The British Triathlon London Region Awards party took place on Friday 26th January at Thames Rowing Club in Putney. The party was hugely successful with over 80 people from all London Region clubs getting together at the event to chat over a few drinks. London Region chair, John Petrides, opened proceedings by introducing the new London Region Development Officer, Ebony Blake who took over the role from Tim Weeks in January.

The 2006 awards for the London Region volunteers were made by Jasmine Flatters, outgoing chair of the BTA, with presentations to: James Beckinsale as Coach of the Year, Alan Spelling as Referee of the Year and John Petrides as Volunteer of the Year. Sunil Gopalan, director of Hedgeweek then presented the awards for the Hedgeweek Triathlon League 2006. The Hedgeweek League winning club was Ful-On Tri Club, with Thames Turbo in second place and Serpentine in third. Cash prizes of £5,000 were rolled down over the top 12 clubs in the League with £1,000 going to the overall winner, and coaching awards for the winners of the B League (Ful-On Tri Club) and the C League (Serpentine).

Following the tragic news of Dave Aitchison’s untimely death last week, Ful-On Tri Club dedicated their award to Dave’s memory whose wins at the London Triathlon and London Duathlon had bolstered the club’s score to top place. The £1,000 is likely to be donated to a trust fund in Dave’s name, details of which will be announced in the coming weeks. Met Police Tri Club have also graciously offered to donate their winnings (£325) to the trust. A minute’s silence to remember Dave was held after all the award presentations were made, after which the party itself got underway. Ful-On Tri’s notorious staying power for party events was surpassed by members of SLH Tri Club, newcomers to the London Region and last to leave!

Details of the race series, rules and scoring system for the 2007 Triathlon League together with a breakdown of the 2006 Hedgeweek League results have now been posted on the Triathlon London website: www.triathlonlondon.org