Olympic Champion Alistair Brownlee was awarded the Olympic Athlete of the Year Award and GE British Triathlon Male Elite Triathlete of the Year for the fifth successive year at the British Triathlon Awards.
In what has been Britain’s most successful ever year in the sport, the men’s Olympic Triathlon Team of Alistair Brownlee, Jonathan Brownlee and Stuart Hayes collected the prestigious Peter Holmes Award for Inspirational Performance in International Competition.
Alistair Brownlee delighted hundreds of thousands in Hyde Park, and inspired millions more with his dominant gold medal-winning performance this summer. On an evening designed to celebrate outstanding success, over 400 guests stood to recognise the Olympic Champion and triathlon’s six Olympians.
He said: “Until the Olympics I never understood it when someone would say it takes a while to sink in, but it’s definitely taken a while to sink in. I didn’t know how I would feel when I crossed the finishing line because it’s a dream I’ve had since I was eight years old, but it’s finally sunk in now and I’m ready to move on and achieve some more targets.”
“I’ve never had the chance to race in the Commonwealth Games, so I’m looking forward to that and lots of other new things.”
Meanwhile, Helen Jenkins was recognised for the best ever Olympic finish by a British woman following her fifth place finish at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Jenkins finished fifth in the dramatic London 2012 women’s race that resulted in a photo finish between Switzerland’s Nicola Spirig and Sweden’s Lisa Norden. She was awarded the GE British Triathlon Female Elite Triathlete of the Year award, which also recognised her winning performance at the ITU World Triathlon San Diego.
She said: “It’s been strange to see all the footage tonight from the Olympics; I’d not watched it until now. When I reflect back on it I can’t help but feel so happy that I was there and got to enjoy the brilliant support we had there. It’s a once in a lifetime experience, it’s amazing.”
2012 has seen exceptional success for British triathletes with Jonathan Brownlee claiming the ITU world title last month. Non Stanford became the ITU U23 world champion and Leanda Cave was crowned Ironman world champion in Hawaii. In addition, Britain has five ITU Paratriathlon World Champions.
GE Great Britain Age Group Teams continue to dominate in international competition around the world, and participation in triathlon continues to boom.
A full list of Award winners can be found below:
British Triathlon Annual Award Winners 2012
Olympic Athlete of the Year – Alistair Brownlee
GE British Triathlon Female Elite Triathlete of the Year – Helen Jenkins
GE British Triathlon Male Elite Triathlete of the Year – Alistair Brownlee
British Triathlon Female Elite Junior Triathlete of the Year – Georgia Taylor-Brown
British Triathlon Male Elite Junior Triathlete of the Year – Gordon Benson
GE British Triathlon Female Elite Long Distance Triathlete of the Year – Leanda Cave
GE British Triathlon Male Elite Long Distance Triathlete of the Year – Stephen Bayliss
GE British Triathlon Female Elite Duathlete of the Year – Lucy Gossage
GE British Triathlon Male Elite Duathlete of the Year – Mark Buckingham
British Triathlon Event of the Year – CELTMAN
Tata Steel British Triathlon Female Paratriathlete of the Year – Faye McClelland
Tata Steel British Triathlon Male Paratriathlete of the Year – Iain Dawson
British Triathlon Female Age-Group Triathlete of the Year – Peggy Crome
British Triathlon Male Age-Group Triathlete of the Year – Roger Witz Barnes
Leigh Day & Co. British Triathlon Volunteer of the Year – Aimee Stocker
Leigh Day & Co. British Triathlon Official of the Year – Sarah Taylor
Leigh Day & Co. British Triathlon Coach of the year – Andrew Bullock
Peter Holmes Award for Inspirational Performance in International Competition – Men’s Olympic Triathlon Team (Alistair and Jonny Brownlee, Stuart Hayes)
Gold Pin Awards: Catriona Morrison, Jack Maitland, Glenn Cook, Dave Bellingham, John Lunt and Andrew McBarnet
