 |
| Louise C |
Battery
Gardens –– home to the Flyers Awards Gala –– may have been the highlight of the year on the Flyers Social Calendar,
but on Thursday March 7th, Hard Rock Café was the venue for the biggest night
of the year for the broader running community, when the New York Road Runners
(NYRR) hosted its annual Club Night to recognize and honor the outstanding
achievements of all its athletes and clubs. Despite the miserable weather
outside, Hard Rock Café was on fire with glamour, cheers and team spirit to
beat the band
As hundreds
of runners took refuge indoors, rain boots and coats were discarded to reveal
cocktail dresses and shiny shoes, with everyone eager to get checked in and
photographed (nothing like standing in front of a camera in Hard Rock Café with
a picture of Central Park behind you to make you feel like a tourist). Inside,
the posters, guitars and rock star memorabilia for which Hard Rock Café is known
was out in abundance and the atmosphere was electric. Of course, it didn’t take
us Flyers long to find each other in the sea of bodies working their way
through the crowd. With their well-earned medals around their necks, our four
nominees were center of attention, and we wouldn’t want it any other way!
 |
Our 4 Flyer Nominees:
Pat D, Shevaun T, Lauren P and Fran B |
After an
hour or two to catch up with friends, take a trip to the buffet table and cash
in our two free drink tickets, the awards ceremony began. The top teams of
2012 in 10 different age categories were brought to the stage to receive their
well-deserved awards from NYRR President and CEO Mary Wittenberg, Senior Vice
President of Event Development and Production Peter Ciaccia, and Club Council
liaison Ro Crispin.
The fine showing of Flyers that came out to celebrate their
fabulous teammates, were not shy about making themselves heard as they
announced New York Flyers third place in the Women’s 60+ Team Award Category, the first mention of the evening
for the club. As the awards rolled by and we got to the Runner of the Year
Awards, tension mounted as we waited to see how our four nominees would do in
each of their respective age groups.
Pat D did a fine job representing the
Flyer men as the only male nominee from the club and one of four nominees in
his age group. Our youngest nominee and rising star, Lauren P, did us
super-proud and took home the trophy in the Women 12-14 age group, again to no
small amount of cheering and clapping from the Flyer contingent!
 |
| Lauren P with her Award |
Next up was
our super-speedy (yet forever modest) Shevaun T, who took another one for
the team, being one of no less than six nominees in her age group. Shevaun had
an incredible year in 2012 and has always been so encouraging of those of us
who look up to her!
 |
| Shevaun T and Pat D |
To top it all off,
the grand Flyer finale of the night came when Fran B brought home
the second trophy of the night for the team, winning the award
in the Women 70-74 Age Group. Needless to say, there wasn’t a single Flyer in
the room who didn’t have red hands and a dry throat when we were all done
cheering for these inspirational women. And congratulations to all of our Senior Veteran women Flyers –– they won the 3rd Place award for the Flyers!
 |
| Fran B Receives Her Award! |
All
throughout the evening a fabulous selection of shots and videos were displayed
on the fine stage, with many of our own making some very impressive appearances.
Karen H appeared in a great shot at the MORE Half Marathon and Shevaun was seen blazing across the finish line at the 5th Avenue Mile. The program
also featured a great shot on page 4 of Victoria S.
With so many of our
teammates there to support and celebrate the achievements of the club and most
especially our nominees, the pride and joy we shared was palpable. What an
amazing achievement it was for them all to have their names in the program as
nominees, being chosen from such a huge pool of very competitive runners in
this big running city of ours.
 |
| Some Happy Flyer Nominees and Supporters Strike a Pose :) |
As the last
award was handed out and the winners were congratulated by friends, family and
friendly rivals, the stage was cleared and the dance floor opened, ready for
the music and dancing to kick off and take us into the final part of the night.
No better way to continue the celebrations than by busting some moves on the
dance floor with running friends, a nice change of pace from pounding the
pavements together.
While I am sure it went on well into the wee hours of the
morning, I decided to call it a night once I heard there were some Flyer
friends headed for the Upper East Side. With
the umbrella at the ready, I left feeling very content that I got my money’s
worth for the $50 admission fee!!
-Louise C
0 comments:
Post a Comment