This year’s Block Party Spectator Contest for the Utica Boilermaker Road Race is going high tech.
In past years, the winning neighborhood has been chosen through use of a noise meter at the post-race party that measured the volume of cheering in the party crowd for each neighborhood. What that method couldn’t measure was the actual amount of enthusiasm during the race.
| PAST WINNERS OF THE BLOCK PARTY SPECTATOR CONTEST |
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2001 — West Utica 2002 — West Utica |
This year, voters will use text messaging, or vote online, in hopes of obtaining a fairer result.
The revised competition will be sponsored by Verizon Wireless.
“Really, all that’s changing is the way we’re voting,” Boilermaker marketing manager Gina Pearce said. “There are so many different people at the post-race party – spectators, volunteers, friends, runners – that they all could participate in the past.”
The four competing neighborhoods are East Utica, South Utica, New Hartford/Yorkville and West Utica.
West Utica has won the competition in four of its seven years. It’s certainly helped that the post-race party where voting took place is located in West Utica at the F.X. Matt Brewing Co.
“It was always intended to be about the runners,” Boilermaker Spectator Events Coordinator Victor Fariello said. “I think this will be fairer and give people a better opportunity to vote.”
Runners can select their favorite cheering section through a text message or by voting online at www.boilermaker.com upon the race’s completion.
Voting will run through midnight on Tuesday, July 15, Fariello said.
The spectator contest was added to the Boilermaker in 2001. The winning community receives a block party, a trophy and – maybe most important – bragging rights for an entire year.
