Alright, let's get this show on the road already! Without further ado please refer yourself to the poll on your right and have your say AND I'm prepared to take some flack for my top five...err top six choices in the poll as it was no easy task to even whittle down this far...I had no idea it'd be this tough to break it down to just six individuals!
Poll will run from today, Jan 2nd until Thursday Jan 7th, at which point we'll roll out the 'Canadian Ultra Runner Of The Year' polls. SO, please help me fill in the blanks for the candidates on that one as I know I'm missing info.
Current POLL to your right, next poll info being collected below for 'ultra runner of year'...
FEMALE
Tracy Garneau: 1st HURT 100miler / 2nd Diez Vista 50k / 2nd Stormy 50miler / 3rd North Face 50miler Champs
Tamsin Anstey: 1st Diez Vista 50k / 1st Frosty Mtn 50k / 1st Mtn Masochist 50miler
Ellie Greenword: 1st Orcas Island 50k / 1st CR Dirty Duo 50k / 1st CR Chuckanut 50k / 1st Knee Knacker 50k / 1st CR Stormy 50 Miler / 1st CR Run For Toad 50k
Monica Scholz: 3rd HURT 100miler / 3rd Sulphur Springs 100miler / 8th Badwater 135miler / 1st Arkansas Traveller 100miler
Sue Lucas: 1st Sulphur Springs 100miler / 1st Dirty Girls 24hr / 5th Lean Horse 100miler / 1st Halliburton 100miler
Nicola Gildersleeve: 4th Way Too Cool 50k / 5th Diez Vista 50k / 2nd Frosty Mtn 50k / 2nd Mtn Masochist 50miler
MALE
Aaron Heidt: 2nd Dirty Duo / 1st CR Chuckanut / 1st CR Knee Knacker
Chris Downie: 1st CR Sinister 7 90miler / 1st Stormy 100miler / 1st Frosty Mtn 50k / 1st Walk In Park 54k
Adam Hill: 3rd Bull Run Run 50miler / 1st Sulphur Springs 50miler / 1st CR Laurel Highlands 50k / 22nd World Trail Challenge 68k France / 1st CR Dirty Girls 6hr (umm, did anyone tell him it's a girls only race!) / 1st Halliburton Trail 50miler / 3rd Oil Creek 50miler / 7th Mtn Masochist 50miler
Glenn Redpath: 1st CR Halliburton 100miler / (1 week later!) 2nd Iroquois 100miler / 2nd Bel Monte 50miler / 3rd Greenway 50k / 2nd Massanutten 100miler / 2nd Bull Run Run / 1st CR Dirty Girls 12hr (again, Glenn, it's a womans only race, no wonder you boys are setting course records out there!) / 7th Mtn Masochist 50miler
Ryne Melcher: 1st CFA NYD 50k / 3rd Dirty Duo 50k / 1st Mt Si 50miler / 3rd Portland 50k / 2nd Frosty Mtn 50k / 2nd Run For Toad 50k / 4th Ozark Trail 100miler
Gary Robbins: (I'll throw my name in here but honestly PLEASE no default votes, I think I should be in the running but DO NOT think I should win this year!)
3rd CFA NYD 50k / 2nd Orcas Island 50k / 1st CR Dirty Duo 50k / 1st CR Diez Vista 50k / 1st CR CFA 6hr Enduro / 49th Western States 100miler / 4th Knee Knacker 50k / 3rd Run For Toad 50k / 3rd Mountain Masochist 50miler
GR
15 comments:
Still gonna stick with my original thought on the women's side and go with Ellie.
Men's side I'm leaning more towards Adam Hill at this juncture. I am pretty sure there may be a few results from Glen Redpath unknown at this juncture but...
Good call too on putting Aaron's KK up on the performance portion. Although to be honest I think his Chuckanut should be up as well as both of his performances were among the top 6 by a Canadian this past year.
All in all not a bad list given the huge list of notable performances that were out there!
On thing I may have completely overlooked is to see if Beverly Anderson-Abbs is still running under the Canadian banner. I believe she has dual citizenship now but has a lot of notable and record setting performances as a Canadian that are still not recognized by the ACU (ie she is actually the Canadian Women's overall 50 mile record holder at 6:26).
Rune
Here is what I think the awards go to.
I say performance of the year
Ellie at Stormy
Aaron Heidt at KK. I htink given the course, KK is more impressive than Chuck.
Ultra runner of the year
Ellie hands down for women
I would have to say Adam Hill after learning about his performances with Glen Redpath in second.
DOMMER SAID: (not sure why this didn't post when I accepted it?)
RETIRED MY ASS!!!
This DJ must have been the only one is BC to put in over 100km this week and that is just a start!
Secret training....don't worry about me, it is so on!
I am already starting my quest for 2010 ultra runner of the year. Basically me finishing a bunch will make me a shoe in for winner....shoe in I said.
Sue has some impressive results, but it's hard to compare because the distances are so different. I do know the courses though so I have to consider the times I see. I will hold strong and say Ellie has both performance and overall win for ultra runner of the year and performance of the year.
SOLID work on everyone though!! I on the other hand, could not even step into anyones shoes on this list at the moment.
Thanks for doing this Gary - good idea. Why do Canadians run so many 50kms? We need to step it up next year and run a few more longer races:) Ellie has to take it for both performance and ultra runner of the year, even though she sticks with the shorter distances... she seems unable not to break a course record when she laces them up.
The men's side is a lot tougher on both fronts. I don't know enough about the Haliburton or Sinister 7 races to have an opinion. On the 50k front though, Murphy could beat me on any distance on the road. I bet the same is true on the trail so by default his performance is likely more impressive than mine (I'll abstain from voting b/c of lack of knowledge).
As for the ultra runner I have to agree about Hill - what was the deal at MMTR - did him and Redpath run it together?
Just a thought Gary, you may want to include Wayne Gaudet.
2nd Ironhorse 100mile, 5th Sinister 7 145km, 6th Deathrace 125km, 7th Ironlegs 50mile, 1st Lost Soul 100mile. Pretty serious results, then consider he is in the 50+ age category...
Performances of the year:
Tamsin at MM. A tough course with a tough field, and she is still pretty new to the ultra distance. Ellie is a close second for STORMY, but Tamsin takes it for doing so well against a more competitive field.
Aaron at KK - we all know how tough that course is, and how high the record bar was. Aaron had an exceptional day there and his CR will be tough to beat.
I know it is a subsequent poll, but here's my thoughts on overall CDN UR of the year while I was mulling this stuff anyways:
Count me in for Tracy - she has excelled at all distances and formats, from 50k's to multi-days. Ellie has certainly been unbeatable at the 50k distance and did amazing at STORMY, but I see Tracy at a podium spot across the whole spectrum.
On the men's side, it is pretty tough to choose, but I'll chime for Chris Downie. The guy came from nowhere this year, trained hard with the specific intention to win Sinister7 and Stormy, and did so in addition to WITP and Frosty. The only drawback would be that these events aren't necessarily "competitive" on the global scene, but he did dominate everything he ran domestically in his first season. I want to see him at more events, both locally and down south, to see what he can do against the Big Dogs. Second choice would be Glen Redpath - new CR at Haliburton and 2nd at Massanutten ain't slouching.
Overall, I'll be a total Canadian and say that all the candidates are winners, because they (including you) have achieved some spectacular results and are putting Canadian runners back on the map. We northerners have been in a bit of a lull over the past few years, but this group of runners, as well as some others like Bentley (he deserves a lotta love for doing the World 100k and Spartathlon again), are sticking the flag on podiums all over the place with faster times and better results.
btw - thanks for including my SS 50m result as a candidate: while certainly my own personal performance of the year, it was hardly the Canadian one! :-)
Bruce
-Dommer, I'm pretty sure you weren't the only guy in BC to hit 100k over the holidays, in fact I know a few woman that got there as well...however, since that's more than you ran in the previous five weeks combined I'll say good on ya!
-Aaron, I agree, it's most certainly time for us to collectively step up our distances and to start staring south of the border in doing so.
During MMTR I believe Glenn caught Adam very late in the race and they decided to run it in together at that point.
-In terms of my own take on the poll, I figure it's late enough now to voice my thoughts without influencing anything. I agree with Bruce on Tamsin's race, I can't not sound biased on this one, but I by default find myself giving more cred to a performance at a big race where there's more history (27 yrs vs 4), a more competitive field (the best in the sport have run MM vs some but not all of best in BC at Stormy), and a lot more stress around running something completely blind against runners you've never seen before.
Ellie's Stormy run was unbelievable, but being in her backyard, and against a group of people she was completely familiar with does take away from the result slightly in my mind. Zero stress and sleeping in your own bed the night before all line up for having a very clean race. I wish nothing more than for Ellie to find the fire to race the big races against the best in NA down south!
On the men's front Aaron knocked down two killer races. I still think Chuckanut was the more impressive of the two, again given the caliber of field he destroyed down there. Aaron's KK time was very impressive none the less, but in the end I threw my vote at Taylor Murphy. Aaron is even the first to admit Taylor's running skills and to see Taylor destroy a respected course record like that in his first attempt at an ultra was almost scary!
It wasn't easy to vote past Glenn's CR at Halliburton though!
In response to Bruce's comment on runner of year (thanks for commenting Bruce!) I agree with his comments on Tracy, she's made the podium at almost every race she's entered, on different continents, in MAJOR races and up to four countries that I know of. The girl always shows up ready to rock it out. Having said that she got beat by Tamsin at DV and Ellie at Stormy, though I think Tracy has a way of truly pro-ranking her big races and not stressing too much over the local stuff.
Sue Lucas has to be considered for three big wins at three big distances, but it's hard to vote against Ellie when she has six races, six wins, and four course records!
Back to the men for a quick second, Chris Downie was solid and is a very talented runner with great results in 09, but as mentioned I don't think he was ever really tested out there, though Sinister 7 had some top names they all dropped for one reason or another. The great news is that Chris loves the competition as much as the rest of us and he's in Miwok in May, so we'll get to see how he fares at a big US race...though I'm thinking he'll do just fine down there!!
THANKS FOR THE COMMENTS ALL!!
GR
Sorry, and in response to Ian, thanks so much for commenting about Wayne, his results are truly spectacular given his age! Having said that though I don't know how we'd bump one of the other six from the poll in favor of Wayne. If it were an age group poll he'd win hands down, and if I'd known about his win at the Lost Soul 100 miler I certainly would have included it in the 'performance of the year' poll currently up.
Again, thanks so much for taking the time to comment, and hats off to Wayne for sure!!
GR
GARY! I was the ONLY DJ to hit 100 km in BC-for sure!!!!!
HAHA, got it! You were for sure the only DJ in BC to run more than 5k, let alone 100!
GR
I hear ya.
it was impressive the way he sauntered in just before the start of the 50k, looking like he had just been out for an hour or so... sub 23 hours at LS is pretty good stuff.
My 2 cents, and I'll try to keep it brief...for "Ultra Runner of the Year" I look for someone who can compete at all distances, so my picks are:
Womem: Tracy Garneau...HURT is tough (tougher than Badwater according to Monica...and she would know); also 3rd at North Face 50 miles in strong field is impressive, to go along with a solid 50K at Diez.
Men: Another 100-mile champ, Glen Redpath. You forgot to mention that one week after winning Haliburton, he finished 2nd at Iroquois 100 (18:56) to go along with that 2nd at Massanutten; also ran well at a few 50K early in the year; but 2nd at Bull Run Run is huge!
Both these runners showed they can run fast at the shorter ultras, but can also win a 100-miler.
I know the 2010 racing has yet started, but if a certain runner stays healthy (as I'm sure she will), she already has my vote for Ultra Runner of the Year...
Gotta run,
Vince
www.monumentaleffort.com
WOW, Glenn was already a favorite but honestly with those additions I think he's the shoe in, gets my vote for sure!
Agree on Tracy, though again hard to vote against Ellie.
And if Monica stays healthy and knocks down 30x 100milers then she should be the shoe in for 2010 women!!
Thanks for filling in a few more blanks Vince!
GR
In response to Rune, I do still have Canadian citizenship, as he mentioned dual with US. I don't know what that means exactly as far as racing goes, however.
Beverley Anderson-Abbs
Hey Bev, thanks for clarifying! I think it means that you should always be considered in any Canadian Ultra Running polls and awards considerations. I'll make sure you get mentioned next time we do this and sincerely hope the 'main bodies' still see it that way as well!
Take care, hope to see you at a race sometime this year!
GR
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