Everday Athlete Wins Readers' Choice Best Sporting Goods Poll

You could say this week’s Readers’ Choice poll -- best place to buy sporting goods in Kirkland -- has a runaway winner.

Instead of a drum roll please, let’s envision the crack of a starter’s pistol as we congratulate that terrific running store in Juanita Village, .

The shop jumped to a lead right out of the starting line, easily outdistancing the competition by the Friday, 9 a.m., finish with a time of -- ah, I mean score of -- 15 out of 35 votes cast.

I’ve signed up for multiple St. Paddy’s Day Dash runs at Everyday Athlete, picked up my Shamrock Run shirt there just last month, and have purchased running shoes there. What I like about it is that the owner and staff are runners themselves and know what they’re talking about.

The shop also supports local runs, such as this year’s , and this weekend’s Captain Jack’s 8k. Kirkland is lucky to have Everyday Athlete.

The same can be said for our No. 2 finisher, up in the Totem Lake area. If you ever played in or had kids play in Kirkland National or Kirkland American Little Leagues -- or play soccer, football or hoops -- you probably have shopped at Risan.

When my youngest son was a starting pitcher on the KNLL’s Dodgers, we bought a lot of baseballs there -- mitts and bats too. It’s a fun shop, so congratulations to Risan Athletics as well.

And now let’s push the cart on to next week’s poll: Best supermarket in Kirkland. We expect this to be a hot one, since there are so many great choices: PCC, Metropolitan Market, QFC, Safeway, Fred Meyer, Albertsons, and that big box up on Rose Hill, Costco.

We really don’t need nominations for this poll, so please hold your comments and reviews for the story, which will post here Monday at 5 a.m. and stay on the home page all next week. But of course, we’ll always entertain your thoughts. Send them to Greg.Johnston@Patch.com.