We had a huge crowd for our annual awards dinner tonight. Since last year, when we started giving out our AAA awards (Academics, Athletics, and Attitude) to local High School XC runners, we have had lots of people at our dinner. That is, until the AAA part is done, then the meeting got a little sparse….

The High Desert Runners Awards, included, for the first time, the winners of the annual Grand Prix Points contest. It was a bit of a chore to work this out as the year progresses. The contest started out with a grandiose system awarding points for everything – –  races, volunteering, club practices…. It was impossible to track. With the board’s permission I changed it late in the year to a system based solely on racing points.  As long as you had participated in at least 3 of our club events, you would earn points for all the races you run in the year. Just about everyone who met the 3 event minimum was eligible for a top 50 award.

The top ten points scorers were:

A special award was given to John Kerry, a “lifetime acheivement” award to honor the completion of his 100th marathon in 2012.

Of course the annual awards dinner includes a bunch of other awards. Here were the winners!

Mountain Man – Clay Patten — an LD 50 plus that little 100 miler — nice job Clay
Most Improved – David Weary (for the 2nd time – 1 more and he ties me!) – he did set PRS at the half and full last year and qualified for Boston for the first time!
Ed Jerome Award (for extensive racing) – Jim Pandya – lots and lots of races!
Alan Dillinger Award (quality racing) – Justin Patananan
Senior Female – Delores Cortez
Senior Male – Jesse Williams
Veteran Female – June Heaton
Veteran Male – Dale Lister (Me!)
Master’s Female – Kristy Howell
Master’s Male – Lance Close
Open Female – Jen Oblinger
Open Male – Maninder Sohal

RUNNER OF THE YEAR: Steven Melena – Steven is competing for the UCI team and had a great year including a 5k best of 14:34 and a 10k best of 31:37….