The Aroostook Musterds Road Racing Club awards were presented at Nordic Heritage Sports Club on Oct. 18 after a training run and pot luck meal.
Overall series and age group awards as well as participation prizes were handed out after the season long results were tabulated for the eight series races.
Those races were the Katahdin Trust Snow Run 5K (Houlton), the UMPI Spring Runoff 5K (Presque Isle), the S.W. Collins 5K (Caribou), the Musterd Mile (Caribou), the Potato Blossom 5-Miler (Fort Fairfield), the Island Falls Summer Fest 5K, the County Open Half Marathon and Relay (Island Falls), and the Caribou Labor Day 5 miler (Caribou).
Age group award recipients were as follows: 14 and under: Trevor Levesque and Tyler Strid; 15-18: Kelly Kashian and Jake Michaud; 19-29: Marie Strouse, Nicole Porter, Brian Powers, and Jordan Powers; 30-39: Michelle Roy, Rene Laliberty, Al Hanscom, and Thomas Beckum.
Also, 40-49: Angela Ewings, Linda Mountain, Jeff Ashby, and Brent Bailey; 50-59: Connie McLellan, Chris Smith, and Leo Kashian; 60 and over: Don Zillman.
Each of these runners ran at least the minimum four races required, with only Hanscom running all eight.
Thirteen runners were recognized for running the minimum five races necessary to receive participation awards. They were Hanscom (eight races), Strouse, Roy, Ewings, Ashby, Bailey and Smith (seven each), Mountain, Trevor Levesque, Strid and Beckum (six each); and Kashian and Zillman (five each).
The overall series winners were Hanscom and Strouse. This marks the second consecutive title Hanscom has garnered. En route to her first championship, Strouse won the women’s division in five of the seven races she completed.
Additionally, two $500 Musterd scholarships were awarded to 2008 and a 2009 high school graduates who are continuing their running careers in college and who are avid road racers in their off-seasons.
Spencer McElwain of Caribou received the 2008 award. He continues his running as a University of Maine Black Bear. Jason Johnson of Presque Isle received the 2009 award and is now running at the University of Maine at Presque Isle.
The club also presented its annual runner of the year award. The award is voted on by all the members of the club based on the nominations for that year.
This year’s recipient was Strouse. She worked at DFAS until mid-August and is now employed as an instructor at the University of Maine at Orono.
Contributed photo
MARIE STROUSE, formerly of Caribou and now residing in the Orono area, was recently named Aroostook Musterds Runner of the Year for 2009. Making the presentation was Chris Smith, president of the local running group.
