Canadian Male Ultra Runner of the Year

We are going to go with a slightly different format this time around for debate and voting for the Canadian Male Ultra Runner of the Year (UROY). Some names are going to be posted below with the results from races in 2010. Gary and myself deemed these ones as obvious choices to be put to the vote. There are certainly some obvious choices out there that we missed. This is where you the readers come into play! If you feel someone should be added to the list make a mention of it in the comments section with that persons known results and I will add it into the text of people to be voted for.

Debate will be open until Sunday at 6pm PST and then those on the list and those that have been added will be listed in the poll that will go for about 4 days.

In alphabetical order here are the contenders:

(1) ADAM HILL (ONT)

* 4th place Bull Run Run 50 miler - 6:52:51

* 1st place Sulphur Springs 50 miler - 6:28:07

* 3rd place Ultimate XC 58km - 7:03:37

* 1st place Haliburton Forest 50km - 4:26:17

* 1st place Vulture Bait 50km - 3:54:12

* 3rd place Mountain Masochist 50 miler - 7:42:39

(2) CHRIS DOWNIE (BC)

* 2nd place Orcas Island 50k - 4:38:44

* 12th place Chuckanut Mountain 50k - 4:16:00

* 2nd place Diez Vista 50k - 4:26:37

* 7th place Miwok 100k - 9:00:23

(3) GARY ROBBINS (BC)

* 4th place Vancouver New Years Day 50k - 3:59:55

* 1st place HURT 100 miler - 20:12 (CR)

* 11th place Chuckanut Mountain 50k - 4:12:14

* 1st place Diez Vista 50k - 4:10:38 (CR)

* 6th place Western States 100 miler - 17:06:20

* 4th place Knee Knacker 50k - 5:05:52

* West Coast Trail 75km Speed Record - 10:08

* East Coast Trail 220km Speed Record - 35:17

(4) Glen Redpath (NY)

* 3rd place Umstead 100 miler - 14:27:51

* 8th place Miwok 100km - 9:06:45

* 6th place Bear Mountain TNFEC 50 miler - 8:23:23

* 1st place South Mountain 100km - 10:31:00 (CR)

* 7th place Western States 100 miler - 17:10:06

* 5th place Trans Rockies 3 Day Race

* 2nd place VASS Vermont 50 miler - 7:01:31

* 1st place Oil Creek 100 miler - 17:25:54 (CR)

* 1st place Delaware Water Gap 50k - 5:29:00 (CR)

(5) Ryne Melcher (BC)

* 2nd place Vancouver New Years Day 50k - 3:55:11

* 3rd place Calgary Frozen Ass 52k - 3:46:54

* 18th place Chuckanut Mountain 50k - 4:21:36

* 1st place Mount Si 50 miler - 5:54:15 (CR)

* 1st place Capitol Peak 60km - 4:45:32 (CR)

* 1st place Lake Youngs 50km - 3:17:00

* Stormy 50 miler 10:29:07 (pacer for Kristin to get her WS Qualifier)

* 5th place Run for the Toad 50k - 4:15:15

So there you have five to get things rolling. There are names for sure that need to be added to this list. Get them comments flowing and I will get them added as they come up!

Happy New Year to everyone, play safe tonight and voting again will commence at 6pm PST Sunday January 2nd.

The exact same debate is over on Gary's Blog for the Canadian Women.

Happy trails!

Ryne

Results for Canadian Performance of the Year

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and is getting those resolutions for 2011 hammered out as its a mere 35 hours away!

Thanks to everyone who participated and contributed information and results for the Canadian Male Ultra Performance of 2010. Polls closed on Boxing Day and the results are still up on the right sidebar of the blog.

Congratulations to Gary Robbins and the HURT 100 miler performance which took 48 votes (43% of the vote). My Mount Si 50 miler took the silver with 36 votes (32%) and Gary's Western States 100 took the bronze with 11 votes (10%).

My personal thoughts are:

(1) Given the amount of votes Tracey was getting for her great Western States victory over on Gary's blog I thought both Gary and Glen's WS100 performance would garner more votes.

(2) I really thought Glen's blazing 14:27 at the Umstead 100 miler would get more consideration as well (it's the 4th fastest 100 miler in Canadian History). It got 3 votes (one of them was from me!)

(3) I figured I would get some votes for sure with my Mt Si 50 and Canadian Trail Record run but know more weight is typically given to 100 milers. I didn't think 32% would be the total, maybe 10-15%

(4) I'm glad to see Adam Hill's Sulphur 50 miler picked up at least a few votes. I didn't want to drum myself up in mentioning this performance but in 2005 I was in the shape of my life and ran 6:26 in my final preparations for DNFing Western States. It broke the course record at the time by 75 minutes. Adam for the last few years has been within a minute or two of taking out that record. I know first hand how impressive running 6:28 there is. Adam if your reading this if you agree to supply the post race beer I could be conned into coming out this year and we can hammer each other into the ground and both get under that 6:26 mark!

(5) There were A LOT of impressive results by Canadians this year from both sexes. My gut tells me in the voting for female UROY by Ultra Running magazine Canadian women will be 1-2. I think that had a legitimate shot of being 1-2-3 until Beverley Anderson-Abbs got injured early in the spring. She had 4 amazing races with 3 wins and a close 2nd at Way to Cool all before April 10th!

(6) Gary and myself are going to have a few beers tonight and getting the debate going on male and female UROY in Canada. I will be hosting the men's debate and vote again and Gary will handle the women's.

Happy New Year to everyone and look forward to some debate/banter on here in the coming days with opinions on who should win ultimate bragging rights as top dog in the Canadian Ultra World!

Voting Time for Canadian Male Ultra Performance of the Year

Alright folks. Thanks to all for the comments, suggestions and weighing in on the list of male ultra performances. It certainly was a great year for Canadian Ultra Running not only on the men's side but especially on the women's side. Gary Robbins is hosting the debate and now the vote on the women's ultra performance of the year on his blog.

Voting is now available on the right hand side of the blog page. The time frame for being able to vote will be from December 19th to December 26th ending at 5pm PST. I just want to stress that the goal of this is to vote on the performance you believe is most worthy and not be a vote for my friend contest. All performances on the finalist list are phenomenal as were the few that didn't make the cut and each deserve a huge pat on the back to the respective athlete.

Comments are still welcome to come in and if you want your more than welcome to state who you voted for and why.

Congratulations not only to those on this list but everyone this year on your respective runs, adventures, journeys and any other miles along the way. Best wishes for a happy holiday season and a healthy 2011 running season.

Again in chronological order, here are the ten finalist.

(1) Gary Robbins

HURT 100 miler - 20:12 - 1st place, course record

Gary's time lowered the course record set by Geoff Roes the year earlier from 20:28 to 20:12. He also became only the 5th person in the history of the run to break 24 hours.

(2) Adam Campbell

Chuckanut 50k - 3:52:59 - 3rd place

Adam's time was the 4th fastest in the long history of the Chuckanut 50k. Unfortunately for him this year 2 of the 3 times faster than his were run by competitors Erik Skaggs and race winner Andy Martin. With nearly 5000 feet of climb this time is very impressive.

(3) Glen Redpath

Umstead 100 miler - 14:27:51 - 3rd place

Glen's time was the fastest 100 miler recorded by a Canadian in 2010 and the 4th fastest all time. It should also land him in the top 5 100 mile times in North America as well for 2010.

(4) Ryne Melcher

Mount Si 50 miler - 5:54:15 - 1st place, course record

The time was good enough to squeak under the old course record held by James Kirby by 22 seconds and is also the fastest 50 miler ever run by a Canadian on trail .

(5) Chris Downie

Miwok 100km - 9:00:23 - 7th place

Chris' time is the fastest known time laid down by a Canadian at the Miwok 100k. 7th place was impressive given the list of people at the race aiming for one of the final two Western States slots.

(6) Adam Hill

Sulphur Springs 50 miler - 6:28:07 - 1st place

With an elevation gain of 6000' over the 50 miles 6:28 is a very impressive time. It also came within 100 seconds of breaking the course record of 6:26 set in 2005.

(7) Taylor Murphy

Fast Trax 50k - 3:32 - 1st place, course record

Taylor continued his success in ultras following up his brilliant Run for the Toad 50k victory with an impressive time laid down in hot conditions

(8) Gary Robbins

Western States 100 miler - 17:06:20

Gary narrowly missed the fastest time run at the WS100 by a mere 3 minutes. His time also placed him 6th in arguably the best field ever assembled for the race.

(9) Glen Redpath

Western States 100 miler - 17:10:06

Right behind Gary for 7th place Glen also took home the honors for top masters runner at the Western States 100.

(10) Thierry Asselin

IAU World 100k Championships - 7:40:37

Thierry's time landed him the top Canadian on a course not exactly designed for PRs. His time was also the fastest 100k run by a Canadian in 2010.

(11) Other

If you think the best performance of 2010 by a Canadian Male was not on this list. Vote for other!

Again thanks to everyone for participating in this and making it fun. Once the vote closes on December 26th at 5pm PST the initial list will go up for Canadian Male Ultra Runner of the Year.

Happy holidays!

Ryne

Canadian Ultra Performance of the Year - Male

It's that time of year again to not only get fat and drunk over the holidays but to put your $0.02 in on who had the best ultra performance for 2010.

Gary Robbins and myself decided to share the work load this year and each take a gender. He's had more than his share of men lately so I offered to give him a bit of a break and tackle the men while he will be posting for the women.

Best way I figure is to start with a list of notable performances and leave them up for a few days to debate about and find any hidden gems that we might have missed over the year. Once the debate is over I'll post up a poll of the top 10 and we'll take to voting! Winner receives bragging rights and dinner with the Prime Minister!

So here, in chronological order, are the top male ultra performances of the year:

(1) Gary Robbins - HURT 100 Miler - 20h12m and course record (Geoff Roes old record holder). Rumor is the course was in wicked fast shape but that shouldn't take away from becoming only the 5th person to break the 24 hour barrier in the history of the race.

(2) Eric Deshaies - Rocky Raccoon 100 miler - 16:37:13 in what I believe is the second fastest 100 miler of the year behind Glen Redpath's Umstead 100.

(3) Adam Campbell - Chuckanut 50k - 3:52:59 somehow placed him 3rd in the stacked field this year behind Andy Martin and Erik Skaggs but Adam's time is the 4th fastest in the history of the event.

(4) Glen Redpath - Umstead 100 miler - 14h27m placing him 3rd overall. This is one of the fastest 100 milers run in Canadian history (4th all time) and may well also be the Canadian Masters record as well

(5) Adam Hill - Bull Run Run - 6:52:21 placing him 4th and missing the podium by less than a minute. One of the top 25 times laid down on that course full of history and fast people that have ran it over its 18 year life span.

(6) Ryne Melcher - Mount Si 50 miler - 5:54:15 broke the course record by 22 seconds and is the fastest known time for a Canadian on a trail 50 miler.

(7) Chris Downie - Miwok 100k - 9:00:23 landed Chris 7th place in the highly competitive Miwok 100k this year filled with people desperate for one of the last 2 Western States entries. Chris' time may also well by the fastest Canadian time recorded at the Miwok 100k.

(8) Adam Hill - Sulphur Springs 50 miler - 6:28:07 and within 2 minutes of the course record.

(9) Taylor Murphy - Fast Trax 50k - 3:32 was good enough to give Taylor the National Championship on what was rumored to be a hot day in Edmonton.

(10) Gary Robbins - Western States 100 miler - 17:06:20 was about 3 minutes shy of the fastest time laid down by a Canadian at the WS100. 17h06m also landed a spot securely in the top 10 at 6th place this year

(11) Glen Redpath - Western States 100 miler - 17:10:06 was right behind Gary for 7th spot and 7 minutes off the Canadian record at Western. Glen also took home the Gold for the Masters Division at the 2010 Western States Track Meet.

(12) Guy Gilbert - Ultramarathon Michel Gouin 48 hour race - 312.610km is a long way to go in 2 days! Imagine running 100 miler and breaking 24 hours, not bad. Now get up and do it again the next day as well!

(13) Thierry Asselin - IAU World 100k - 7:40:37 landed him as the top Canadian male at this years IAU World 100k Challenge in Gibraltar. The course at Gibraltar isn't exactly designed for PRs either.

Please comment on your thoughts of how the above stack up and certainly if you feel something should be added to the list that isn't on here! Again to view the same list but for the women go to Gary Robbins site!