Angela Ewings of Littleton was named Aroostook Mûsterds Runner of the Year for 2015, an award given annually to the Mûsterd club member exemplifying dedication to the sport through participation, coaching, race directing and giving back to their communities.
Ewings’ abilities as a runner, along with her coaching and the mentoring of student athletes at Greater Houlton Christian Academy, was the basis for her selection by her peers within the club.
The ceremony marks the 33rd time awards have been garnered by runners for participation and race accomplishments in the County Challenge Series, which this year consisted of seven races within Aroostook County.
Races were the Wild Katahdin Trust Snow Run (Houlton) the UMPI Spring Runoff 5K and the Maine Running Festival Half-Marathon (Presque Isle), the Potato Blossom 5-Miler (Fort Fairfield) and the S.W. Collins 5K, Mûsterd Mile, and the Caribou Labor Day 8K (Caribou).
Ewings was also the overall women’s series champion for the 14th time, or for better than 40 percent of the times the series has existed, spanning 23 years since her first win in 1992. Her 47 points were 18 better than her daughter Teagan posted. On the men’s side, Thomas Beckum ran to his second championship with 47 points, five ahead of Curtis Wheeler at 42.
The participation category requires the completion of four of the seven series races. Recipients having run four races were Curtis Wheeler, Teagan Ewings, Evan Desmond, Trevor Levesque, Paul Johnson, George Ferland and Chris Rines.
Steve Desmond, Craig Dubay and Brent Bailey ran five races and Angela Ewings completed six. The lone runner in all seven series races was Beckum.
As is the case for the participation category, runners must have completed four races to qualify for series awards. Age group winners were: 14 and under, Teagan Ewings (44 points) and Even Desmond (39 points); 15-18, Trevor Levesque (27); 19-29, Wheeler (42) and Chris Rines (40); 30-39, Paul Johnson (37); 40-49, Angela Ewings (66) and Steve Desmond (51) and George Ferland (32); and 50-59, Craig Dubay (46) and Brent Bailey (39).
The Mûsterds have been in the planning phase for the 34th annual County Challenge Series in 2016, which begins in February in Houlton. The preliminary County race schedule will be available in early January.
