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I would like to nominate:
<b>Club Member of the Year</b> – Jules Bilowich
<b>Veteran Athlete of the Year</b> Juene Rader female and Bryan Frank male
<b>Brady Nelson Memorial* Spirit of DC Tri</b> – Katie Hosteny and Julie Billingsley
<b>Most Improved</b> Jenna Hager female and Justin Sanak male
<b>Rookie of the Year</b> Jennifer Panlilio and Mijal Altman for female
I nominate Katie Hosteny & Bryan Frank for the Brady Nelson Spirit of DC Tri awards. They are both always cheering people on, getting engaged in all club events, and being so welcoming to newcomers. When I moved to DC a year ago & joined DC Tri, they both helped me feel like a part of the group and gave me great advice. For Club Member of the Year, I nominate Jeune Rader, who has done an insane number of races this year, is always super welcoming to everyone, goes out of her way to build great partnerships at the club level for all of us, and has an incredible attitude even when faced with adversity.
Here we go! Some nominations to consider!
- Brady Nelson Memorial* Spirit of DC Tri: Justin Sanak. Justin might just embody the Spirit of DCTri. Always out there encouraging on his fellow club members. Even when I’m feeling awful during a race, his adamant desires to give me and all teammates a high five on the run course bring a smile to my suffering face.
- Club Member of the Year: Jules Bilowich. The enthusiasm and cheer that Jules brings to the Club is amazing and wonderful to see. So many Club events this year would not have happened without Jules’ initiative and drive. She always brings a smile and cheerful attitude wherever she is and that filters out to the Club members that she interacts with. Jules is the type of member that this Club thrives and survives on, and we are lucky to have her.
- Most Improved
- Female (Courtney Waltimyer Most Improved): Verna Ng Tyree. She might not have done a triathlon this year, but I swear she was volunteering at every race there was. Always out there. Always cheering. Always giving of herself and giving back to the sport. And always with a smile on her face. Making her comeback from a stroke has been a long process, but she continues to improve every day and I am so happy that she is part of the Club.
- Male: John Sener. He mentioned all of his accomplishments above and they are all awesome. So awesome to have been able to chat with John over dinner back when we first emerged from the pandemic before his first triathlon and then to see him improve so much over the last few years! So awesome!
- Rookie of the Year
- Female: Mijal Altmann. It’s not often you see someone brand new to the club jump in and immediately become an integral leader to club activities. The HP Wednesday night ride. The Saturday B Ride. So awesome to see the enthusiasm and leadership!
- Male: Collin Bradley. I might be biased here as he was my mentee, but it was so awesome to see Collin join the Club, go through NTP, and complete his first triathlon at DITR. His efforts throughout the program and in his personal life were awesome. Super proud of my mentee and all that he has accomplished!
- Veteran Athlete of the Yea
- Female: Natalia Szlarb. Natalia was incredible to watch. Doing a race in each trimester of her pregnancy, volunteering at many club events, and being ever present and ever helpful and supportive of every club member and triathlete that she interacted with. So proud to have her on the Elite Team representing the Club.
- Male: This was a tough one as I want to nominate two, but want to winnow it down to one. It was a tough choice, but Joe Shields is my nomination. It’s been incredible to watch him grow and mature as a triathlete over the last few years. And his support and generosity toward the other members of the Club, and triathlon has been incredible. Very proud to have him on the Elite Team representing the Club.
I haven’t been around to comment on any but two categories.
<span style=”text-decoration: underline;”>Rookie of the year</span>, tough call. I would say Carlos (male) and Mijal (female). Both made amazing strides in their journey here, and were instrumental to our success as a new class.
<span style=”text-decoration: underline;”>Club member of the year:</span> Definitely Jules. I am not sure I went to a single club event where Jules wasn’t there. Jules even asked me to lead the longer bike ride on the NTP retreat since I had my bike computer. Only later did I confess it was my third time on a road bike ever. What a time to be alive!
I didn’t realize that our website is blocked outside of the US and wasn’t able to submit some nominations. Fortunately everyone that I wanted to nominate has been listed!
For the Spirit of DC Tri, I second Juene Radar. She is always cheering on others, particularly NTP’ers, and encouraging folks to get more involved with the club. She also brought and setup all the club gear for Eagleman which was supposed to be her 2nd half, was all checked in, but then came down with COVID and had to withdrawal which was pretty heartbreaking. Despite the setback she came back to do some other half’s later in the year.
For club member of the year, I second Jules Bilowich who helped out a ton with training including being the camp lead for both camping weekends, organizing lots of activities including a brewery ride and a swim that later became a picnic/bricknic (those darn jellyfish), and being one of the co-leads of the Hains Point and Georgetown ride.
Also Kelly Lefler without which the training camps wouldn’t be possible. She drove to both training camps the morning of including a 3 hour drive to Deep Creek Lake since we didn’t have a SAG. It was a good thing since we ended up with 2 people having mechanical problems!
For Most Improved, Verna. As Bryan mentioned, she hasn’t been able to do a triathlon since her stroke. Despite that she has found a way to still be involved through volunteering and cheering on DC Tri folks at races. She volunteered at most of the featured races including Diamond in the Rough, Luray, Ironman Maryland, and Waterman’s.
For Rookie of the year, Mijal for spearheading the Hains Point rides and a B group for the Sat ride.
