BRITISH CYCLING ANNUAL AWARDS 2012
After receiving tickets for the British Cycling Awards I was quite excited! It’s not something that I would normally get invited to but being the 2011 U23 National Mountain Bike Champion it was expected. I have been before; 3 years ago when I won the National Mountain Bike Series as a Junior rider.
The awards ceremony was held at the Hilton Hotel in Birmingham, so not a hard place to get to…..so I thought!! The weather conditions in Plymouth compared to Birmingham was out of this world!! It took 2 hours to get from Bromsgrove (where my parents and I were staying) to The Hilton at the NEC; what was meant to be a 20minute journey turned out a lot longer than anticipated. We got stuck in the snow on a hill and then crashed in to a curb on another road; things weren’t looking too great!
To be honest I was expecting to miss getting my award and turning up all hot and bothered. Luckily the call up for National winners was after the main meal; which we arrived just in time for! I was really nervous about walking up in front of all the other cyclists on to the stage, where EVERYONE could see you. When it was my turn, all I kept saying to myself was ‘please don’t fall over in these heels!’, I just kept smiling and walking as best as I could!
All the award winners had there photo taken around the back of the main hall (as shown above); most riders looked different without their kit on- it was quite strange seeing familiar faces scrubbed up nicely in suits and dresses!
It was a really nice evening and enjoyed mixing in with other cyclists I only see in photos or on the BC website.
Even after driving through the traitorous conditions to and from the awards, it was well worth the journey.
By Carla Haines
2011 U23 National Mountain Bike Champion
WXC World Racing.
No comments:
Post a Comment