Performance of the Year, Male: Trevor, Beer Mile 1st place
Performance of the Year, Female: Lexi*, Hellgate 1st place
Rookie of the Year: Nora*
Rookie of the Year (ride N tie): Cowboy Mike
Rookie of the Year (pack burro racing): Sean
Debut of the year: (tie) Nora (first 100 miler, Cascade Crest 100), Lisa (first ultra, Masochist 50k), and Bjorn (first race, Reston Youth Triathlon)
Redemption of the Year: (tie) Ashley, Manitou’s Revenge and Cowboy Mike, Richmond start line
New (kind of) WUS Event of the Year: Presidential Traverse
WUS Scavenger Hunt Winner: Garret (runner up: Andy)
* Is Lexi a WUS? She came a couple times. Is Nora a rookie? Technically she started wussing in late 2024. Am I prepared for Adam to mount objections? Bring it.
Other notable performances: Heather (3rd, Fat Dog 120), Anthony (6th, Hellbender 100), Garret (Hardrock 100, top-40)
Best performance, keeping a streak alive: Aaron, Hellgate
Best performance, extracting $100 from Scott Van Pelt: Jaret
Worst performance, climbing the stairs at Atomic Billiards: Mike
Best performance, equine: Poppy
Best performance, race photography: Duy, Beer Mile
Worst performance, race photography: Keith, Beer Mile
Best performance, explanation of dating apps: Seb
WUS arrivals: Duy & the Pacers gang, Brian #3, #4, and #5, Lexi, Peyton, Scott
WUS farewells: Peter, Keavy, Peyton
WUS cameos: HKJ, Kirstin, Nate
Scorecard. 10 of my 16 predictions for 2025 came true.
Mass WUS gathering at Hellbender 100. Hellbender became a Hardrock qualifier this year, bringing Anthony, Aaron, Garret and Peter to North Carolina’s crown jewel century. RD Carrie Barris (my Ride N Tie friend) managed to pull off the race (with an altered course) even after the ravages of Hurricane Helene.
WUS wedding. It’s been a long time since there was a WUS wedding (I believe Aaron and I were the last?). At the Jaret-Lisa wedding, Lisa discovers Martha’s love of dancing, which paves the way for…..
Record number of Wussies attend Mike’s DC rave (but only the early bird 4pm version). Even Heather made it out to twerk at Mike’s “day rave” on U Street, beginning a new WUS summer tradition with appeal to women, speaking of which….
WUS women make a comeback (after their demands are met). For years, women were an endangered species at WUS. Then Barry arrived. In 2025, WUS women not only made a comeback in numbers, but in speed and performance. Speaking of good asses……
Group of intrepid Wussies complete a burro race. Over the years, there has been a lot of talk about doing a Colorado burro race, but not a lot of walk. This all changed in 2025 when Sean finally manned up and lined up some fine Colorado donkeys. Speaking of manning up…..
Another WUS tries ride n tie. Cowboy Mike made his ride n tie debut in bold fashion at the 2025 Ride N Tie World Championship in Cripple Creek, Virginia. On his second day, Mike’s team surprised the field by finishing runner-up in the “Equathon.” Speaking of runner-up…..
Pacers ringer gives Puff a run for his money at the 2025 WUS beer mile. The year 2025 was terrible for the world, but great for Wussies. The Beer Mile was epic, with front-runner drama and puking that hasn’t been seen in over a decade, not since the Neal Gorman-Bobby Gill duels of 2011. The Pacers did not disappoint. But neither did Trevor. Now that the Pacers know what they’re up against, and not to underestimate aging trail runner dads with hernias, expect an even bigger showdown in 2026.
Someone from the Monday night Pacer’s Run joins WUS (once Martha is offered as tribute). Thanks to Duy, “someone from Pacers” turned into a throng. The Beer Mile may have had something to do with this. Peter was an excellent WUS prospect but left too soon for Oregon (classic WUS story).
Aaron runs his 25th consecutive Boston Marathon in April. Aaron also kept his Hellgate streak alive, even in thick snow conditions that Aaron called the hardest Hellgate ever (Aaron would know; he’s done all 23). Before the race, Aaron tipped RD David Horton off that an unseeded Wussies named Lexi was one to look out for. As Horton (and everyone else) has learned, Aaron tends to be spot on.
Martha celebrates Aaron’s achievement a week later by throwing a Beer Mile party he doesn’t want in his backyard. In the spirit of “we all make sacrifices,” Martha invites all the Wussies, even the hot sauce thieves. Because in 2025, everyone gets a shot at redemption. Thanks to Bjorn for stepping up on the awards so there was no need for thievery in 2025. Aaron is still questioning his life decisions after the 2025 Beer Mile thrown in his tidy backyard.
Six 2025 Predictions that never came to pass. Maybe in 2026?
- An epic WUS adventure involving HKJ
- Keith makes a WUS comeback
- Seb finally earns a “real” WUS award by completing his first 100km race (thanks to a phenomenal pacing job by Guy).
- New WUS house
- Nora becomes the new occupant of the Bannockburn party house
- Puff Magic runs a sub-20 hour hundred.
New predictions for 2026.
- Martha keeps trying to get Blueberry Buddies off the ground but boys are hopeless.
- Anthony falls in love with burro racing, adding yet another reason to quit life and become a mountain bum with Sean in Colorado.
- Garret eventually gets his 2025 Scavenger Hunt prize (vegan carrot cake homemade by Nora), but not before winning the 2026 edition.
- Martha introduces a Team Competition (cross country scoring; 7 runners per team, 5 score) to pit WUS against Pacers at the 2026 Beer Mile. Trevor is felled by a city-wide epidemic of foot-and-mouth disease that reaches his twins’ preschool days before the race. The Pacers appetite for a rematch must wait another year.
- WUS brigade returns once again in force to Silverton for Hardrock. Wussies again save Keith’s race after he begrudgingly accepts Martha’s lineup of pacers, but only after a couple rounds of trash talking himself.
- Martha gets more girl action than Mike in 2026.
- Following an award-winning 18-month stint as Martha’s running buddy #6, Mike finally gets ground down by heckling, taunting, and unreasonable demands and passes the baton to #7. The amicable split in no way threatens ride n tie, day raves, or pizza ordering.
