Here is my stab at a men's top-10. I promise this is my last list for at least a week:)
1. Geoff Roes
2. Karl Meltzer
3. Michael Wardian
4. Hal Koerner
5. David James
6. Scott Jaime
7. Zach Gingerich
8. Leigh Schmitt
9. Jasper Halekas
10. Dave Mackey
Thoughts? Who's missing? Who's undeserving?
9 comments:
Very kind of you, Andy, but I have no business being on that list.
My season:
1st Sequoia 50k
8th AR50
1st Silver State 50m
1st Sulphur Springs 50k
4th Western States 100
1st Skyline Ridge 50k
And six months of injury hell
A decent overall year, with some wins, but nothing in anything of consequence.
There are plenty of others with better overall years, or with a few transcendent performances, that are far more deserving. I think Victor Ballesteros had an incredible year, winning the Montrail cup. Erik Skaden had a better overall year (even if I did nip him head to head twice), winning TRT100 3 weeks after a top ten at WS. You also get a nod (mainly for the WS/HR double), and Uli and Greg Crowther get in because they each had a truly spectacular run.
I'm sure we are both still forgetting folks.
-Jasper
Oh, and Geoff Roes wins in a landslide. Karl had a terrific, consistent, solid year. But Geoff was just off the charts.
-J
I can think of a dozen guys who could replace me on that list but the one that stands out is Victor Ballesteros. He beat me at WTC and Miwok, 5th and 2nd respectively. Not to mention he won the Montrail Ultra cup AND was breathing down your neck at WS in his 100 mile debut.
Thanks for the kudos though.
It'll be the second time I didn't win UROY with 5 100 mile wins....who can say that? :-)
Geoff all the way, he was off the charts. Agree 100%. Scares me to see what happens next year with him, and if he can beat this year. That's the thing about having such great years, now the pressures on to improve on it.
And is that possible...of course. Anything is possible.
I think Uli Steidl is missing. Roes was the best of the season, but Uli beat the best (NF endurance, 5 december 2009) and not jus Geoff (a lot of big champions). Just for that, he deserves to be in the list.
i think tony and uli both deserve to be in the top ten for the one standout performance that they each had... but then again they do have a performance of the year category as well, which as i've said numerous times i think uli deserves.
as far as runner of the year, karl's season has been more solid down the line than mine, but mine was more solid at the top. i guess we'll find out which of those things are more important to the mystery panel. either way i'll be stoked (assuming it goes to karl or I) cause karl deserves it just as much as i do.
Nice words Geoff, but competitively, you won it hands down, beat a few more fast guys than I did, including me. :-) And ran times I can't run. Overall, I think if there were a category called "endurability" I might get it. But it's all you this year. Nice job!
Well, Andy, you nailed the top ten. It's almost like you had a vote or something...
I am blown away that Victor didn't get a single vote. The guy was consistently near the top of races, and he ran against the very best competition. I admit I forgot about Chikara, but I don't think he had a markedly better season than Victor.
It's clear that the voters don't value a few strong performances in the ROY voting. No Uli, no Greg Crowther, only a single vote for Anton.
I guess it goes to show you how many strong runners are out there right now.
-J
The key to the press release was the last sentence:
"A panel of 20 voters from all regions of North America submitted ballots this year."
You can look at the history of the award winners and the races they did, and see the bias for the same dozen races. For what it's worth.
Victor sure had my vote this year. What a killer season!
Nice hit on calling the winners in both cats, AJ@!
SD
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