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This thread is brill.
Me - I won a random grey sweater from a Tahoe ski resort once for sending my email address in just after email and electronic customer communications became mainstream. I suspect competitions were easier to win then.
Also had some corporate stuff (Apple and Gopro) before bribery and corruption became 'a thing'.
Had some good 'Presidents Club' style awards and holidays from work but they weren't random/take-a-punt prizes.
A Gloworm X1 bike light off this very website. Been a great light, still use it.
Tickets to Super Saturday at the 2012 Olympics, obviously didn’t know it was going to be such an amazing event, had great seats too right on the finishing straight really close to the track.
The competition was to nominate people who should be recognised as an outstanding citizen of Newham (East London) & I won. It was for sporting achievements in spite of adversity raced a few 24’s done GB triathlon in spite of asthma setbacks & broken pelvis & other bones from being knocked off bike & also run a kids bike club at my kids local school In Forest Gate. The ground was thin for this type of stuff back then in Newham. Other people who won tickets were mainly involved in anti gang/youth work stuff.
Giro Xen Helmet from MBR Letter of the Month. It was orange.
Won a Star Wars competition as a Kid, got a limited edition Figure (Think it was the Rancor Keeper)
I won employee of the month then got sacked for fighting in the office.
Easy come, easy go.
I've been quite lucky, I won a Kona ManoMano and holiday to the french alps including entry to an Avalanche cup race in an MBUK DH special when I was about 15-16 - ended up not going on the holiday as racing would have meant a chunky investment in protective gear to race. A couple of years later I won Spooky Metalhead in Grip magazine - still have the Spooky!
I won an iPOD mini on the Walkers Crisps promo a few years ago. It was an hourly giveaway and I was working nights at the time. Won a second one for my ex and a few of the lads at work were succesful too. Don't think I ever used the thing though. Won a DMR Squid saddle signed by Sam Reynolds on a Facebook thing and a Vimtoad Mug. Erm, I think that's it...
I've not won a goddam thing but top of my list would be a Blankety Blank chequebook and pen.
£1000 cash here from a £1 a ticket charity competition bought from a nice woman who was selling them door to door.
Paid a good chunk of the cost of a mountaineering trip to the Alps that year.
I see Quagmire’s cheque book and pen and raise him a speedboat on bullseye
used to win regularly on the local radio quiz phone-in. bit naughty but i sussed that i could cheat the system.
it was back in the days when if the phone was engaged you could press '5' and theyd ring you back. i worked out that everyone started ringing in on the record before the quiz started so the lines were always full. but then they wiped those at some point and opened the lines again. id just ring, get the engaged pips, press 5 and sit back and wait for my phone to ring when they wiped the lines.
won all expenses trip to epsom derby, toffs section with free poncey meal, a trip to one of those days out at an airfield where i drove a tank, had a helicopter ride, passenger in a rally car with a top driver, that sort of thing.
i was on that often in the end i started giving false names and putting on accents 😀
Ha! On the theme of odd prizes, I once won a full cutlery dinner service for a top ten in a road race:
cutlery
I laughed at the time, but years later I use it every day, so it’s probably actually one of the better prizes I have ever won!
I won a full Denby dinner service set in a cross race in Denby once. Still use it now!
Won quite a lot at races over the years, Mountain Mayhem paid a good chunk off my Mortgage over 10 years ;-). Not won anything in normal comps though as I tend not to enter anything. Mum won the national bingo prize at her 1st and only attempt at Bingo, paid for their house!
I won a tour of the McLaren Technology Centre back when they were a top team, the year after Hamilton won the championship. It was a great evening where we could look around all of the recent and historical cars, the race bays where they prepare the cars and open cabinets and draws to play with the tools, under strict supervision of course, change wheels on a car pitstop style, see the wind tunnel. Unfortunately none of the drivers or top people were there but it was one of the best evenings of my life as a big F1 and McLaren fan. Not won anything since.
I got asked to take some photographs at the Big Bang Ball. The bankers were so pissed half the raffle prizes weren't collected so they were put in a hat for the helpers. I walked away with a champagne dinner for two at the Dorchester. Fantastic meal. I was skint at the time (young family) and it was a toss-up between a tip or a taxi home.
MrsPB and I compete in a local mountainbike race series (S Cataluña). The one organised by our village attracts about 250 riders and last years event was pretty lucrative for us. We both won our categories and she won a spot prize which was the weight of her bike in honey! The village has several honey producers and is widely known for it. They actually gave us about 20kg which we've had with our morning porridge for the last 8 months, just opened the last jar.
and it was a toss-up between a tip or a taxi home.
nice taxi ride?
Singletrack water bottle with a sub in it. Never did claim the sub, now I think about it.
I'm geniuinely struggling to remember the last competition I entered, nevermind won a prize from!
Won a O2 competition to spend the weekend with them at Silverstone F1 when they sponsored the Williams team (Damon Hill era) would've been 95-96 something like that. As we lived in Syresham (next village along) at the time and spent quite a bit of time watching the racing at Silverstone it was a bit of a busman's holiday, the VIP passes were cool though
And a flight in the LBC flying eye plane. V early start, and they were a bit suss of my then partner who was pregnant. They were a bit standoffish to begin with, and we later learned (after they warmed up a bit) that most people eventually threw up (not surprised squished into the back of a teeny plane) so they spent most of their days with the smell of sick...they were so genuinely happy that we didn't, they invited us to breakfast!