USATF’s Mountain, Ultra & Trail Running Council announces call for Runner of the Year nominations.
Nominated athletes must be current members of USA Track & Field and hold US Citizenship. Some athletes will be nominated automatically based on performances in select USATF National Championships and World Championship events. Anyone can nominate an athlete for the MUT ROY awards.
Nominations must include at least one 2015 race result. Additional supporting race performances can be submitted to strengthen the case for an athlete. Awards are given in open and master categories (open runner is up to 39 years – master runner is 40+ years). Master’s athletes can be nominated for open awards. Performance consideration period – October 23, 2014 to November 10, 2015.
Only members of USATF’s Mountain, Ultra & Trail (MUT) Running Council will vote. There are over 40 council members from all MUT running disciplines, from every region of the United States and including many active athletes.
Nominations will be taken for the following awards:
Men’s Mountain Runner of the Year – Lyndon Ellefson Memorial Award
Men’s Master Mountain Runner of the Year
Women’s Mountain Runner of the Year
Women’s Master Mountain Runner of the Year
Men’s Sub-Ultra Trail Runner of the Year
Men’s Master Sub-Ultra Trail Runner of the Year
Women’s Sub-Ultra Trail Runner of the Year
Women’s Master Sub-Ultra Trail Runner of the Year
Men’s Ultra Trail Runner of the Year
Men’s Master Ultra Trail Runner of the Year
Women’s Ultra Trail Runner of the Year
Women’s Master Ultra Trail Runner of the Year
Men’s Road Ultra Runner of the Year – Ted Corbitt Memorial Award
Men’s Master Road Ultra Runner of the Year
Women’s Road Ultra Runner of the Year – Ruth Anderson Award
Women’s Master Road Ultra Runner of the Year
MUT Contributor of the Year
For Mountain awards automatic nominations go to: Winners of the USA Mountain Running Championships. Top American man/woman at the WMRA World Mountain Running Championships, WMRA World Long Distance Mountain Running Challenge & WMRA & WMA World Masters Mountain Running Championships, NACAC Mountain Running Championships.
Automatic Mountain nominees include: Joe Gray, Patrick Smyth, Andy Wacker, Josh Eberly, Zach Freudenburg, Megan Roche, Stevie Kremer, Kimber Mattox, Morgan Arritola, Chris Grauch, Laura Haefeli and Sara Wagner.
For Sub-Ultra Trail awards, automatic nominations go to winners of the following USA Trail Championships; 10k (no event in 2015), ½ Marathon and Marathon.
Automatic Sub-Ultra Trail nominees include: Patrick Smyth, Kimber Mattox, Chris Grauch and Liz Bolanos-Nauth, Mario Mendoza, Megan Kimmel, Mary Churchill and Jon Brown.
For Ultra Trail awards (presented by Joe & Joyce Prusaitis), automatic nominations go to: Winners of the following USA Trail Championships; 100 Mile Trail, 50 Mile Trail, 50k Trail. Top American man/woman at the 2015 IAU 50 Mile Trail Championships.
Automatic Ultra Trail nominees include: Alex Nichols, Andy Wacker, David Laney, Paul Terranova, Mario Mendoza, Cassie Scallon, Caitlin Smith, Amanda Basham, Nicole Studer, Mark Richtman, Mark McManus, Liza Howard, Anna Piskorska, Traci Falbo and Claire Blaney.
For Road Ultra awards, automatic nominations go to: Winners of the following USA Ultra Road Championships; 50k Road, 2013 50 Mile Road, 2014 50 Mile Road, 100k Road, 2013 24 Hour, 2014 24 Hour. Top American man/woman at the IAU 100k World Championships and IAU 24 Hour World Championships.
Automatic Road Ultra nominees include: Joseph Binder, Tim Stieber, Zach Bitter, Richard Riopel, Zach Ornelas, Harvey Lewis, Mike Bialick, Camille Herron, Katalin Nagy, Jennifer Hoffman, Sarah Bard, Tina-Marie Poulin, Laurie Dymond and Jessica LeMere.
Contributor of the Year (COY):
Anyone can be nominated – athlete, staff member, sponsor or race director in the mountain, ultra & trail running community. Nominations must include a written explanation of why this person or organization is worthy of the award. Must be for contributions made in 2015.
The nomination form for ROY and COY can be found here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1nx2IkWm_qShroOnS_tMkSNQ3xkKbm7MKuol-x12_7t0/viewform?usp=send_form
ROY Timeline:
Announce & post ROY criteria: October 23
Nomination period: October 23 to November 10
Voting period: November 11 to November 15
Announcement date: November 20
Awards presentation at the USATF Annual Meeting (Houston, TX): December 3-5
