Who Will Be Our 2016 Strider of the Year? Youth? Volunteer? RD?

By Tom McGuire

At this time of year, Strider members are busy racing, volunteering at, and directing a variety of running events. While we're in the midst of the 2016 racing season is a good time to start considering who will be our 2016 Strider(s) of the Year and other club honorees.

At the Striders annual banquet in January at Mainely Brews in Waterville, the club reinstituted a number of member awards. We honored outgoing club president Patrick Guerette and board member Alicia MacLeay as Striders of the Year for their work helping to reinvigorate our club. In addition, we recognized Race Director of the Year (Kate Cooley), Sponsor of the Year (Brian Morin), Volunteers of the Year (Kristina Guerette and John Manzer ), and Youth Award Winners (Nick Dall and Cecilia Morin).

For our 2016 Strider(s) of the Year, we'd like to honor members with stellar racing achievements. Going hand-in-hand with Striders of the Year, we could also consider honoring the Most Improved Strider(s).

Selecting these award recipients at the end of this year, would involve our members studying race results locally, statewide, and even nationwide and internationally from January 2016 onward (such as for the January Thaw), and going into late fall. This is where we need your help.

Do you have suggestions for honorees to consider for these awards, or ways to recognize outstanding members or performances you think the club should know about? If so, please send them to me at tmcguire46@gmail.com for collection and board consideration.

While none of this is set in granite, we want to recognize our members and their achievements and efforts, while building interest in our club and running and racing in general.