Displaying Awards

Over a year ago I had told you about an idea I had in which I utilized a simple tie rack in order to display medals received as awards in events. At the time, the medal rack looked like this:

Medals as of April 2009

During vacation, I looked at my haphazard display of trophies and plaques and decided to do something about those as well by utilizing the space above my work desk. I added in some additional shelving, college style. That meant finding some shelving lying around in the storage room and then utilizing some plastic cups as the base and...voila!

The new look for trophies and plaques.

The Run Only section

The Triathlon/Duathlon Only section

And the medals? How is the tie-rack holding up since April 2009? May be time to get another tie-rack:

Medals as of August 2010

I really like the tie-rack idea for displaying medals. How about you? What method do you use to display your awards proudly and not just be put into boxes! Maybe looking at some other examples will help increase conversation. Let's look around.

We first go to 'Super' Mario Minelli. Mario uses a somewhat cerebral approach to displaying medals. And I like it. First, Mario has a small replica of the Thinker.

Mario Minelli's 'Thinker' statue

He has taken to adorning the statue with his medals as seen below. This is just plain cool. Maybe a statue of the Venus de Milo is next?

Triathlons are a thinking man's game!

Out in Utah, Adam 'The Beast' Beston uses a belt buckle from an IM to support a row of medals. Adam's wife made the display and hung them all up for him. It's nice to be loved.

Notice the big IM belt buckle supporting the row of medals.

Adam cleaned up at the Utah summer games this year.

What Adam likes best about the display is it is easily movable and addable for now. One unusual piece of hardware adorns his fridge. A bottle opener! That's a neat race award and would get a lot of use at any house.

Ye olde bottle opener. That's a 'man' award if I ever saw one.

Then there is Tim 'Buckwheat' Carroll, my former Texas training partner and part of the 1989 Texas State Championship triathlon winning relay team that kicked ass and took names. Tim has boxes and boxes of awards in the attic. He just displays a few things in his office. I can recognize a few from our glory days.

Tim's collection that is NOT in boxes.

Meanwhile, over in the barren & treeless state of North Dakota is a man's personal shrine to race numbers. Steve 'The Mad Monk' Aesoph has a workbench in his garage. Steve tacks all his race numbers and such to it like wallpaper. I really like this idea. Wish I would have thought of it as I have a perfect spot to do the same thing. Instead, I've just been tossing my race numbers. Steve is smart like that, though. He has discarded recording and tracking his training results, doesn't wear a watch when he trains, and has taken to running barefoot. When you think minimalist, think of the Mad Monk.

Steve's race number board

And there you have it. Examples of how to display your race awards and paraphernalia. I want to make clear, this blog entry was not to brag or show off. It was simply a way to give others ideas on how to display these hard-earned items. If you have a photo you would like to share, just send my way and I'd be happy to post as well.

As always, good luck with your training and racing!