Written by Don Hamstre of Schiavi di Don
  
  To be honest, it scared me a bit. I am not used to being woken up by about three thousand people shouting ‘Happy Birthday’. Actually, you would have a pretty tough job fitting three thousand people into my bedroom. Then I noticed I hadn’t woken up in my bedroom, but in a room dressed up with banners saying ‘The 25th OCM Awards Gala’ and ‘Happy birthday Don’.
  After wondering how on earth they had moved my bed with me in it from my house to this conference hall, I decided to just let it all happen and got out of bed. A guy dresses as a bear came towards me and gave me a hug. ‘Everyone is here, except for Nick, he couldn’t come, so I am his replacement. I’m not allowed to give you the present I bought until he returns though, so all I can do is give you a hug now’, he said. Although this did disappoint me slightly, the next announcement made me forget about the whole incident all together.
  
  One of my committee members stepped up on the stage where my bed had swiftly been removed, and started speaking ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, we have gathered here to congratulate The Don with his 20th birthday, and as our collective present, we present to him, the 25th OCM Awards Gala!’
  Oh no they didn’t. But alas, they did. Imagine the amount of useful presents I could have got from three thousand people. Now I had to watch some stupid show for about two or three hours and act like I like it. This must be the worst birthday present ever. But I’ll stop complaining and just tell you who won.
  
  The first category of the evening was The Sieuwerd Schimmel Trophy for Best Cobbler. Gilles Untereiner (V02maXXers) won the Award after an impressive season in which he finished 12th in the Rankings.
  
  The Gregory Levis Trophy for Best Time Trialer didn’t bring any surprises either, as Florian Everaerts (Andeby) was by far the best scoring TT’er this season. He won with over double the amount of votes any of his competitors got.
  
  Next up was The Truman Vancil Trophy for Best Hiller, and Max Falco (Optimus Prime) has won it for the second season in a row. He beat the winner of two seasons ago, Sam Duncan, with 128 points to 107.
  
  Talking

about winning multiple times in a row, The Jan-Joost Dussel Trophy for Best Sprinter could see a five in a row for Bongo Longo. It doesn’t however, as Clayton Storrs (English Sprinting Team) has dominated the sprinting scene this season and gets a deserved victory.
  
  The Sterling Dorsher Trophy for Best Climber however, does see it’s winner of last season take the crown again. Ludvig Kristiansen (Avataria) finished first in the OCM Ranks and deserves recognition for another great season.
  
  A short break followed, in which a choir called ‘The Grumpy Old Men’ sang ‘Happy Birthday’ for me. Saying it didn’t liven up my mood would be an understatement.
  Maybe The Elias Márquez Trophy for Best Tour Rider would. Farruco Alonso (PEKAC B) makes it two in a row as well, after some impressively consistent scoring in Germany, Vuelta and Essex. Sortland was seen leaving the building with a sack full of vomit. Maybe he had a bit too much of the free drinks already.
  
  Time for The Ian Defley Trophy for Best Old Rider got a very close score, only 6 votes in between Henrik Aronsen and Karl Hall. It’s Aronsen (DCM) who takes the prize, and he seems pretty stoked with it. At least someone is happy with his day.
  
  The Award for Best Young Rider didn’t make the evening more exciting, as Storrs racks up his second Award of the day. He didn’t even have to leave the podium, as he makes it three with
  The Award for Best Breakthrough Rider.
  
  I always like The Award for Best Breakthrough Team though, as the winners are usually a lot less smug than those Top Division big shots. Saint Lucia made an impressive rise up the ranks and is a deserved winner. The smile on his face nearly made my day, but then I saw Sortland entering the room again still holding his bag of sick, and my mood was gone again.
  
  The Award for Best Rider Outside Top Division got an Hungarian winner with Flórián Ákos (mapei bianchi). Try typing that about 20 times without doing the Á wrong. The life of an Awards Chairman can be quite hard some days.
  
  Ákos is still easier than Euzebiusz Jastrz?bski though, so luckily he didn’t win

The Äme Anderberg Trophy for Best Rider of the Season. It was a Storrs vs Kristiansen battle, and to the surprise of many people across the world watching our live stream, Kristiansen won it. I hadn’t mentioned the live stream before, but being watched by people from all over the world while having a bad hair day didn’t make my day any better.
  
  Only three categories left though, so my agony would end soon. The Award for Best Manager Outside Top Division had many familiar faces as nominees and was incredibly close, with only 18 votes between first and last place. Only three other categories had less than 18 points between first and second, so this was a very close match. Eli of Equipo Easy On proved to be most popular though and he finally gets to add another Award to his impressive collection of past seasons.
  
  The Award for Best Manager of the Season had turned into a drinking contest between Chris Fabio and Sortland, who couldn’t recover from his earlier puking accident and lost on both the drinking contest and the Award. King Chris still rules in OCM land.
  
  Sortland has another shot at an award though,as our final Award of the evening would be The Award for Best World Tour Manager. It was the Norwegian that one, with Bermuda in second, although they both agreed that Burundi should have gotten more votes and maybe even win. Sortland was entering the overly confident stage of drunkenness though and he grabbed the Award violently before running off into the wall. Free drinks on the Awards Gala proved not be the best idea ever, as most of the managers and riders in the room had been drinking a bit too much and the Sortland incident ended up in a huge brawl.
  
  After twenty minutes of fighting, I managed to find Maffia, who ended the fight quickly. Soon what was left of the guests went home. The guy dressed as a bear was last to leave. ‘One more thing’ he said while slowly moving towards the door, ‘The bill is on you, I though seeing all of us would be enough of a gift already’. He was very wise to run off to his bike, because encountering an enraged Don is not the best thing for your general health. All in all, it wasn’t my best birthday ever. There will be vengeance, so see you next season on the OCM Awards Gala!