One Voter’s Analysis of the North American Ultrarunner of the Year Awards

The “UltraRunning Magazine” North American Ultrarunner of the Year Awards, which have been awarded since 1981, are arguably the most prestigious awards in North American ultrarunning. In order to qualify, runners must either be from North America or reside there.

For the past 16 years, I have been honored and privileged to be part of the panel of voters that selects the award winners. This year, I thought it would be fun to compare my ballot with the actual award winners and provide some analysis and commentary.

Here is the final top 10 list for female North American Ultrarunner of the Year:

1. Katie Schide (U.S., lives in France)
2. Courtney Dauwalter
3. Rachel Drake
4. (tie) Emily Hawgood (Zimbabwe, lives in the U.S.)
5. (tie) Megan Eckert
6. Courtney Olsen
7. Mary Denholm
8. Leah Yingling
9. Hannah Allgood
10. Marianne Hogan* (Canada)

*Included in the final top 10 and not on my ballot.

Marianne Hogan waves to the crowd after winning the 2024 Swiss Canyon Trail 111k. Hogan was the only woman included on the “UltraRunning Magazine” awards list who was not on the author’s list. Photo: World Trail Majors

Here is the top 10 from my ballot:

1. Katie Schide
2. Courtney Dauwalter
3. Courtney Olsen
4. Rachel Drake
5. Mary Denholm
6. Tara Dower**
7. Megan Eckert
8. Hannah Allgood
9. Leah Yingling
10. Emily Hawgood

**Included in my ballot and not in the final top 10.

Katie Schide was crowned female North American Ultrarunner of the Year. Photo: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks

In comparing the female results, a few things popped out at me:

• On my ballot, I had Tara Dower in sixth place, and the panel did not have her in the top 10. My guess is that I gave significant weight to Tara Dower’s Appalachian Trail fastest known time (FKT), while other voters did not. FKTs have long been a challenge to the panel. On the one hand, we are instructed not to include them in our deliberations, but, on the other hand, it is my belief that we cannot avoid considering them as part of a runner’s entire body of work.
• Due to my including Dower on my ballot, I did not include Marianne Hogan — she was 11th on my list. Hogan was the only runner on either list that ultimately made the top 10 and was not on my ballot.
• After the top two, Katie Schide and Courtney Dauwalter, my list differed in order from the panel in every space on the list. For example, Courtney Olson finished higher and Megan Eckert finished lower on my ballot than in the final awards, while Rachel Drake and Emily Hawgood both finished higher in the final awards than they did on my ballot.

Tara Dower after setting an overall supported fastest known time on the Appalachian Trail. Photo: Pete Schreiner/@schreinertrailphotography

Here is the final top 10 list for male North American Ultrarunner of the Year:

1. Hayden Hawks
2. David Roche
3. David Sinclair
4. Rod Farvard
5. Eli Hemming
6. Caleb Olson
7. Jim Walmsley
8. Harry Subertas (Lithuania, lives in the U.S.)
9. Ben Dhiman (U.S., lives in France)
10. Ihor Verys (Ukraine, lives in Canada)

Hayden Hawks (U.S.) lets out a yell in celebration on his way to win the 2024 CCC. Hawks was crowned male North American Ultrarunner of the Year. Photo: iRunFar/Kirsten Kortebein

Here is the top-10 from my ballot:

1. Hayden Hawks
2. David Sinclair
3. David Roche
4. Ben Dhiman
5. Eli Hemming
6. Rod Farvard
7. Haroldas Subertas
8. Caleb Olson
9.  Ihor Verys
10.  Jim Walmsley

David Sinclair on his way to winning and setting a course record at the 2024 Speedgoat by UTMB 50k. Photo: Nils Nilsen

As on the women’s side, a few things jumped out to me when comparing my ballot to the final awards:

• I flipped the Davids. I gave the second-place nod to David Sinclair due, in large part, to the competitiveness of the races he ran. The panel, conversely, went with David Roche in second. I suspect this was due largely to Roche’s incredible Leadville 100 Mile course record — which also won “UltraRunning” Magazine North American Performance of the Year — and perhaps also due to a slight bias on the part of the panel toward longer distance races. All of Sinclair’s races were in the 50k to 50-mile range, while Roche had two world class results in the 100-mile distance.
• While I had all 10 of the eventual award winners on my ballot, I only voted for two in the places that they ultimately occupied — Hayden Hawks in first and Eli Hemming in fifth. For all of the others, they were in different spots. It seems my biggest misjudgements were placing Ben Dhiman fourth while he eventually got ninth, and placing Jim Walmsley 10th while he eventually got seventh.
• I think with this year’s awards, on the men’s side in particular, we have seen the fringe events become normalized. Both Haroldas Subertas’s and Ihor Verys’s inclusion in this year’s top 10 says to me that the backyard ultras, the Barkley Marathons, and the 200 milers of the world are now officially in the mix, and not just stunt races as they were seen to be just a few years ago.
• All of the men are trail focused and the women are more mixed. On the women’s side, you have Megan Eckert and Courtney Olsen, who excelled on the track and the roads, while there is nobody in the men’s top 10, on either my ballot or with the overall winners, who raced mostly on the road and track. It’ll be interesting to see how this evolves in the coming years.

Ihor Verys wins the 2024 Barkley Marathons on his first attempt. Photo: Howie Stern

John Medinger, the former publisher and owner of “UltraRunning Magazine” who presides over this annual exercise says, “Each year we find ourselves comparing apples and oranges (or, as one voter put it: apples versus oranges versus pineapples versus bananas. And maybe kumquats!) How does a fast 50k stack up against a stellar six-day run? A fast road time versus a tough mountain run? While these variables will inevitably inject a degree of subjectivity, just try to be as analytical and objective as you can.”

And, at the end of the day, this is all for fun anyway. Until next year!

Bottoms up!

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Call for Comments

• What’s your take on these awards for 2024?
• What would — or did — your ballot read?