73 replies to this topic

[Jogger]

We are pleased to announce the first annual CoolRunning Reader Awards.

The idea for the awards was first floated in this messageboard posting - feel free to add your views.

Awards Process
- Thurs 18th November to 30th November - Nominations open.
- 1st December to 21st December - voting allowed - you can only vote for what was nominated and you won't be able to vote more than once. No one can see the vote tally until after voting has closed. No more nominations can be accepted once voting starts.
- Voting closes on 21st December and prizes awarded immediately after. Actually there probably won't be any real prizes, just an entry in the Reader Awards Hall of Fame.

Awards Categories - The awards categories are as follows:
Race Section
- Best Australian 10km Race
- Best Australian Half-Marathon Race
- Best Australian Marathon Race
- Best Australian UltraMarathon Race (longer than a marathon)
- Best Australian "Other distance" Race
- Best Australian Regional Race (>100kms from capital city)
- Most Scenic Australian Race

Athlete Section
- Best Australian Male Athlete
- Best Australian Female Athlete
- Best Overseas Athlete (male or female)

Community Section
- CoolRunning's favourite running shop
- CoolRunning's favourite running club
- CoolRunning's favourite thread of the year
- CoolRunning's most accomplished athlete of the year (must have posted at least once, your definition of accomplished)
- CoolRunning's most inspirational runner
- CoolRunning's ambassador of the year
- Best CoolRunner photo in the photo gallery (enter the url)
- Most commented CoolRunning thread of the year  (can't vote on this - a scan of the messageboards will suffice)
- This year's most worn brand of running shoes (enter model YOU wore most)
- This year's most essential running accessory (eg Bodyglide, Mp3 player, GPS)

[Stu Mac]

Kev, I attempted to be the first to vote and I discovered as I have no opinion regarding 3 of the sections my vote didn't appear to register?

Is this the case due to software issues, would it be easierif you had an option for each section, none of the above.

Also, did a nomination for Ambassador disappear, ie. yourself

Stu

[Jogger]

Can you try again - I have included a "none of these" for each option. I suspect you have to answer each question - that's probably a software limitation. Sorry 19 questions and a zillion choices !

I thought it best if I wasn't one of the options, and i didn't put in any nominations and I won't vote.

[plu]

I got almost through and clicked a picture (thread also) to have a look and there was no back button and I lost my votes.  It might have just been my browser but I thought I would let people know.

plu

Edit:  Ok Right Click. Thanks Kevin that makes sense - and it is very helpful  :)  .

[Stu Mac]

Thanks Kevin, my vote has been recorded.  re your decision to remove your name from the nomination, I thought that would be the reason, but I wanted to confirm.

Will be fun & interesting to see the results, if its anything like the Logies and other comps i will probably get none of my picks up, for some reason I seem to be different & like different things.     :D

[Jogger]

Plu,
I was trying to be helpful    <_<  
you need to right-click and select "open link in new window"

[RunDave]

Kevin,

I know it's too late now, but I think you missed the Adelaide marathon in best marathon category. I think it was nominated, correct me if I'm wrong.

RunDave

[superflake]

Rundave,
I am sure the big city ones were nominated as well.
Must have missed Adelaide.
Minor oversight by Kevins admin dept. Himself.
  :D

[Jogger]

I think it was a bad cut'n'paste job. It says "Sydney Marathon Clinic" instead of Adelaide Marathon. It was nominated. I will change the wording tonight (can't do it from work). Just vote for the SMC marathon and it will be counted right.

In retrospect having 19 categories with maybe 20+ nominations in each category was a real pig to set up last night.

There are bound to be other issues raised - please raise and I will try to fix.

[Tracey]

STOP PRESS - STOP PRESS

Vote 1 for Warwick Capper as Coolrunnings Most Accomplished Athlete of the Year.

Oh and

Mr G - you do look the Bees Knees - you got my vote.

Kisses Boys - Tracey

[pbig]

Voted, but should have taken more notice of the nominations process - sorry to see Maroondah Dam Trail absent from the ultra and scenic categories  <_<  .

[2Hefty]

Kevin, could you please put the list of best threads up somewhere. I have only been an addict for 2months and have not read most of these.

[jegster]

Stunned to see the Coburg 24 Hour Carnival was not there in the Ultra section. I must declare a bias on this one, but I would have thought such a definitive list of Ultra's would include the Coburg run, particularly as it counts toward the Victorian 24 Hour Track Championship and has attracted such legends as Cliff Young and Yiannis Kouros

[Kelvin]

I'll admit i nominated every marathon or Ultra (or so i thought by memory !) i'd been in this year (if they hadn't already been nominated), so i hope i didn't have a mental block about Maroondah Dam, not saying that's impossible but now i feel guilty   :o  

Kelvin

[pbig]

No way you should feel guilty Kelvin! You did your bit and put in nominations, those of us lamenting the absence of certain events should have done the same, rather than leave it up to anyone else  ;)  .

[Colin Townsend]

I thought it strange that a lot of prominent clubs weren't mentioned.  :unsure:

[Jogger]

quote:

---

has attracted such legends as Cliff Young and Yiannis Kouros

---

It is an awards for 2004 - races can't win due to previous glory years, but how they went this year.

It is called the CoolRunning Reader Awards because the readers had to nominate races not the "management" of CoolRunning. It is hard if races or clubs weren't nominated but maybe next year people won't rely on others to do the nominating ... Nominations were open for 2 weeks.

Clearly clubs and races represented will be biased as per the readership of CR, but thems the breaks.

[Jogger]

I was thinking (whilst updating the website for the Six Foot Track Marathon) that a category for "best race website" would have been good.

too late for this year though.

[plu]

Hi All,

I think 2 weeks is enough time for the casual reader who might pop in every week to make a nomination.

The point of a nomination process is that you are only eligible if you are nominated and if people don't nominate for what ever reason well that is what happens.  Nominations need to be made and end dates set.  The important thing now is for those who have concerns to make a note somewhere and make sure it does not happen again next time around.

In this case the nomination was easy to do it was just a matter of doing it on Cool Running.  Other nomination proccesses say for OA , OAM and  certain community awards require documentation and referees. - not that I am suggesting that for here.

Still a great idea and I believe the key nominations that are high in the consciuosness of Cool runners have been represented.

Cheers

Plu

[Jogger]

Its interesting that after more than a week only 120 people have voted yet something like how old are you gets almost a couple of hundred in a couple of days.

Is it that 19 questions is a bit off-putting or people are lazy or they don't care or ....

I would be interested to hear from those that haven't voted.

[GaryO]

G'day Kevin,

Believe it or not I didn't realise that the actual voting for the awards had started.   :o   I got this thread mixed up with the thread to decide what name the awards should get.  Now that I've seen the error of my ways I have voted.

Have I had the blinkers on for the past week, or is the "Vote now" item on the home page new?   :unsure:  Surely I couldn't have missed that all this time.

[Jogger]

The "Vote Now" on the homepage was there from day one .......   :)

[Freerunner]

Man did voting on this start over a week ago? I should have started campaigning but I've been to busy accomplishing and ambassadoring to have time  ;)

FreeRunner.

[wombatface]

Kevin said: "something like how old are you gets almost a couple of hundred in a couple of days."

'How Old' is a simple and instinctive poll which appeals to the curiosity. Unlike GaryO, I did realise voting had started - hard to miss the VOTE NOW banner.  ;)

I also noticed that voting was open until 21 December so plenty of time to make a choice between 'Non-leather running shoes' and 'Stupid Olympic Quotes'.

A reminder to voters not to click on the links for 'best thread' and 'best photo' unless you open the link in a new window! I almost did that myself.

19 questions is OK although making a choice is difficult -preferential voting would be good (1,2,3)! I just think people are taking their time. A few 'free sex' reminders will do the trick.

[Ultraphil]

I'll try and vote from home later.  The poll is taking to0 long to load from work!

Phil

[Ultraphil]

Wow! Have just voted. I didnt even realise that my creation the "Bellarine Rail Trail" had been nominated in the best Ultra category. Seems a bit weird when it wa sonly the first year and there were two entrants. I know someone explained why - but seems even weirder that Colac or Coburg didnt get a mention!

Phil

[Stu Mac]

I hope we all have our say and vote, only 7 days or so to go!!!  (157 so far, compared to 275 for the 'Age of Coolrunners' poll)

[MPHinLondon]

kev, how are the numbers looking now?

[Jogger]

161.
Not sure what I was expecting but would have liked 250 or so ??

[wombatface]

"From little things,
Big things grow"

How many ran in the first City to Surf or the first 6' track?

The CR awards will become very popular (and sought after) in future years.

I suggest having the nomination process end sooner (early-November) so voting can run for six weeks. Also perhaps, weed out some of the nominations (get the plus 800 club to pick the  successful ones) so you only have to choose between 10 or less in each category.

[superflake]

4000 cool runners only 170 have voted.
Vote now time is running out.
Just have a guess if you can't decide.
  :)

[Stu Mac]

I too am surprised that only 170 have voted for the CR Awards, but 275 voted for the Age Poll.  

The 4000 members isn't a real-time number, onviously alot of the early members have moved on, this is obvious, have a look at member's rego numbers, you don't see many under a 1000.

I would have guessed about 200 or so post on a regular basis, but the Age poll proved that to be wrong, and no-one has told KT why they haven't, I can only assume the new members aren't voting???

No matter, the results will be a true reflection of the current posting CRs.

[Colin Townsend]

In these days of things being very quick (or instant), the age poll was a simple one question option.

I would guess that the number of questions (& the number of options) in the CR awards was a turn-off.

[superflake]

Just trying to keep the thread up the top so they may vote.
Maybe there aren't 4000 members, but surely we can get more than just in the 100s?
Time to unplug the kettle and plug in the drip filter coffee or tea maker and take the time to vote.
I voted at the start of the month BTW.
  :)

[Jogger]

I changed the link on the "Vote now" ad on the homepage to go directly to the vote. I also added it to the top of the message list on the homepage and forced it to stay at the top of the list.

It will feel a bit like its being rammed down people's throats but its only for a few more days.

The daily vote rate is about 2 or 3 per day I think and its pretty bad if we can't get 200 votes all up!

Most mornings there are more than 100 people online at ONE TIME. I think too many questions is a bit off-putting.

[superflake]

Only 191.
Have to make 200 by 1700 today. Keep voting.
  :)

[paulc]

Maybe we need compulsory voting (like any true democracy) - you can't read the message board unless you've voted.   :D

[Rich H]

Finally gave up on trying to find the time to read all the favourite thread nominees that I missed out on during the year, and voted for the best one I've read so far. Kevin, is there any chance of having a "best threads" section somewhere on the site with links to these so I (and others) can catch up on some of the gems at a later date? Now I've voted, I can't get back in to the poll to see them any more. Maybe others are trying to catch up on their reading too and there will be a last minute rush.

[Jogger]

you can still see all the nominations here.

[superflake]

200!!!!!!!!!!!
Kevin can now rest easy.  B)

[Stu Mac]

203 votes now, with 4 days remaining we could get up to 250 if everyone has a say!!!

Edit: 12:10 am 18 dec, 208 voters, well done, keep em coming

[superflake]

Stu Mac,
I was just about to post the 208 voted.
Beat me to it.
  B)

[Jogger]

I think just under 24hrs to go then all will be revealed. Get yer votes in quick !

[superflake]

Up to 234 voters.
Late flurry tonight and we can get 250!   :)
Keep voting.

[superflake]

This one has results on it, but the one up the top doesn't.
Is that right?

[Colin Townsend]

Congratulations to all the winners of these awards.

But could there be a protest forthcoming?

Let's hope not, but I thought it interesting that in 7 of the categories, the "None of These" vote got more than the "winner" vote.

The "None of These" votes were (Winner in brackets):

Best 10K 18% (13%)
Best Regional 40% (11%)
Most Scenic 15% (12%)
Running Shop 23% (15%)
Club 31% (27%)
Thread 15% (14%)
Photo 31% (13%)

Assuming that any other possible voting options  weren't valid, as they weren't nominated in the required process, & that these votes were a "don't know/care" vote, perhaps the options could have been "No vote" or similar.

Or perhaps the real "winners" were hidden in these other votes??

Any other thoughts?

Colin

[undercover brother]

colin,
i thought the same until i remembered way back when i voted in this and realised that i put 'none of these' down for quite a few.
not because i thought none were worthy but because i didn't have a strong opinion either way.
also when i tried to look back at some of the photos (via the link) my choices got wiped so i thought 'stuff this' and voted for one of mine!
some may have 'none of these'd' the linked ones because of this.

one more thought and it seems silly saying this i know but those events with large participation are at a huge advantage.
eg. most scenic race - sydney city to surf got more votes than cradle mountain.  maybe every CR who's ever run down there voted for cradle and only 0.1% of those who have run the C2S voted for that one but it got more votes.
in some ways then the most out of the way (and yet beautiful) places are going to get less votes because they are difficult to get to, are tougher races, have limited entries etc...
but i guess thems the breaks.
just as well C2S didn't beat 6FT hey!
just thinking out loud - i know i shouldn't.
well done to all winners.
bro

[undercover brother]

List of the winners....

Best Australian 10km race : Sydney Striders (Lane Cove)
Best Australian Half Marathon : SMH Half
Best Australian Marathon : Gold Coast
Best Australian Ultra Marathon : Six Foot Track
Best Australian "Other Distance" Race : Sydney City to Surf
Best Australian Regional Race : Bogong-Hotham
Most Scenic Australian Race : Six Foot Track
Best Australian Male Athlete : Craig Mottram
Best Australian Female Athlete : Benita Johnson
Best Overseas Athlete : Hicham El Guerrouj
CRs Favourite Running Shop : Edgecliffe Running Centre
CRs Favourite Running Club : Sydney Striders
CRs Favourite Thread :  falling down stories
CRs Most Accomplished Athlete of the year : Dave Criniti
CRs Most Inspirational Runner : Dave Criniti and Lucky Legs (Tie)
CRs Ambassador of the year : Action
Best Photo added to Photo gallery this year :  AdventureGirl
This year's most worn brand of running shoe : Asics
This year's most essential running accessory : CR cap

[Derek]

Colin,
There could be a lot read into the results but any voting system can be used to the benefit of somebody and will always dissapoint others. (ie John Howard is still the PM).

No two people will see the same results but here's some of my observations.

94 Others in the regional section means that not enough people support regional marathons.

City to Surf's 80 votes from 50,000+ entrants would put it last against all other nominations if  votes/participants is worked out. This would also be the case for the city vs regional m'thons.

In the case of Thredbo M'thon 13/30 would give us the best rating, I think.

The best club and 10k votes indicates that there are a lot of Sydney Striders here on coolrunning.

Shoes, threads and photos voting would not be of interest to many so non votes would be expected.

and finally.... if I had voted in the Ambassador awards I'd have beaten Rick.

Finally in the good days of The Right Track mag with subscribers approaching 2000 we still struggled to reach 150 votes in our awards.

[Mister G]

Colin,

I put "none of these" where I honestly had no opinion. I didn't feel qualified to vote for Best Half Marathon, for example, because I've run very few Halfs.

Buggered if I can work out how City to Surf came second in "Most Scenic". I assume because almost everyone's run that race, it became a popular "safe" vote....