Howdy, Stranger!
Categories
Options
SuperSix Project
The materials in this website are in no way intended to replace the professional medical care, advice, diagnosis or treatment of a doctor, qualified personal trainer, therapist, dietitian or nutritionist Runners's World, Part of the Hearst UK well-being network © Copyright 2017
Comments
I apologise....i just got the impression that the winners/nominees were all picked from the forums. RW would want people who they knew would post so not wrong to do so but unfair if not advertised as such.
I would have voted for someone I knew too, especially knowing EP and how committed she was to the programme I would vote for her again, if she wanted it!!!
I think there were a variety of people chosen - certainly in my category ... sub 4:30 - Rio and Hash are both regulars on a lot of forum threads and have a long track record of involvement in running too (doing it! and encouraging others too). I was a new runner (since Feb 09) who had been a regular poster in just one thread of the forums before super six (and I've mainly gone back to that one since, though do pop into others from time to time) and Smileyjoggergirl had not been in the forums much before though I'm sure she would have thrown herself into keeping a thread going if she'd been chosen, if her attitude and posting back then was anything to go by.
It was harder I think being an outsider to most people - but particularly because the regulars I was up against are both really sound people!!! I didn't expect too much as a result, but gave it my best shot. Rio kept posting (as she has done for years) but steered away from canvassing for votes - which may ultimately have cost her.
Similar to a real election - it is both human nature and sensible to vote for someone you know - particularly if you have respect for them - which I think Rio and Hash both have fairly universally from those who have come across them. Was it slanted in the favour of those who people knew (regular forumites?) Of course it was, but we were all given a chance - which I am grateful for. I'm sure if I'd been the only decent candidate, I would have got in - but as it turned out we all had our merits and I think that the person that the forums chose was an absolutely cracking SSXer (Hash) - underlined by the support she gave to all - especially EP when she was struggling at Mudchute this year (such a shame Hash got injured so early on following some, in retrospect, pretty dodgy shoe fitting advice from the experts)
Funnily enough I used to work with Rio in "real life" and I would have voted for her too if I hadn't been shortlisted in the same category - no matter how good anyone else sounded - we all surely base decisions on our experiences of people, don't we and go for the ones we know we can trust from experience?
Obviously, and like I said, now that I have experienced these forums (EP's was my first) I'm sure if anyone from there entered I would def vote for them over someone I didnt know, like you said, however good they sounded, But the point I was trying to make was that the advert promoting the competition implied that 'anyone' had a chance, and I, wrongly, thought that all the winners this year were regular forumites. So the advert was ok afterall!!!
I'll shut up now...