Festive 500 2011 - The Winners

The voting is over and we can now reveal our winners of the 2011 Festive 500. It was a remarkable event, with the cumulative kilometres of all riders reaching somewhere close to 1.5m. Not only did we see a lot of distance covered but the volume and quality of the films, photography, illustrations, and writing (and even music) astounded us.

The large number of entries meant that inevitably we’ve had to overlook many worthy riders. It’s also been brought to our attention that there were some discrepancies in voting. We would like to clarify that the decision of the Rapha judges is final and so, without further ado, here are our winners and notable mentions (in reverse order, naturally).

Notable mentions:

Brendan Housler, receiving 668 votes and contributing some images of what looks like a very frosty New York state.

http://bit.ly/wxqdKc

Johnny Crash, the man from the Merchant Navy who completed the challenge on a stationary bicycle onboard his ship’s rather modest gymnasium. He was also nursing a snapped tendon in his hand.

2011rapha500.wordpress.com

We should also give a big hand to Johnny Nettles. Whilst Mr. Nettles acquired the most votes or ‘likes’ in our shortlist (1,780), we were unable to clarify the number of views of his well-conceived film documenting his 500km. A great effort, however, with illustrations to boot.

http://bit.ly/yzB8AP

The Lanterne Rouge:

Last place - but certainly not least - and our Lanterne Rouge for the 2011 Festive 500 goes to Brian Johnsen and his Diary of an Epic, riding the 500 in the heat of Southeast Asia and receiving 5 votes. He will receive a very special Lanterne Rouge Cap.

http://bit.ly/zRa1KK

The runners-up:

Bicicleta Bells – The song that’s been in everyone’s head since early January created by Mr. Richard La China. It won a huge amount of votes and we were very impressed that Richard not only created this highly original serenade and video, he also risked his legs riding in Tijuana. Well done. Richard receives a Classic Softshell in his colour choice.

http://bit.ly/wLzTVq

Cycling as a Metaphor – Whilst the cycling in this entry presumably stands for “Ouch, that hurt”, we can only doff our caps and bow to the man Ryan McKay. Not only did Ryan ride the 500-plus kms to his parents’ house for Christmas (we all know how taxing visiting the folks can be), he managed to do it in one day. Massive respect to Ryan, he also wins a Classic Softshell of his choice.

Top of the podium:

Congratulations to Henrik Öijer. Henrik bagged a very strong number of votes (1,257) and impressed us with a) the very wintry conditions he faced in Sweden i.e. riding in snow and ice, and b) a fine selection of photographs documenting his travels. It appealed to our own sense of intrepid riding and the beauty it can bring. Bravo Henrik, you are the 2011 Festive 500 winner. Henrik will receive a 2012 Trek Madone 6.9.

http://bit.ly/wJvZLg (Swedish)
http://bit.ly/wahZP9 (English)

Once again congratulations to all that took part, thank you for your efforts and happy riding to even more kilometres in 2012.