This year's competition featured 26 strong entries. Judging was done in 2 rounds. Each club entered is required to provide a reviewer who would evaluate web sites of 10 other clubs. Results of this review are used to select the top 6 large and top 6 small club web sites for final judging. Finally, each clubs reviewer whose club made it through the first round was asked to review all the other clubs to determine "top sites", the top 3 large and top 3 small clubs.

The highest scoring Large and Small web sites were awarded "best club web site" recognition and will receive awards at the RRCA convention.

Eligibility

To be eligible, sites had to be current RRCA clubs with web sites listed on Jan 1, 2007. They also were required to have a link to the RRCA from their home page.

Judging Criteria

Judging is done in each of two categories, small clubs with 250 members or less, and large clubs with over 250 members.

The judging criteria are listed below.

• First Impression
• Layout/Graphic Design
• Ease of Navigation
• Use of Technology
• Depth of Content
• Up to Date
• Uniqueness/Personality
• Contribution to RRCA

Here are this year's winners:

2008 Large Club Top Sites (listed alphabetically)

• Dallas Running Club, TX
• Lake Grapevine Runners and Walkers, TX
• Oregon Road Runners Club, OR

2008 Small Club Top Sites (listed alphabetically)

• Community Running, MA
• Lake Merritt Joggers & Striders, CA
• North Jersey Masters, NJ

2008 Best Large Club Web Site

• Oregon Road Runners Club, OR

2008 Best Small Club Web Site

• Lake Merritt Joggers & Striders, CA

The Best Site awards will be presented at this year's RRCA convention in Cincinnati.

Comments

Thanks to all the club reviewers for their help looking at the pages. Without the help of these reviewers, it would be impossible to reduce the judging job down to anything manageable. Most reviewers commented on the quality of this years entrants and said they had learned a lot. So we can expect next years entrie to be even more impressive.

Here are a few hints if you want to be in the competition next year or just want to improve your own site.

• Take a good look at these 6 examples, their structure, layout and content.
• Look deeper into how some of these sites are implemented and the new technologies available.
• Test your web site thoroughly and on different web browsers.
• Make sure your site is "up to date" with dated material systematically replaced or removed.
• Support the RRCA by using links to RRCA content such as Footnotes, syndicated RRCA news and calendar feeds, by posting your clubs events in the RRCA event calendar and listing the RRCA on your links page.
• Have a Copyright page and a Privacy Policy for your web site.
• Add a search facility for your site.
• Try to capture the personality of your club and show it up front.

Warren Finke RRCA webmaster