Still two months in the calendar year and, as opposed to Europe, we haven't changed to Daylight Saving Time yet, but our MUT (Mountain, Ultra, Trail) Grand Prix has closed with our Ruth Anderson race 3 weeks ago already! Time to reflect on what happened since January, when we opened the season with our Mountain format race, PCTR's Mount Diablo 10K.
After a missed season in 2020 which we interrupted after Pioneer Spirit 50-mile mid March when the world was closing to handle the pandemic, and a half season in 2021, we were back with an aggressive 2022 schedule including 16 scoring distances over 14 events. Out of these, 2 didn't happened then we had the Dean Karnazes' coyote fiasco which prevented the scoring of our only factor 2 race at Headlands Hundred.
Overall, 140 PA runners scored this year. On the team side, 5 clubs scored Men teams, 4 clubs scored Women Teams, 5 Mixed teams. We must do so much better than this!
A few highlights on the individuals:
- With 5 scores, Kimmy Luzette Reyes (Pamakids) easily defends her 2021 W20 title!
- Kendra Hershey (Pamakids) is taking the 2022 pole position in the W50 group this year.
- With 5 scores too, Angie Woolman (Lake Merritt Joggers & Striders) dominated the W60 group this year.
- And, in the W70, Charlene Liebes (Pamakids) showed that scoring shorter races was still going the distance for a champion win.
- Viktor Skorapa (Excelsior) was the only one scoring in the M20 group, yet fully deserving his champion stripes with 4 scores.
- Newly minted Master, Chikara Omine (Excelsior) decided to finish the season in the M30 group, for the overall win.
- Meanwhile, Karl Schnaitter (Excelsior as well) escaped that competitive group at the middle of the year and still managed to win the M40 one with 4 scores.
- Despite having spent 8 years in the M50 already, and that group being the deepest with 30 participants, I managed to reclaim the title after losing it to Shiran Kochavi last year, ending a 13-year streak. 7 perfect scores, not counting what could have been the jackpot with the overall win at Headlands Hundred, dang!
- Assiduity paid off for Keith Lubliner (Quicksilver) to win the M60 group with 6 scores, claiming the title from Chuck Amital who only scored 4 times this year.
- Last and certainly not least impressive, at 75, Jim Magill (Quicksilver) defended his title with 4 scores. The most inspirational expert and enduring shuffler!
While we don't have women or men over 80 anymore, what a treat to see Bill Dodson visiting us at several races this year (Dick Collins Firetrails, Ruth Anderson, and the upcoming Quad Dipsea).
See all individual scores and rankings. You'll notice a few columns added to the right. I want to remind everybody on a few important rules as you are planning your 2023 season:
- A few years ago, when we added sub ultra distances to make the Grand Prix about our 3 sports, Mountain running, Ultra running and Trail running, as opposed to only ultra, we added a rule which imposed to score at a minimum a sub-ultra. Without it, you lose one of your lowest of 7 ultra scores.
- We also have a minimum of 3 scores in order to be eligible for any award and title. Both rules have triggered way too many times again this year. By continuing advertising them, I hope they won't in 2023!
What a suspense on the team side this year. While Pamakids was on its way to repeat their Grand Slam, winning the Men, Women, Mixed and Overall team competitions, Excelsior grabbed the Men title by two points with a 1-2-3 on the 50-mile distance at Ruth Anderson. All team scores are now posted, as well as associated details. Yes, there is quite some tabulating to do behind the scene, I'd welcome a volunteer well versed in spreadsheets!
To wrap up the year, I finally got the 2021 award plaques this week. I know, it was more than about time...
And the age group checks will be mailed this week by our PA Executive Director. They come as follow (this was a generous year given the low participation overall):
2022 isn't quite over yet. I haven't heard about that yet, hopefully we'll survive the winter, pandemic wise, so we have an award banquet again to celebrate these accomplishments. More plaques and age group awards as well. Including the determination of the coveted MUT Women, Male and Volunteer of the Year. If you have candidates in mind for any of these, feel free to message me privately!
In my next post I'll comment on our 2023 schedule, new potential rules as well as 2024 ideas. Stay tuned and please invite more teammates and buddies to participate in our MUT Grand Prix!
4 comments:
For the men's team score, you forgot to drop Pamakids' 8th score. The total should be 73 instead of 81. It doesn't change the ranking though.
https://www.pausatf.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/2022FinalTeamScoringV1.pdf
I was 4th place in 2016, not last year.
Thanks for the comments, Kendra. I corrected the comment about you, I must have looked at too many spreadsheets lately... As for team scoring: unless the rule is ambiguous, the maximum of 7 scores is only meant to apply to individuals. On the team side, we want as much participation throughout the year as possible. See sections 3 (individuals) and 4 (teams) in MUT scoring rules. Favors large clubs like yours, but teams can be as small as 3 per category so there is reach for all clubs.
Kendra, my public apologies, Chikara reported the same concern about the team scoring so I re-read the rules for the third time and, sure enough, the same limits apply to team scoring, my bad. It's not going to change the overall wins but I'll redo and publish the team score eventually.
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