Spokane was also a candidate city for the 2009 World Figure Skating Championships, losing its bid to Los Angeles. On May 5, 2008, it was announced that Spokane will once again host the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in 2010—ending eighteen days before the start of the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. In sports, Spokane is arguably most notable for being the home of the Gonzaga Bulldogs and their NCAA Division I college basketball program that competes in the West Coast Conference (WCC). Although the WCC is often considered a “mid-major” conference, the Gonzaga basketball program is often considered a major program. Gonzaga is one of only nine schools to have reached each of the past ten NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournaments, and is the only school not from a major conference to do so. They have made it to the tournament every time since Gonzaga's rise to national prominence in their Cinderella run to the Elite 8 in the 1999 tournament. Gonzaga has produced many NBA players, including John Stockton, Frank Burgess Dan Dickau, Richie Frahm, Ronny Turiaf, Austin Daye, Jeremy Pargo and Adam Morrison. When the college basketball season begins, the Bulldogs regularly sell out their home games in the recently built McCarthey Athletic Center on the Gonzaga University campus, just north of downtown. The Bulldogs are the current WCC regular-season champions, a title which they have held for the last eight years. Hoopfest is a large, annual 3-on-3 basketball tournament. The Spokane Arena is the perennial host to the State 'B' Basketball Tournament, which brings athletes and fans from across Washington to Spokane. With the split of the 'B' classification in 2006, beginning in 2007 the city was host to the State 2B (the state's second smallest class) Basketball Championships. Spokane is home to the annual Lilac Bloomsday Run, which is a race for walkers, and competitive runners. The first Bloomsday was organized by Don Kardong in 1977 and drew a crowd of 1,200 people. Spokane has a vibrant running culture. The city's location, abundance of parks and trails, close-knit community, high school sport competitiveness, and running tradition and culture make it one of the United States' top exporters of runners.