Thursday, September 17, 2009

Nominations open for 2009 Runner of the Year awards

Nominations open for 2009

USATF Mountain Runners of the Year – Open and Masters
USATF Ultra Runners of the Year – Open and Masters
USATF Mountain/Ultra/Trail Contributor of the Year

The Mountain/Ultra/Trail running (MUT) council of long distance running will select the 2009 USATF Mountain Runners of the year and Ultra Runners of the Year based on nominations received from interested athletes, coaches, and administrators involved in the sport. The following is the selection criteria for the 2009 USATF Mountain and Ultra Runners of the Year:

1) Nominated athlete must show top results in US mountain/trail competitions for 2009 (November 1, 2008 through October 31, 2009) - this will include mountain races (these may be on paved/gravel surfaces as long as there is significant elevation loss or gain) and trail races of varying lengths below the ultra distance. USATF ultra runners of the year results on trail and ultra road courses above the marathon distance in both national and international competition.
2) The nomination window includes the period: Nov 1, 2008 through Oct 31, 2009.
3) Show top results in international competitions for 2009
4) Be an ambassador for the sport - athlete promotes and supports mountain running
5) Be a USATF member for 2009 - athlete MUST have a current USATF membership
6) To be considered for the masters category, athlete must be a minimum of 40 years of age.

To nominate an athlete, send BY NOVEMBER 10, 2009, the following information to trlrunner@aol.com and dave.dunham@comcast.net.

Nominated athlete's name, age or birth date (if you know it), athlete contact information, brief bio, reason for nomination in 2009. Anyone and everyone is welcome to nominate an athlete (or in the case of COY – an individual, company, etc.). An athlete may also nominate himself/herself.

Nominations received by November 10 will be considered in the selection process. After all nominations are compiled, the MUT council will vote (by November 20) for the mountain runner and ultra runners of the year from nominations received. The USATF Mountain and Ultra Runners of the Year will be honored at the annual convention in Indianapolis, IN, on Saturday, December 5. Should you have any questions about the procedure, please contact: Dave Dunham at dave.dunham@comcast.net

We also will accept nominations for contributor of the year for mountain, ultra, trail. Past Contributor of the Year recipients have been: American Ultra Running Association, Teva, La Sportiva, North Texas Trail Runners, the Mad City 100 km, the White Mountain Milers, and Sccott McCoubrey.

4 comments:

Speedgoat Karl said...

Nice to see you are getting the word out for nominations.:-) But I think you might look around a little more and realize that in the Ultra scene the USATF nominations don't mean much because the top runners don't pay the silly 20 bucks to be a "member". Timmy Parr ran a good Leadville and fast 50k at Moab early season, but what else did he do on the Ultra scene. Pikes doesn't count. There are a few ultrarunners that would easily get 10 times the votes if the USATF didn't have rules...they are silly rules to begin with. Ultrarunning Mag vote still dominates the Ultrarunner of the Year voting for accountability. The Mountain runners of the year is different though, Ricky Gates is certainly in there for that one. :-)

Paul Kirsch said...

If I look at the Ultra ROY award winners for the past 5 years, it seems like a pretty good list to me. I'm sure, as with any "best of" lists, others may have opinions on others who should have won.

2008 Michael Wardian Susannah Beck
2007 Greg Crowther Nikki Kimball
2006 Karl Meltzer Nikki Kimball
2005 Dave Mackey Anne Lundblad
2004 Dave Mackey Nikki Kimball

Paul Kirsch said...

Also, just out of curiosity, I looked up the 2008 Ultrarunning Magazine top ultrarunners of the year.

9 out of 10 of those top 10 runners all have current USATF Memberships. So perhaps there are others out there lurking who do not, but certainly 9 out of 10 of last year's runners made the qualification to win the ROY award.

Paul Kirsch said...

I should clarify, I looked up the top 10 men, didn't spend the time on also looking up the top 10 women but I thought the 9 out of 10 men spoke volumes.