The onset of a new year is traditionally a time for reflection, both looking back and looking forward. For some reason, though, all that reflection seems to culminate in the creation of top 10 lists. Lists of resolutions for the new year, the best and worst dressed of the past year or, our favourite, the top 10 news stories of the year.
This year’s list was compiled based on what you have been talking about and reading on our website. As we assembled the list, we were a little surprised at how it was shaping up.
Perhaps predictably, tragedy tops the list; a pair of dramatic events that shook the community, with the fire that razed a Penticton landmark, Slack Alice’s, to the ground topping the list, followed by the tragic drowning death of 12-year-old Ida Holt. And the group trying to lure Westjet to the community got another tribute to the effectiveness of the campaign, as that story fell into third place.
Our first surprise came with what we might have ranked as the top story of the year, the end of the city’s 30-year relationship with the Ironman race, and the start of a new relationship with the Challenge Family long-distance triathlon. However, it’s important to note while the article on Penticton’s final Ironman landed in fourth spot, a few hundred views shy of the second place entry, three other stories on Ironman and the Challenge more than doubled the number of views and pushed the story to the number two spot on the list.
But what’s more surprising than the Ironman story not coming out on top of the pack is the stories that didn’t make it into the top 10, like the Vees’ amazing record-setting streak of 42 wins.
That certainly takes the top spot on our list of surprises. Perhaps people were too awed watching the team win game after game on their way to a national championship to talk about it?
Whatever the reason, the Vees’ incredible season gets a top spot on our list of things we will remember 2012 for.