RW Boost is our new-for-2018 member rewards program. Our goals were to give our members extra fun, and some great swag along the way. Who knew what we were in for?
Eight months into our first year, it’s about time for an in-depth look into the RW Boost standings. Here goes!
See also: Current standings | Rules | Prizes
Congrats to Erin Schmidt and Dan Burns, both of whom re-joined the #RWBoost leaderboard after #kwrunforpogo2018. https://t.co/pno39kgcwG Lots of points up for grabs this fall! #Fall5kClassic pic.twitter.com/PqeiglA43K
— Run Waterloo Results (@RW_Results) September 11, 2018
Can the leaders be caught?
Rebecca, Robyn, and Dave are in great shape, each with tons of boosters, exceptionally high merit scores, and good PB chances on fall ditto opportunities. If Dave is vulnerable, it’s because his Waterloo Classic doesn’t have PB or ditto boosters, but that probably won’t have an effect.
The demographic with the most competition for 1st at this point is men under 40. Aidan leads by 18 points over Ian, but without the Waterloo Classic booster, leaving Ian a fighting chance. Ian has a lot of room to double-boost fall races to push out some lower merit scores and close the gap. Another dark horse in the mix is Robert, who “won” the 2017 demo. He will be back for three fall races (Harvest Half, Fall 5 KM Classic, and Remember Run), and so with both Classic boosters, he can work his way back to top of the group if he PBs each of his remaining races.
RW Boost year-end leaders earn a pair of shoes from Saucony Canada.
Beyond demographics, who will earn the bragging rights of 1st overall? Robyn and Rebecca are currently only separated by 9 points!
Max factor
Just because you’re on the leaderboard, it doesn’t mean you have maxed out your counting events (max 8 top scores, with max 4 from ENDURrun). These five individuals still have room for their next event to count, which could have big leaderboard implications.
Demographic – Name (average counting score) leaderboard effect when included
- F-40 – Jessica Schmidt (230) up 1 to 2nd
- F-40 – Erin Schmidt (221) up 1 to 4th
- M-40 – Ian McCreery (223) up 1 to 3rd
- F+40 – Valery Hobson (236 x 2) up 3 to 2nd
- M+40 – Merzi Dastoor (198) up 2 to 3rd
Great member swag
This is the only way for members to get these exclusive and free prizes.
Threshold 1 – 800 points
So far, 72 members have it already locked up, and another 70+ members are just two events away from 800 (there are two free member events left this fall). If you include a Fall Classic at average merit and no boosters, members with a current score of 300 or more are still easily within reach of 800.
There are still 6 events this fall that are boost-eligible, and running all of these events in the 25th gender percentile (75th out of 100 for example) would earn 800 points from those 6 events alone.
We are expecting to give out more than 250 of these shirts through this reward.
Threshold 2 – top 15 in demographic
Sarah Heesaker, Nick Burt, Adrienne Farrell, and Ioan Barath are currently holding down 15th place in their respective demographics, but there are a dozen athletes within single-race striking distance of each of them.
How important the sweatshirts are will influence the number of events these runners are entering down the stretch this fall!
The closest contest for sweatshirts are Ioan over Jan de Visser by 3 points.
Threshold 3 – top 5 in demographic
Free 2019 memberships have an out-of-pocket value of $50 for adults, which is a lucrative perk. The closest contest is Dan Burns over Tyler Riehl by 18 points.
Wire to wire (so far)
Five members have been on the leaderboard the entire year: Vicki, Jessica, Robyn, Debbie, and Dave H.
No male under 40 holds this distinction. Incredibly, Robyn has never not been leading her demographic.
Number of leaders
The number of leaders has varied substantially across demographics:
- Women under 40, 2: Vicki Zandbergen, Rebecca Kruisselbrink (current)
- Men under 40, 5: Fraser Hutton, Reza Saputra, Adam Dixon, Aidan Rutherford (current), Ian Grzegorczyk
- Women over 40, 1: Robyn Collins
- Men over 40, 3: Jonathan Fugelsang, Dave Harmsworth (current), Shawn Wilkin
ENDURrace was the first race day where none of the leaders changed. Until that point, both male demographics had changed each race.
Both Aidan and Dave have lost and regained demographic leads this year.
Rebecca finally overtook the lead at Stage 4 of ENDURrun, following Vicki’s playbook from the 2017 Boost by PBing basically every race she’s entered.
Ultimate connection
We’re just a few weeks out from the conclusion of ENDURrun, and perhaps it’s not surprising that Ultimate participants are dominating the leaderboard (all 1sts and half of the 20 spots). It wasn’t designed that way, but when some of our fastest and most loyal runners do the Ultimate, it’s probably inevitable.
Ultimates on the leaderboard (Rebecca, Vicki, Aidan, Ian, Robyn, Lumi, Valery, Dave, Merlin, Merzi) are prolific Run Waterloo racers, and could very likely be leading even without ENDURrun.
Good luck for the rest of the year
The RW Boost program is one of the many reasons we attribute our large increase in membership this year. All the best in your fall races; remember, it’s for the boost!
