Each year, UltraSignup closes out the year with Keep Trail Running Weird Awards. We consider the awards a ‘podium finish’ for the everyday runner, honoring the beautifully weird and free-spirited culture of the trail running community. Since 2021, we have recognized 5 winners nominated by the community and 5 winners based on crunching the numbers in our database.
See all nominees for the 2023 awards and the finalists here. Read more about the Keep Trail Running Weird award categories and see previous award winners.
This year’s awards were supported by our friends at Aspire Adventure Running. See who won the 2 day Goat Rocks trip from Aspire at the bottom of this page!
Tune in to the next couple episodes of The Trailhead Podcast to hear from our award winners!
With 28 races in 2023, Erxiong Huang led this category! He narrowly beat out second and third place who closed out the year with 27 (Jay Antle) and 26 (Jason Wheat) races finished respectively.
One of our favorite categories, the Most Tenacious result is given to the runner with the most DNF results each year.
The 2023 winner of Most Tenacious is Eric Durrett who DNFed 9 races over the course of the year.
These two categories can be closely intertwined. In 2023, the same runner won both categories.
Congratulations Eric McGee who ran 638 hours and 1700 miles in 2023.
It must be noted that UltraSignup, while quite comprehensive, does not capture every international race result. Eric’s actual totals are significantly higher when taking those external races into account.
This category recognizes the runner who posted their first race on UltraSignup in 2023 and went on to complete the most races of all new runners.
With 15 race finishes, Praveen Kumar Chandran is our Rookie of the Year!
With over 500 nominations from the community, this was an amazing turnout of community voices. Thank you all for nominating your friends and loved ones. The nominations were whittled down to a selection of 5 finalists in each category, excepting Most Inspirational which had 10 finalists. The community voted on those finalists, and here are the winners that you chose!
Read about all of the finalists.
Jeremy commits to the bit. Chad Ultra is a character Jeremy has created to bring even more fun to ultrarunning. Chad is “never tired” according to his instagram handle @chad.ultra.never.tired and he wears the coolest sunglasses.
One person’s weirdo is another person’s idol. There’s lot’s of weirdos in trail running and we love that for us. Maybe it’s their nutrition plan, race day kit, training style, maybe it’s their unconventional outlook on life, there’s something that is just so dang loveable.
@chrismorrison_runshttps://www.instagram.com/chrismorrison_runs/
“We were the very last finishers, but came in with 90 minutes to spare…because of Chris. My emotional lows weren’t as low as they usually are because I had a friend along to encourage me to push through & keep going.”
Pacing is hard work. It requires a certain finesse, physical preparedness, a poker face, and at times a silver tongue to keep a runner moving in the darkest points in their race.
This award is given to the runner who consistently looks the smartest, the flyest, the most worthy of the cover of UltraSignup magazine “Keep Trail Running Weird Awards” issue.
“Amy flushed her keys down the toilet 20 minutes before the Sugg Farm 20 miler. They were in the back pocket of her shots and fell out. Her vest, headphones, and fuel were all locked in the car. She ran the loops with a cheap water bottle and finished the race!”
“He is the definition of consistency and has encouraged me to get out the door when I haven’t wanted to….because sometimes we all need that “daily reminder to do hard things.” Besides running, he’s a family man and works hard as a firefighter, who gives back to this trail community.”
“He is such an inspiration to not only me but the thousands of followers he has. He makes zero excuses and gets out there and continues to push!!!! Rain or shine, he is out there running.”
This year’s Keep Trail Running Weird Awards were supported by our friends at Aspire Adventure Running. Aspire offered a running trip for two people on their Goat Rocks Stage itinerary. The winner was selected in a random drawing of all individuals who nominated or voted in the contest. Congratulations to Patrick Nosal!
Aspire Adventure Running offers running trips in some of the most beautiful wild areas of the United States. Supporting runners who want the challenge of distance running without the congestion and structure of a race: runners who love the mountains and desire the freedom of movement in these sacred spaces.
