Night of the Golden Cowbells – 2023 Awards Night
Photo by Jiyoung Han
This year’s Awards Night found us back at Stich Bar & Blues for a night of celebration. Awards Night also returned to February (rather than the Covid delayed April celebration of 2022). The evening was kicked off by Stephanie Kane who served as the host for the evening. Stephanie opened with a tale of how she came to join PPTC and finding a place where she belonged. And soon after the awards presentations were underway.
The evening’s first awards were those awarded to the members of the club who achieved notable running accomplishments in 2022. Some award ceremonies award golden statuettes or crystal globes, PPTC awards its winners with golden functioning cowbells. The first golden cowbell was awarded to Laura Fay for Female Runner of the Year. Sean Quealy was the announced winner of the Male Runner of the Year award, but was not present to receive his cowbell – don’t worry we’ll get it to him. Erin Anthony was awarded PPTC’s inaugural Non-binary Runner of the Year award. Next up were the masters runners of the year. The winners of the masters runners of the year categories were announced, but none were present at the time (“Bueller, Bueller”). The winners were Maggie Deschamps for the Female Masters Runner of the year, Manuel Serrano for the Male Masters Runner of the year, and Dame Dave Lewis for the Non-binary Masters Runner of the year. The ultra runners of the year awards were then awarded to Jacky Lee for the Female Ultra Runner of the Year and Adam Devine for the Male Ultra Runner of the Year.
Following the runners of the year awards presentation was the presentation of the Bob Mueller Award. This year’s award was presented to Jimmy Leung, who won his first Bob Mueller Award four years ago. Next up, the award for the Most Inspirational was awarded to Arielle Disick, who you may remember touched us all with her recounting of her decision to become a kidney donor and how PPTC helped her through the donation process and her recovery and return to running. We then had a break for dinner which was a buffet that included beef tenderloin, chicken and mushroom marsala, eggplant rollatini, vegetarian lasagna, vegan lemon pasta, broccoli, salad, and an assortment of carbs (roasted potatoes, rice). As dinner wrapped up, the first of the raffle tickets were drawn for some of the evening’s raffle prizes.
The lucky raffle prize winners were:
· Zoe Evans who won one personal training session at Priority Fitness (valued at over $100)
· Laura Fay who won one 90-minute massage from Brooklyn Athletic Massage Therapy
· Motoko Yuri who won one 60-minute massage from Brooklyn Athletic Massage Therapy
· Clark McCaskill who won one PT session from Ascent Physical Therapy
· Dan Dougherty who won a $100 gift card from Brooklyn Running Company
· Lisa Knauer who won a $100 gift card from Lowerline Restaurant
After the first round of raffle prizes, we returned to the awards presentation, but before announcing the next round of awards, Maggie Deschamps and Dame Dave Lewis, who apparently arrived late and missed their award categories, were invited on to the stage to receive their cowbells for their wins in the Female Masters Runner of the Year and Non-binary Masters Runner of the year categories, respectively.
The first of the next group awards was the award for Best Team Supporter. Surprise! I was presented with this award – thank you so much! This was followed by the award for Outstanding Single Contribution, which was awarded to the race directors of the Turkey Trot: Jennie Matz, Will Ngo, Danielle Fagenblat. The cowbell for the Most Improved runner was then awarded to Kishor Vayyala and the Comeback Runner of the Year award was presented to Jen Tuohy. The awards went on with New Member of Year presented to Clark McCaskill and Volunteer of the Year presented to me – thank, again! The final award for the evening was the President’s Award. The first time President Crystal Cun had the honor of presenting this award and it was presented to Evy Barnett.
The final round of raffle prizes were then awarded by our volunteer team of Rachel Ngu, Roland Jean, and Andres Lopez-Ovejero. The winners of the final raffle prizes were:
· Brian Bromberg who won a pétanque experience at Carreau Club (valued at $100)
· Lexi Nastos who won another pétanque experience at Carreau Club (valued at $100)
· Dame Dave Lewis who won a $100 gift card to Stitch Bar & Blues
· Carlos Vazquez who won a $100 gift card to Houdstooth Bar
· Jay Gore who won one entry to the Paine to Pain Trail Half-Marathon (valued at $50 to $65)
· David Jakob for one $50 gift card to The Dram Shop Bar
· Matt Saffian for a $50 gift card to Henry Street Wines and Liquors
Thank you to all of our generous raffle prize donors. These were all enviable prizes.
The cowbells and raffle prizes were all awarded but the party was not over. A two-tier cake topped with the Grand Army Plaza arch was served. The lower tier of the cake was covered in red and adorned with a white sash, just like our club singlets. Cupcakes (including gluten-free and vegan cupcakes) were also served. These delicious treats were all ordered from member Carlos Claudio’s Made with Love Brooklyn.
And still the party went on with music and dancing continuing even while the staff at Stitch began wiping down the bar top. Thank you to the Awards Night committee who made all of this happen. This year’s committee was comprised of: Evy Barnett, Linda Chan, Adam Devine, Oren Efrati, Jonathan Giles, Lillian Park, Audrey Rosenblith, Jana Sherwood, and Sonia Weiser.
See you all at next year’s Awards Night!
2023 Awards Night Winners
Runners of the year
Laura Fay - Female Runner of the Year
Sean Quealy - Male Runner of the Year
Erin Anthony - Non-binary Runner of the Year
Masters runners of the Year
Maggie Deschamps - Female Masters Runner of the Year
Manuel Serrano - Male Masters Runner of the Year
Dame Dave Lewis - Non-binary Runner of the Year
Ultra runners of the year
Jacky Lee - Female Ultra Runner of the Year
Adam Devine - Male Ultra Runner of the Year
Bob Mueller award
Jimmy Leung
Most inspirational
Arielle Disick
Best Team supporter
Linda Chan
Outstanding single contribution
Turkey Trot Race Directors: Jennie Matz, Will Ngo, Danielle Fagenblat
Most Improved
Kishor Vayyala
Comeback runner of the year
Jen Tuohy
New Member of the Year
Clark McCaskill
Volunteer of the year
Linda Chan
President’s Award
Evy Barnett
Photo by Jiyoung Han
Text by: Linda S. Chan (she/her)
Photos by: Jiyoung Han, Larry Sillen, and Marek Stępniowski (as noted)
Produced by: Linda S. Chan
PPTC is a diverse and supportive team. We want to celebrate the diversity of our club and membership. We welcome and encourage everyone to share their stories with us.