Who is your pick for best trail runner on the planet?

Trail running media community Freetrail announced the Trail Runner of the Year (TROY) award on Tuesday, and you have two weeks to submit your vote. TROY is a global award intended to recognize pro athletes within the sport by ranking their performances during the 2022 racing season. “It’s our hope that TROY will become an annual capstone, celebrating the year in competition,” says Freetrail.

Traditionally, contests like this one have been country-based, so Freetrail is taking a step toward inclusivity by making the competition international. We have some stellar Canadian athletes on the list, including Ailsa MacDonald of Cochrane, Alta. and Montreal-based Mathieu Blanchard and Marianne Hogan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Parameters of TROY

TROY is a ranking of race performance portfolios from only the 2022 season, so clear your mind of the previous year’s performances when considering this year’s contenders. TROY is strictly trail-specific. Even if a normally trail-based athlete pulled off a stunning performance on a track, those performances should not be considered.

TROY is distance agnostic, meaning everything from VKs to 200+ mile races are grouped together under trail running. TROY is also not a popularity contest. Freetrail explains that this vote shouldn’t reflect your favourite athlete on social media; rather, it should reflect the athlete’s achievements across the year.

Things to consider when voting

Freetrail asks voters to take their responsibility seriously, “applying research and deep consideration to the ranking,” and asks voters to meditate on some criteria before submitting their ballot.

Depth of competition: look at who performed best on the largest stages against the deepest fields of competitors.

Consistency of performance: voters should take into account the entire 2022 season, and reward those athletes who consistently raced well while weighing outstanding single performances accordingly.

Versatility of performance: TROY is distance agnostic, meaning the top athletes should be the ones who demonstrate that they can compete across distances on a variety of terrain.

Geographical bias: trail running is an international sport, and Freetrail acknowledges that they are North American-based and English-speaking. Voters should strive to have knowledge of the international dynamics in the sport, including which races are significant across the wide range of international event series (Mountain Running, Golden Trail Series, UTMB World Series, Skyrunning).

 

 

 

 

 

 

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How to vote

Voting is now open and will be open for two weeks, closing at 3 pm ET on Dec. 20. Choose your top 10 athletes for both men and women. To eliminate any bias from Ultrasignup or UTMB rankings, athletes are listed alphabetically, so be sure to read the whole list before you make your choices.

Clicking on an athlete’s name will send you to resources to help you make your choices, including results from the season, links to databases, and the athlete’s various social media accounts–prepare to do a deep dive on trail running once you start exploring (it’s fun and fascinating). When you submit your ballot, you’ll have the ability to make edits until voting closes at 3 pm ET on Dec. 20–choices are then locked in.

Winners will be announced in early January 2023. You can learn more and vote here.