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2003 Competitor Magazine Endurance Sports Awards A Benefit for Challenged Athletes Foundation Photos by Chris Kostman / AdventureCORPS: Feb 7, 2004
The twelfth annual Endurance Sports Awards was a very special evening organized to recognize a wide variety of endurance athletes while benefiting the Challenged Athletes Foundation. I took eight close friends to this event, held February 7, 2004 at Sea World, because I am always happy to support C.A.F., the Official Charity of AdventureCORPS. The evening started with two hours of free-for-all arcade and circus style games where we all won lots of hilarious stuffed animals. It was a cute juxtaposition to see all these good-looking athletes in tuxes and sexy dresses with armloads of stuffed animals. The awards program was really well organized and was emceed by Bob Babbitt, the publisher of Competitor Magazine and co-founder of C.A.F., along with Mike Reilly, the "Voice of the Ironman." They had a great stage with jumbo screens on both sides. A video montage of the 2003 endurance races in review was played. It included the Kiehl's Badwater Ultramarathon, which we at AdventureCORPS produce, so that was nice, as well as Race Across America, plus all the top triathlons, adventure races, and marathons. There were quite a few awards given, nearly all of them preceded by a one to five minute video clip about the recipient. Truly, it was a very slick and fun presentation. It was particularly neat to be there because 2002 and 2003 Kiehl's Badwater Ultramarathon winner Pam Reed received the "Runner of the Year" award. Additionally, close friend, fellow RAAM veteran, and 1994 Furnace Creek 508 champ Steve Beaver Born was recognized for his recent induction into the Ultracycling Hall of Fame. As we all know, ultra-endurance sports rarely get this kind of mainstream attention. Another highlight was a special award given to Eddy B, the Polish immigrant cycling coach who put American cycling on the map in 1984 and beyond. Many of his top protégés were there to jointly present the award, including Greg Lemond, Alexi Grewal, Rebecca Twigg, Davis Phinney, and many other greats of American cycling from the 80s and 90s. I was pleased to share the AdventureCORPS table with some of the best people I know: Mike Angelos, Paul Sparrow Hawk Biron, Jann Coury, Laurie Hennessy, Ron Jones, and Roy Wallack. Click here for the 2002 Endurance Sports Awards |
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