Well, I think Sue Lucas summed it up best in her last minute comment about the poll:
Hey Gary
Sue here, make sure you give that UROY award to Ellie she truly deserves it. I'm just flattered that I was in the running. It seems that my fan club in town here goes overboard once again.
Sue definitely owned the popular vote taking 53% and a shocking 140 personal votes, which is just shy of our total votes cast in the performance of the year poll! That's an impressive and loyal following to say the least Sue!
Ellie lead the way early and I think it's fair to say that based on her 2010 resume she was the 'run away' winner of the Canadian Ultra Runner of the year, for a second year 'running'. (yeah I know, these running puns are just pure genius on my part)
Hey Gary
Sue here, make sure you give that UROY award to Ellie she truly deserves it. I'm just flattered that I was in the running. It seems that my fan club in town here goes overboard once again.
Sue definitely owned the popular vote taking 53% and a shocking 140 personal votes, which is just shy of our total votes cast in the performance of the year poll! That's an impressive and loyal following to say the least Sue!
Ellie lead the way early and I think it's fair to say that based on her 2010 resume she was the 'run away' winner of the Canadian Ultra Runner of the year, for a second year 'running'. (yeah I know, these running puns are just pure genius on my part)
My personal thoughts, since you asked and were dying to know. It's tough to argue against The World 100km Champion and someone who set a Course Record it all but one possible CR event, that being Ellie and her second place finish at the Chuckanut 50km in March. Tracy Garneau had only three races but all were victories, and they were pretty huge events, capped off of course by taking the crown at Western States. Beverly unfortunately had an injury riddled season, otherwise her resume would have stacked up against the best of the best. The biggest surprise to me however was the lack of love towards Monica Scholtz. Not only did she break her own World Record for most 100 mile races in a calendar year, tackling twenty four of them, but she was top two in nearly 50% of her races! Monica won three races, finished second in seven others, and was third once as well. It's as if her resume was just too large to even comprehend and many of these outstanding performances were simply lost in the sea of 100's listed below. I mean consider that Monica ran more miles, 2400, in a total of 24 days than most runners were able to eclipse in the entire year. As they say though, speed wins, and no one on this list is nearly as speedy as Ms. Ellie Greenwood. So congrats to her!
On the men's side Glen Redpath was rightfully voted the Male Canadian UROY, and for the second straight year. He outpaced yours truly by 13 votes and 13%. Glen won the Master's Crown at Western States in June, ripped off one of the fastest 100's in Canadian history in March (14h27m), and set three further course records, at three different distances (50k/100k/100m) in the fall. As I mentioned in a comment on Melcher's blog, Glen just shows up every single time, and at every single distance. The guy is a machine and at 44 years of age he just seems to be getting faster on an annual basis.
Here's how the final women's vote broke down:
8 (3%) |
16 (6%) |
79 (30%) |
140 (53%) |
1 (0%) |
0 (0%) |
1 (0%) |
15 (5%) |
Votes so far: 260
AND THE MEN'S
1 (1%) |
1 (1%) |
36 (36%) |
49 (49%) |
13 (13%) |
Votes so far: 100
Thanks to everyone for taking part and keeping it fun. Year two of these polls is now in the books, with Greenwood and Redpath refusing to relinquish their titles. Best of luck to everyone on a fun filled and injury free 2011 running campaign!
GR