Trail Running’s Award Season is About to Kick of

While here in America tomorrow people will vote to decide if they want to stay a free and modern society what is actually on the mind of the media obsessed trail runner is the vote that truly matters: The year is coming to a close and media outlets are looking for the stories and achievements that define the year 2024.

• UltraRunning Magazine will be hosting their UROY (Ultrarunner of the Year) award again. This award is reserved for North American runners (mostly) and in the past has had to deal with the accusations that it felt too much determined by “an old boys’ club”. But with the recent ownership changes of the magazine we might see some changes to the proceedings.
• TROY (Trail Runner of the Year) is Freetrail’s answer to UROY’s perceived shortcomings and is more global, less ultra-heavy and considers the public for input. Last year Freetrail announced a partnership with the PTRA. Which positions them to be the awards “for and by” the athletes.
• Mile and Stone is hosting for the first time the Trail Running Awards (They actually got a great domain for it: trailrunningawards.com). This event goes beyond looking at just the running performance and includes categories like ‘communication campaign of the year’, ‘product of the year’ and ‘start-up of the year’. This award seems to be more focused on the business side of our sport rather than just the pure athletic performances by athletes.
• Henry Howard asks on his blog RunSpirited: ‘Who are the most inspirational ultra runners of the year’. There’s an easy form to fill out and submit and the results will be posted in December.
• Germany’s Trailmagazin hosts the live show “Night of the Trail” in Munich in February where Germany’s trail runners of the year are being honored.

Who else is doing award shows and sharing achievements of the year?

What performances and storylines would you highlight and “hand out” awards for?

Also, and more importantly: If you’re an American citizen, please vote!