LITTLE ROCK — A horde of runners walked away from the River Trail 15K clutching trophies and plaques Feb. 4 - more plaques than could possibly have been earned that morning.
That’s because two awards ceremonies followed the North Little Rock footrace: First came the trophies for its many age-division winners, and then the annual honor-fest held by the Arkansas RRCA (the state’s affiliate of the Road Runners Club of America) for winners of its 2011 Arkansas Grand Prix series.
This annual series includes 21 footraces that coordinate efforts so racers can use them to play a year-long points-gathering game. Grand Prix participants, representing their home running clubs, earn points based on their performance in each event; at the end of the series, individuals and teams with the most points get glory in the form of plaques.
The series has plenty of glory to go around - so much that participants don’t even have to run faster than anybody to qualify for a plaque. Every year, anyone who manages to enter and finish all the events wins a special designation: Iron (person).
Scoff not, ye nonrunners: Iron is just about the most difficult status to attain in a sport where injuries run rampant.
In 2011, only 17 of the 421 Grand Prix-ers (Prixies?) stayed healthy and motivated enough to finish every event in the series (not counting the Hogeye Marathon Relay, which was only a teams contest).
Behold! The 2011 Iron Men and Iron Women are Alise and Eugene Atha of the Cabot Country Cruisers; Moniqueca Christensen (Little Rock Roadrunners Club); Jill Davis and Gideon, Hope and Josh Drake (all Spa Pacers); James Erwin (Little Rock Roadrunners); John Hunnicut (Melonvine Striders); Joe “Iron Joe” Milligan (Arkansas Running Klub); David Meroney (Little Rock, the Arkansas RRCA representative); Jim and John Miller (Cabot Country Cruisers); Nicholas Norfolk, Don Preston and Bradley Thomas (Little Rock); and Brian Yeager (Western Arkansas Runners).
FASTER THAN ANYBODY
The series, of course, is fundamentally a running contest, with top honors going to the fleetest. Clear winner of the 2011 teams competition was the Little Rock Roadrunners Club, whose men and women swept their team categories. Runner-up teams, in descending order:
Men: River Valley Runners, Saline County Striders, Spa Pacers and Conway Running Club.
Women: Arkansas Ultra Running Association, Spa Pacers, Cabot Country Cruisers and Conway Running Club.
Among individuals, the top three overall point-getters (of the men) were Imari Dellimore and Brian Sieczkowski of the Little Rock Roadrunners and James Bresette of Russellville’s River Valley Runners.
I’m told that simply seeing a few names in print will encourage hundreds of other people to redouble their efforts in future competitions. But with awards that went five deep in 16 male and female age divisions, naming all those winners would require an excessively encouraging list. Would you read that list? I wouldn’t. But you can find all the names on the 2011 Grand Prix rosters at www.arkrrca.com.
A manageable number of other Grand Prix awards can be listed - those based on votes by series participants.
For starters, Dellimore was voted “Male Runner of the Year” and Leah Thorvilson “Female Runner of the Year.” Other sorts of runners of the year were:
Male Masters: Bresette
Female Masters: Betsy Tucker (Western Arkansas Runners)
Male Most Improved: Brent Morrison (Spa Pacers)
Female Most Improved: Bianca Radke (Little Rock)
Male Youth: Tyler Eddings (Spa Pacers)
Female Youth: Jessie Jones (Spa Pacers)
Outstanding club president: Annette Blanton (Cabot Country Cruisers)
Race director of the year: Gary Taylor for the Go! Mile
Buzz Wilson Spirit Award: Kristen Garrett (Saline County Striders)
Al Becken Volunteer of the Year: Linda House, Little Rock
The awards ceremony also honored four ultra runners, all members of the Arkansas Ultra Running Association.
Male Ultra Runner of the Year: Robert “PoDog” Vogler of Russellville, who won the 2011 Arkansas Traveller 100.
Female Ultra Runner of the Year: Jenny Brod of Little Rock, winning woman in the Traveller 100.
Male Masters Ultra Runner of the Year: George Peterka of Hot Springs, whose events included the Traveller and Western States 100.
Female Masters Ultra Runner of the Year: Tammy Walther of Little Rock, whose successes included finishing the Badwater Ultra marathon.
Last - and most fascinating - among the Grand Prix annual awards, the Hope Watermelon 5K’s souvenir shirt was named T-Shirt of the Year.
Now we shall watch to see if the other T-shirts, encouraged by this mention of shirts, actually will redouble their efforts in 2012.
ActiveStyle, Pages 24 on 02/13/2012