written by don hamstre of don hamstre team
  
  The awards gala is back again. Exactly three months after the last edition. Timing could not have been better. This time I will not joke about the OCM greats weight gain. And I couldn't joke about that, because they weren't invited. Because we had spent the whole budget at arranging good hotels for our committee meetings, there wasn't any money for a big stadium, the snacks, the drinks and the show. A sober gala, but this doesn't mean the riders were not happy with the trophies they won. What it did mean, is that we had a gala in the shed of mister De Boer, a local farmer who I contacted when the tight budget was announced. Maybe not the best suitable place for an Awards gala, but it was cheap. (and we had a great time in the posh hotels as a committee)
  So no VIPs, only riders and their teams and of course me, the press.
  As I was actually in the committee, I am not going to say they did a good job, because it's obvious they did a good job with me in it, right? But serious, now I have fully experienced the amount of searching you have to put into the nominations, I have even more respect to the guys who do this every season. The people who really decide who wins the awards are of course the voters, so I want to thank them too. But enough of the talking, let's start writing about the gala itself.
  
  The evening starts with the Award for Best Old Rider. Some people may think that oldies can't perform, but the nominated riders really showed then opposite this season. The trophy was presented by Jan-Joost Dussel. (because of our small financial problems some winners from last season had to give their trophy to this seasons winner) With a Germany Tour SC winner, a Cobble Classic hero and a Volta winner there was really a lot of competition. But Jan-Joost had to give the trophy to Goddard Scothern, Telstra. He had been crowned best Tour Rider in season 17, but this trophy really is a crown on his whole career. Four times SC winner of Race of the Minutemen, and lots of stages and overall results in other tours, Scothern is a true OCM all-time great and he truly deserves this trophy.
  
  After the oldies, we go to the Award for Best Young Rider. These riders do not yet have a reputation like their old colleagues. But what they do have, is a whole career in front of them. They will not be nominated for these awards for the last time this season, mark my words! Two Spaniards, a Lithuanian, a Pole and a Belgian were nominated. Normally you would think the Lithuanian would be the weakest, but you would be completely and utterly wrong! Richardas Mikaitas, Nairobi City Cycling Club is the man who wins this award and everyone knows why. He had a great season and won with close to twice the amount of votes as the number two. His speech sounded good too: 'When I was 17 years old and still training at my local Lithuanian club, I was inspired by the success of my fellow-Lithuanian Rytis Kondrotas, who won this awards two times. It means the world to me that I can follow in his footstep and win'
  
  The Award for Best Breakthrough Team was next on the program. Some say I was in charge of the nominations for this category and some say I would have screwed up if my fellow committee members hadn't saved me. But that's all nonsense of course, as I am flawless. The nominees are, Team Genesis, MiDra, Vientiane Cycling, ScotterPop and Limpid. All had a great season in which they reached their best levels yet. All of them deserve this award, but only one team could win it. And the winner is:
  ScotterPop! The team from over the pond has been really active for some time, but they hadn't had much success until this season. But this season showed they can perform at the top. Will they stay there? Only time will tell.
  
  Best Breakthrough Rider is the next category. Mikaitas, Ucinski, Redman, Ryle and Arzu. These riders had nothing to prove at the start of the season, but nevertheless still proved themselves as being able to compete at the highest level. It was a close call...for second

place. Because the winner once again had a very large margin. Mikaitas does it again, making him the first rider to win both Young and Breakthrough Awards in the same season. And the party might not be over yet, as he is nominated for another two categories.
  
  Outside Top Division, there are still lots and lots of good riders. The nominees all had great seasons and therefore big expectations for this award. The Award for Best Rider Outside Top Division is of course the award we are talking about. Four of the nominees will go home disappointed, but the one who's going home with the Award is Jude Evans, Cremtec!
  The beast from the Seychelles had an amazing season, despite being injured for some time. Especially tours were his favourite place to be, as he got only two other results. And we have surely not seen the best of Evans yet!
  
  Cobbling season is almost over as I write this, with Tweedaagse van Antwerpen and Roubaix Classic already decided. But these Awards aren't about this season, so we ignore those races and focus on the stars of season 23. With a true Spanish domination on the cobbles, it isn't a surprise that the winner is Spanish. But which of the two? The Young Gun or the old uncle? Especially for this occasion we thought it would be nice to have a Spaniard presenting the trophy, but we couldn't find an inactive cheap Spanish cobble rider, so we hired a bloke called Manuel from Barcelona, he likes hamsters, that's nice. Y el granador es..... Mauricio Viola, Glamourade! He takes the award for the third time, showing that age doesn't matter if you're just made off pure class.
  
  Hills.. I like them a lot. What I don't like, is that they are really tough to climb. Well, at least for me, because the monsters that are nominated for the Award for Best Hiller all look like they do a 14% hill for fun. This is a relatively young category and it hasn't had much winners. And no new name will be added to the list as the winner is Evan Tomkins, Gradient Levellers. Last season he won two awards, this season he was only nominated for one, but he does win it. You have to be a great rider to still be called the best when you have a season that's not quite as good as normal.
  
  After Tomkins' emotional speech we move on to the next award. Best Time Trial rider of the season is next. It has been a bit of a competition between NCCC and Matrix Team in the most recent seasons. This year was not different. There were other nominees, but it was clear from the start that the winner would be either Sandro Montelbano or Richardas Mikaitas. Will Montelbano win this award for his third time in a row? Or will Mikaitas win his third award of the evening?
  It's Mikaitas who takes the glory! The youngster will surely never forget this evening for the rest of his life. He is the fastest man from 0 to 3 awards and he's still got a nomination for a fourth!
  
  For the Best Sprinter of the season award we had to move out of the shed for some time, because Mr. de Boer had to use it for feeding his pigs. And we would also watch an amazing 500 meter sprint show-off between the nominees. I won't tell who won it, because the riders do not want to remembered to this sprint on mono cycles (budget only allowed one wheel per sprinter), but it was very good fun to watch. The Award was presented by Dussel again (he had three trophy's at home, he could miss one of them) and he had to give it to Tadaki Ko, Hommerts Cycling Team. 'I have been a member of a dubious team in the past, but I hope I showed everyone that I don't need a dubious team to perform. I think the past should be left the past and my eyes are fully focused on next season. I want another one of this shiny trophies!' he said. I think he did say that before, but maybe his concussion from falling of a mono cycle caused it. Still nice words I guess. But he didn't get another on of the shiny trophies this time, because Dussel refused to give his trophy to someone who already has one. And maybe also because it fell into the pigs sh*t when they raced on a cow about who would get them, yes that did really happen.