2018 Hero Cup Awards Dinner

2018 Hero Cup Awards - RAC Club Pall Mall January 18^th 2019

After eight demanding and exhilarating 2018 classic rally events, ten deserving recipients were awarded their prizes. The HERO Cup, The Golden Roamer Award and a selection of Special Awards were presented at a glittering ceremony on Friday.

Set in the fabulous surroundings of the RAC Club in London, befitting of the heritage connection to the best in classic rallying, the Chairman of HERO events Tomas de Vargas Machuca thanked the Chairman of the RAC Ben Cussons for hosting the event and then proceeded to expand on some fascinating statistics that took the winners on such an adventurous and challenging journey.

“We acknowledge you’re efforts in competing in the 2018 HERO Cup and Golden Roamer Award for navigators and decided to analyse the real achievements they represent. 242 different drivers and 323 navigators represented 22 different nationalities. Drivers rallied 7,200 miles across five countries whilst on eight different events. You survived 202 regularities and 102 tests along the way!Navigators had to decipher 2050 pages of instructions with an average of eight instructions per page, resulting in approximately 16,400 tulip instructions, maps, and Jogularity sheets over thirty days of rallying. It was never disclosed how much beer was consumed in the bar! In all, we had 530 starters, of which 461 finished and 69 retired or broke down. That gives a finishing ratio of 87%, impressive figures. Given the stats, it gives me even greater pleasure in acknowledging the feats of our winners, we at HERO salute their efforts and superb achievements.”

Special Awards for their invaluable contribution above and beyond their Chief Marshalling duties, were given to Chrys and Judith Warboys and also to Ian and Susan Butcher.

The top three Navigators in the 2018 Golden Roamer Award finished incredibly close, showing just how competitive the 2018 season has been. In third place was Peter Johnson scoring 137.25 pts. Second overall went to Elise Whyte with 140 pts, continuing her impressive climb up the navigators ranking. But the Golden Roamer overall Award winner 2018 was Ian Canavan, scoring 144.75 pts over the season to capture the award.

When presented with the award Ian said;
"It was very tight, Elise was leading all the way until Le Jog – Elise and I had a great year, we enjoyed super camaraderie, but she had work commitments and couldn’t make Le Jog! I had to win three legs of Le Jog to win the Golden Roamer and Paul had to win five legs. I was bricking it! We couldn’t make a mistake! I made three, one of which was mistaking a symbol and we ran out of fuel. Luckily the third car through the regularity gave us some fuel and then it ended up with us having to put the car on its side to try and shake the fuel through! The real luck came with a marshal’s 4x4 though, it helped us out and we made it through! Le Jog was the pinnacle, but from event to event we never discussed the awards, Roamer or Hero Cup.”

The HERO Cup 2018 for drivers was equally close with Stephen Owens scoring 126.25pts. Daniel Gresly just pipping him into second place with 128.50 pts. But the jubilant and deserving winner of the 2018 HERO Cup was Paul Bloxidge finishing with 135.00 pts. Paul Bloxidge was absolutely thrilled to receive his huge Hero Cup as the overall winning driver.

“It was only when I saw our Porsche on display inside the RAC Club that I realised the enormity of what we had achieved. Ian Canavan has been brilliant! Over the entire season he has missed just three timing points! His diligence, attention to detail and preparation have been faultless. His ability with the maps is remarkable! Our low point was another none finish in the Classic Marathon right on the back of failure on the Malts. It was a £2.40 VW part! But the highs were crossing the line in John O’Groats on Le Jog, knowing we had achieved golds and being one of only two crews to clean the incredible night section in the Ardeche! I also want to thank Howard Warren for coming to our assistance, selflessly lending us his orange 911 Porsche for an event which helped us to achieve these great awards. Thank you to everybody at HERO, all the crews, organisers, sweeper teams and the incredible marshals. Thank you also to Guy Woodcock for the amazing competition work and making such superb events.”

HERO Chairman Tomas de Vargas Muchuca and Managing Director Patrick Burke both thanked and acknowledged the support of the event. Partners, Gutzwiller & Cie together with EFG Private Banking and the contribution of the Classic Yacht Experience provided the first prize of a week sailing for the HERO Cup winners.

They saved their major thanks for the incredible Competition and Organisational staff lead by Guy Woodcock and Brain Whyte respectively for their efforts in putting on such high-quality events on an international basis. The entire HERO team received as warm applause as the prize winners themselves.

In addition to receiving their prestigious trophies for winning the Hero Cup and Golden Roamer awards, Paul Bloxidge and Ian Canavan were presented with the wonderful original pictures you can see below, beautifully created by artist Stefan Umdasch.

Watch the video by clicking HERE...