Run! Thanks for covering this and bringing it to us!