5. Amy Williams wins Skeleton Gold
The winter Olympics have hardly been a success for Great Britain, but this year, Amy Williams won Britains first Gold Medal since Torvill and Dean won gold in 1984, the last individual Gold medal came 4 years before that when Robin Cousins took the men's figure skating title at Lake Placid in 1980.
Williams entered the competition in Vancouver as the Number 2 Skeleton slider, ranked behind Shelley Rudman, the silver medal winner in Turin 4 years previous, but swept aside the competition with a winning margin of over half a second, on a notoriously fast track.
Interest was high in the track event after the track had to be shortened, in order to reduce speeds after Georgian Luge slider Nodar Kumaritiahvili crashed in practice and lost his life, and Williams put in a sparkling performance.
Without any training facilities in the country, it shows what a brilliant achievement it was for Williams, who also won a Silver medal at Lake Placid, New York in 2009.
4. England win the Twenty20 World Cup
Captained by Paul Collingwood, England won the toss and put the aussies into bat, a decision which looked inspired as Ryan Sidebottom and Tim Bresnan both struck early on, along with a run-out, which saw the Aussies struggling at 8-3. Once again it was a Hussey that came to the rescue, this time David, striking 59 off 54 balls before being run out.
Hussey’s contribution helped Australia reach a respectable 147-6 giving them a chance at victory, and when Michael Lumb was caught for just 2 runs it certainly seemed like it was game on, but the big hitting of Craig Kieswetter (63) and Kevin Pietersen (47) took England to within 26 runs of victory, before captain Collingwood, and Eoin Morgan combined to see England through to victory by 7 wickets, with 18 balls to spare.
It was a memorable win for England, and plenty of credit has to go to coach Andy Flower for finding a formula to transform England from perennial under-achievers to world conquerors.
3. A.P McCoy finally wins the Grand National
The world most famous jump jockey had never won the worlds most famous horse race in his previous 14 attempts, something that seemed to be a burden on McCoy, a burden which got heavier after every defeat, but this year he finally managed to pass he post first on Don’t Push It.
Having dominated the sport since first becoming Champion Jockey in 1996, riding more than 3000 winners, but always said that until he won the National he wouldn’t be happy with his career, despite winning almost every big race in the National Hunt calendar, including the Cheltenham Gold Cup, Champion Hurdle and King George VI Chase.
To complete a memorable year for McCoy, he was voted as BBC Sports Personality of the year, taking nearly 42% of the votes, ahead of Phil Taylor and Jessica Ennis
2. The Ryder Cup
After play had been lost early due to terrible weather, the format had to be restructured, and the singles were to be played on a Monday for the first time ever.
Europe went into the singles with the upper-hand needing just 5 points from the 12 games in order to regain the trophy, as they were leading 9.5 – 6.5, and Captain Colin Montgomerie, sent out World number 1 Lee Westwood first in the hope that he would settle any nerves by bringing home the first point of the day.
But Westwood suffered a 2&1 defeat to Steve Stricker, and the U.S began to gain momentum. Dustin Johnson had already emphatically defeated Martin Kaymer 6&4 despite teeing off after the Westwood-Stricker tie, and USA had clawed the scores back to 9.5 - 8.5.
Ryder Cup star Ian Poulter calmed things down for the European fans with their first point of the day crushing Matt Kuchar 5&4, before Rory McIlory appeared to have thrown away an early lead, before fighting back to claim half a point against Stewart Cink to see the scores at 11-9.
When Luke Donald finished 1 up against Jim Furyk, and Miguel Angel Jimenez beat Bubba Watson 4&3 it meant Europe only needed 1 point from the next 6 games to secure victory.
Ross Fisher looked set to be the man who would secure the victory before bogeying the final 4 holes, and losing 3& 2 to Jeff Overton, whilst Tiger Woods clawed back even further by strolling to a 4&3 win over Francesco Molinari.
Phil Mickelson then pulled America back within One point of Europe by defeating Peter Hanson 4&2, in the next game Rickie Fowler won the last 4 holes to finish al square with Edoardo Molinari, keeping the US hopes alive.
In the penultimate game, Zach Johnson defeated Padraig Harrington 3&2 equalling the scores at 13.5 – 13.5.
And so it came down to Graeme McDowell vs Hunter Mahan, a brilliant putt on the 16 from McDowell meant that Mahan would need to win the final two holes in order to finish all square and deny Europe, McDowell won the 17th hole to secure a 3&1 victory and spark wild celebrations.
Captain Colin Montgomerie was clearly emotional at the victory, and the most remarkable of Ryder Cup wins arguably compensated for the Major title he failed to win, that his talents deserved.
1. Coventry Bees win the Speedway Elite League
The speedway season runs from late March – early October, and as late as August 12, Coventry Bees were struggling in 8th place of a 9 team league.
Some shrewd signings saw an upturn in form for the Bees, who managed to qualify for the Play-offs, by winning their final meeting of the qualifying period, with a victory over the runaway league leaders Poole Pirates.
The stunning run saw the team grow in confidence, in the play-offs Coventry faced Peterborough, with the first leg at home against the Panthers, which with 3 heats to go was agonisingly close, with Coventry just 2 points up.
3 maximum heat advantages followed giving Coventry a 14 point lead to try and hold onto as they travelled to the East of England showground the following week for the second leg.
Nerves were aplenty in the ranks of the Coventry fans before the meeting, but they were misplaced, as the Bees attacked from the start and were ahead from the very first heat of the meeting.
Richard Sweetman’s win in Heat 11 secured Coventry’s place in the final, after Number 1 Krzysztof Kasprzak had crashed out, and set up a final against Poole, the team who comfortably finished top of the table.
It was a dream final, the dominant force of the league against the underdogs, who had only lost one of their last 8 league meetings in order to sneak into the play-offs.
The first leg of the final had plenty of drama, with controversial decisions from the referee, and a spirited fight-back from the Pirates after an excellent start from Coventry.
After 8 heats, Coventry were 14 points up, and Poole had just used one tactical ride (where a nominated rider scores double points) on World Under 21 champion Darcy Ward, who failed to score, the Coventry fans were cock-a-hoop with their team seemingly having one hand on the trophy, Poole closed the gap to 10 points after 12 heats, before 2 of the final3 heats bizarrely finished with just one rider from each side.
At the end of the night both sides were happy, Coventry with a twelve point lead, and Poole happy that they had managed to stem the tide after Coventry’s emphatic start.
And so the week later (ironically the same day as the conclusion of the Ryder Cup), Coventry descended on Poole, hoping to secure their third Elite League title in just 5 years.
After three heats Poole had clawed 4 points back, and in heat 4, Coventry’s Captain Chris Harris was excluded after falling off. In the re-run, Polish youngster Pzemyslaw Pawlicki rode a brilliant race, but was pipped on the final bend by Pirates skipper Davey Watt meaning that in just 4 heats, Poole had halved the deficit already.
Kasprzak and Sweetman gained the first heat advantage for Coventry in heat 5, before the turning point of the meeting in Heat 6.
In a clash of the top riders on each team, Chris Holder appeared to take Chris Harris off, with the Coventry rider hitting the deck, before his team-mate Lewis Bridger had chance to take avoiding action he had ran over the back of his skipper, and took a heavy fall himself. See Video…
Both riders lay motionless as a worried silence took over the stadium, Bridger was he first up, and appeared untroubled by the crash, but Harris was still down. I personally felt the crash was bad enough to end a career, I wouldn’t have minded losing the final, but to lose a rider to such a terrible crash would have been hard to stomach, but what happened next was the stuff of legend.
After being down for a fair few minutes, Harris sprang to life, he got up and sprinted back to the pits to get ready for the re-run, the inspiration that sight provided the rest of the team was instantly visible, as riders, and backroom staff seemingly couldn’t believe Harris was up, let alone sprinting back to the pits.
The Re-run was a closely fought contest with both riders putting their bodies on the line and showing no fear as they continuously swapped positions, on the final bend, the Coventry man managed to switch to the inside and burst past Holder in order to take the victory, Harris then went unbeaten for the rest of the night inspiring Coventry to not only win the title, but to win on the night too, which was Poole first home defeat all season.
Victory was sealed in Heat 13, where Kasprzak and Harris collected a 5-1, and further gloss was added to the victory as Pawlicki and Ben Barker secureded another 5-1 in heat 14, before Kasprzak and Harris rounded off the evening with yet another maximum in the final heat.
The spirit and determination which Harris showed after that crash perfectly summed up what I watch sport for, the excellence shown afterwards to then finish unbeaten by an opposition rider only greatened the respect, and admiration for the guy.
Here’s hoping for similar sporting memories in 2011.
Thanks for reading,
Bert
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