Glitz, glamour and awards galore - RYA Powerboat Racing Awards 2015
More than 50 awards given to powerboat racing's creme de la creme
Saturday 07 February marked the annual RYA Powerboat Racing Awards Ceremony where the crème de la crème of the powerboat racing world come together to celebrate their 2014 season success and get their hands on the coveted trophies.
Over 200 racers, friends, family and supporters made their way to the Novotel in Southampton for the glittering event where a staggering 50 plus awards were presented to some of the most successful racers of the preceding year.
“The Powerboat Racing Awards for extremely important as they recognise the achievements and hard work that all the teams and crews put in to their race season”, commented Jeni Jelf, RYA Powerboat Racing Manager.
The evening’s ceremony was hosted by Grant Harrison, who has been involved in the world of powerboat racing for many years as both competitor and team owner, alongside Ruth Morse, well respected official and former Lancashire Powerboat Club Commodore. Ruth and Grant were joined by special guest, TV personality Tiff Needell, well known for presenting shows such as Top Gear and now Fifth Gear.
Throughout the evening a number of awards were presented to some of the younger racers on the circuit, including the likes of Ben Jelf, Jessica Stoneman and Thomas Mantripp, who have demonstrated skill, passion and determination to clinch their winner’s titles.
Ben Jelf
“Youth racing is becoming even more popular and the standard is phenomenal. It gives a really strong sense of a great future for the sport”, commented Jeni Jelf.
There were also a number of surprise presentations during the evening including Kayleigh Priestly who was awarded the RYA Anne Robinson Best Newcomer Award, leaving her extremely shocked, surprised but absolutely delighted. While an emotional Ben Morse claimed the BJ Noone award, alongside his RYA PGP F4s British Championship, RYA PGP F4s Sprint Championship and RYA British 0850 speed record of 100.05mph, that made him the 77th member of the exclusive K7 club and the club’s youngest member.
Special thanks go to award sponsors Powerboat GP, Peters & May and new award sponsors Your Print Partner. “It’s great to get everyone together; racers from all the classes all in one room for one night; it’s been fantastic”, commented Stuart Maclaren, Your Print Partner.
2014 Champions
| Trophy |
Recipient |
| RYA British 200 P1 AquaX Champion |
Damien Evans |
| RYA PGP F4s British Champion & RYA PGP F4s Sprint Champion |
Ben Morse |
| RYA British Zapcat ZCR50X Speed Record at 44.13mph |
David Finlayson |
| RYA PGP GT15 British Champion |
Thomas Mantripp |
| RYA Anne Robinson Best New Comer |
Kayleigh Priestley |
| RYA PGP GT30 Sprint Champion |
Jessica Stoneman |
| RYA GPA British Club Champions |
Jacques Vermeulen & Pierre Vermeulen |
| UKOBA Sword of Honour |
Asif Rangoonwala & Powerboat P1 |
| RYA British Zapcat ZCR50X Champions |
David Finlayson & Ashleigh Finlayson |
| RYA PGP O/Hydro British Champion |
Wayne Turner |
| RYA British Thundercat P750 Pro-Stock Team Championship |
Team 33 |
| UIM World & RYA British Portland-Rockhall-Portland Record - 1,422nm in 53 hrs, 29 mins & 52 secs |
Richard Reddyhoff, Ed Gilliver, Jan Falkowski, Mike Townshend, Sebastian Coulthard |
| RYA PGP T850 British Champion & RYA PGP T850 Sprint Champion |
Bill Owen |
| RYA Ian Stirling Memorial Award |
Paul Mahy |
| 2014 RYA British 0850 Speed Record at 100.05mph & K7 Gold Star Recipient |
Ben Morse |
| RYA V24 British Champion |
Dan Priestley |
| 2014 RYA British 3A Speed Record at 70.95mph |
John Guille |
| RYA British Thundercat P750 Pro-Stock Driver & Co-Driver Champions |
Bligh Julius & Charlie Hatfield |
| RYA PGP GT30 British Champion & RYA PGP GT15 Sprint Champion |
Ben Jelf |
| RYA British Zapcat ZCR50 Speed Record at 43.53 mph |
Simon Matthews |
| BJ Noone Award |
Ben Morse |
| RYA British 250 P1 AquaX Champion 2014 |
Duncan Johnstone |
| 2014 UIM World & RYA British S1000 Speed Record at 70.45mph |
Sam Whittle |
| RYA Class 3A British Champions |
Kevin Edmondson & Annika Hawthorne |
| RYA Offshore Sponsorship Award |
Vahid Ganjavian |
| RYA P1 250 British Champions |
James Norvil & Christian Parsons-Young |
| RYA Marathon B British Champions 2014 |
Peter Dredge, Simon Powell, Mal Crease |
| RYA PGP F2 British Champion & RYA PGP F2 Sprint Champion |
Paul Balfour |
| UIM F250 European Champion |
Wayne Turner |
| UIM GT30 European Champion |
Ben Jelf |
| UIM 3A World Champions |
John Guille & Tom William-Hawkes |
| RYA Tony Needell Award |
Sally Windsor |
“A huge thank you to all of our champions and guests that attended the 2014 RYA Powerboat Awards Ceremony. The evening was an outstanding success and thanks to the generosity of everyone who attend we raised over £3,000 for The Red Lipstick Foundation. Thank you to you all for your support and we are already looking forward to celebrating again with you all next year”, concluded Jeni.
Visit the RYA Powerboat Racing Facebook page for images from the evening.
For more information about RYA Powerboat Racing visit www.rya.org.uk