The End of Season Award ceremony. It is with a slightly blurry eye and gently throbbing head that I start to write the report on the end of season “do”. The venue was the Long Island Hotel in Rickmansworth, which was a last minute booking on account of the Revolution bar double booking the evening. However the staff at the long Island were very helpful and quickly had the venue sorted prior to the event. The teams and attendees arrived throughout the day and were all present and accounted for at 7pm for the start of the presentation. For the first time Daniel Fowler-Prime hosted the evening himself with help from Laura Adair and Thomas Kilroy. He started the evening with a quick rundown on the season, and produced some very interesting figures,- an estimated 212,000 spectators watched horseboarding live over the season; £6000 prize money was won over 750 races; There were 18 days of competition; 14 teams registered and 8 events were held to find one National Champion. He went on the say that next year (2014) was looking even bigger and better with 9 sponsored events already confirmed and one more possible. He finished this with a note that more may still be added, and all this in the face of trials and tribulations that threatened the future of horseboarding as we know it. After listing the dates and venues for next year (to be announced shortly) it was time for the first award. This was a Season “sew on” badge featuring the Horseboarding UK logo and the words “National Championship 2013”. This was given to every person who took part this season,in any capacity, so Daniel started by listing the people who could not be there, their achievements and how they had helped Horseboarding UK. The absentee list was quite long but no one was left off and a round of applause was given to every name on the list. The same was done for all the attendees and their contributions fully recognised. Following this Dan went on to talk about the challenges faced and overcome during the last twelve months and the importance of the “Battle of Thame” (Round 1 of the 2013 season) to him, personally, and to Horseboarding UK. With a short video and a reading of a, slightly altered, St Crispian’s day speech from Shakespeare’s Henry V. Daniel announced the next award. “The Band of Brothers” for all attendees of Round 1. The following presentation was another unexpected award. In every battle there are heroes and the Battle of Thame was no different. So for services to horseboarding above and beyond the call of duty, for competing in circumstances that nobody would have questioned if she had not even made it to the event, Charlie Buss was the first ever recipient of Horseboarding UK’s “For Valour” award. This pin designed on a medal, held the HBUK logo and the inscription “For Valour” and was introduced by Daniel as the highest award that anyone can receive from HBUK. Dan described Charlie’s contribution to horseboarding at that event as truly heroic, and hailed her as a future horseboarding God! After a short break for an extensive buffet,(and a couple more drinks), Laura Adair took the stage for what she had described as a 15 minute poem. This poem, which was verging on genius, documented the 2013 season from Round 1, up to the evening’s event itself. It took the form of a power point presentation, and had everyone laughing out loud every couple of lines. In true Laura style, some of it was close to the knuckle, and some was controversial, but all was taken in the good will with which it was meant and 45 minutes (!) later, the room erupted into a prolonged applause. Laura had summed up the season and taken us all on a journey of remembrance, the highs, the lows, and the really cold shows. This was one of the best presentations I have ever seen and I look forward to hearing next year’s contribution. We are waiting for a copy of the poem to be edited and hopefully published by Horseboarder Magazine. Now for the serious stuff - the awards that the season has been all about. It was time for the Best Spank award. There were four nominations from Ross Towner from his season of mega crashes, but in the end the award went to Tom Kilroy and his unbelievable crash at the Royal Norfolk Show Ground, which saw him pinned under the permanent arena fencing, before having even crossed the start line. It took three officials and two members of public to free him. The second award was for the Best Bruise. It seemed only fitting that Dan, Tom and Laura wanted to start this award by looking back at one of the best bruises in horseboarding history, Ross Towner’s 2011 entry. This was put up, of course, just to show what the current nominations were up against, and not at all to embarrass Ross by having his ass once more on the big screen. The Nominees were: Rachel Painter-Oliver from the newly formed team W.O.W. Her entry was from a practise session and was the classic bum bruise. Laura Adair, who earned her bruise while doing some practice at the Dead Pigeon camp. This was a nasty bruise on a very swollen and broken ankle. But the Winner of this most coveted award was Christie Webb, who earned her bruise / burn on a photo shoot in Norfolk. All the judges said it was a very hard decision to make, but in the end Christie’s determination to carry on despite the clear damage she was doing to herself to get the shot, was worthy of such an award. Then to the really serious stuff – The Best Horse Award. This award is given to the horse that has earned the most points throughout the season. In Third Place after a season plagued with injury and inconsistency was The Dead Pigeon’s horse Naboo. In Second Place, (she looked as though she might run out the winner at the beginning of the season) Do or Die’s horse, Amber. And in first place,- despite not being able to compete in the last two events – achieved by only dropping a single point in the first five rounds – Kauldren’s horse, Jack. Not bad for a £300 off the side of the road trotting pony! Horse Rider Championship -This is given to the horse rider with the most points from the season. Third Place went to Bre Buss from Kauldren (in spite of having to miss a few competitions). Second Place went to Mellissa Kaye from Do or Die. First place, for the second successive season went to Charlie Buss from the Dead Pigeons. Boarder Championships - This goes to the board rider with the most points over the season. Third place went to Daniel Fowler-Prime. Second Place went to last year’s boarder champion, Tom Kilroy, who stayed on stage to hand over the First place trophy to his competitive rival Ross Towner. Team Championships -The individual team with the most points earned of the season. Third place. Do or Die with 31 points Second Place – Kauldren with 35 points first place – making them only the second team ever to win two championship titles in a row - the Dead Pigeons. (You may be wondering how can some teams and team members have different points at the end of the year. Well in horseboarding you only need two elements of the registered team to be classed as that team. So if you change your horse, rider or boarder you can still compete under your registered team name. Each member, Horse, rider and Boarder also earn points individually. So if for some reason any individual element competes with another team, they will still earn points for the rider, horse, boarder championships. This is why no team has won across the board this year.) Although many would have thought that this was enough for an evening’s awards, as the clock ticked towards 10 pm Daniel went on to say that there was one more award to be given out. For the last two years this award, the Horseboarding Legend award has gone to horses who have made a massive effect on the sport of Horseboarding, but are no longer with us. Thankfully this year there was no need for a posthumous award to be made, so it was decided that a Living Legend award would be given. The recipient of this was, of course, the Dead Pigeon’s horse Naboo. He won the best horse, team Championship, fastest MPH (37.1) and fastest time(8.22) in 2012. This year his presence on the track was almost god like in the way it commanded respect from all other teams and spectators. He broke his own record at Norfolk with a 37.7mph (sadly faulty timing equipment failed to record the time set). Recently he broke the 40 mph barrier by 0.2 mph in practise. He also pushed his team to a much deserved victory after a very shaky start of the season due to injury. Charlie has said that “unless he is horseboarding, he is a very grumpy horse and does not want to do anything else.” There is no doubt in our minds that he is the most successful and one of the largest horse characters competing today and we hope his racing career is far from over. With that, a quick round up of the evening and the season, and a few last thank you’s, the trophies were stashed away and the celebration party began. It was a friendly, joyful affair, in which the new team members form WOW and Sunny Side Up really got the chance to meet the whole group. The drink flowed and the talk of techniques, tactics, races won and lost, training programmes, boards, and who would be riding with who next year went on late into the night. All present had a great time - and although, with the quality of the company, I did not feel as though I had drank that much, two days later my head still hurts. Guess I was wrong! Already we are looking to the next season and hope that you will join us for the 2014 National Horseboarding Championship.
Posted on: Sat, 02 Nov 2013 07:54:03 +0000