I suppose every group of elite sportsmen has its "special night". For Australian Rules footballers there is the Brownlow, for cricketers, the Alan Border Medal, for cyclists the undoubted highlight of the cycling year is the Warby Riders Awards Night. In its short, but extremely distinguished history, previous winners of the coveted award include the cycling legends Dennis 'smokey' Dawson and Bob 'Crasher' Lewis.
With the expanded membership list the experts were evenly divided over who might take out the prize this year. While many experts favoured the old war horse Peter 'superlegs' Warren, there were many others who favoured some of the bright new stars including Lothar 'Lex' Rockmann and Johnny 'come lately' Ruigrok. And who could not have been impressed by the efforts of 'Little' John Dawson? It was even possible that Cheryl Leary could become our first female "King". The only thing all the experts could agree on was that John 'hooters' Seamons had absolutely no chance whatsoever.
The advance planning for the Awards Night took a great leap forward when Lex offered us the use of his summer palace for the evening. "We have seating for 50 people, right next to my Olympic pool", he explained. As the guests arrived all the male members soon realised that the choice of venue could have been a serious mistake. Lex's incredible gardening and building prowess soon set an impossible precedent for all the other males to live up to.
Sitting down at the royal banquet table to feast upon choice meats (from Lex's own game reserve) and exotic salads (from Lex's vegetable gardens) we had ample chance to watch the rare fish (in Lex's impressive fish pond). I began to wonder if there was anything this guy couldn't do. After racking my brains for some time, I had a comforting idea - maybe he doesn't (yet) have a web site. With my pride thus restored I was able to settle down to enjoy the rest of the evening.
After the first course the business part of the evening started with a quick review of the past 12 months.
Some highlights
included
(a) membership growth from 10 members to 15 members (including our first overseas
member).
(b) very successful overnight riding weekends at Wangaratta and Bairnsdale.
(c) successful completion of the Around the Bay ride in October.
(d) a large number of other riders who rode with us for the first time during
2004. These included Dave Keys, Mat Doswell, Tom Alford, Geraldine, Steve &
Jenny, the 2 "St Kilda girls" and Alan Ward. We could not understand
why none of these have ever come back for another ride with us.
After the secret ballot for the King of the Warby Trail Award, the presentation of minor awards took place. These awards included the following
Most Improved
Rider Award - John Dawson
King of the Mountain Award - John Ruigrok
Least Disciplined Rider Award - Mal Doswell
Most Valuable Team Rider Award - Peter Warren
Settlement Rd Sprint King - Bob Lewis
Biggest Legs Award - Peter Warren
Least Improved Rider Award - John Seamons
Most Spectacular Progress Award - Lex Lothar Rockmann
Most Spectacular Crash of 2004 - Cheryl Leary
Rising Star Award - Richard Dodd
Best Female Rider of 2004 - Cheryl Leary
Following the announcement of these Awards, there were a number of clever novelty awards presented by Mal and Peter for a variety of misdemeanors and character defects exhibited by various members. This gave a valuable time to settle the nerves before the announcement of the Major Award.
As expected, the voting was very tight but no-one was too surprised when the overall winner was announced. I think everyone agreed that Peter Warren had thoroughly earned the Trophy. Although he had completed an exemplary 12 months in the club and had been a supportive riding companion and valuable bike mechanic when things went awry on a ride, I suspected that the main reason he got the award was because of his 'biblical legs'. I suspect that the trophy will find its way into his shop window, right under the Avanti sign.
The remainder of the evening was spent eating, drinking, planning future rides and rubbishing Peter (and did I mention eating and drinking ?) As I cast a final envious and incredulous glance around Lex's garden I asked him if he needed some blackberry seedlings planted in his vegetables - after all, they are the only plants I seem to be able to grow without any problem.