SPOKANE, Wash — Brenton Sconce started bear-crawling the 12km Bloomsday course on Sunday at 10 a.m. anticipating he would finish in 8-10 hours, but it took much longer than he expected.
Sconce crawled all through the night and took breaks to rebandage his hands, change his shoes, and eat. He said the physical toll was severe.”As you can see, my hands were going numb, everything was just hurting my wrist started swelling and hurting really bad, so it would have been easy for me to just throw in the towel,” Sconce said.
At around 3 a.m., he reached the top of Doomsday Hill and then continued through the West Central neighborhood towards the finish line.
During the morning, supporters joined in to cheer him on in his 12K journey. Some were strangers inspired by his mission.
“I don’t really know him either, but I feel very inspired by that, and I just want to be a part of this,” said Veronica Truont, a supporter encouraging Sconce.
Sconce was hoping to raise awareness for addiction recovery and his foundation, BEAR, which helps support people in recovery through aftercare scholarships.
“It comes from lived experience. I received a scholarship four years ago,” Sconce said about his foundation’s mission.
Sconce crossed the finish line around 9:40 a.m., nearly 24 hours after he started. His young son crawled by his side the last few yards and a big crowd cheered him on.
Bloomsday organizers also met him at the finish line with balloons, confetti, and Sconce’s Bloomsday t-shirt.
“I never would have thought I could have done something like this, and I know I couldn’t have done it in the past,” Sconce said after completing the grueling challenge.Despite multiple moments when he wanted to quit, Sconce said finishing the race was non-negotiable. The message that pulled him through was simple: “We recover.””We can do hard things, and hard doesn’t equal bad,” he said. Sconce says the support from volunteers, friends, and family motivated him throughout. “All of these guys in white shirts, including my wife, especially my wife, man they just kept me going. Like they reminded me of the mission, they reminded me of what I have been through,” Sconce said.You can find the BEAR donation link here. COPYRIGHT 2026 BY KXLY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.
