On the back of the thread about online competitions, has anyone actually won anything more than a few quid or know anyone that has?

I have entered a few competitions over the years and am an occasional lottery ticket buyer and have never won anything more than about £10.

A friend did win a Radio 4 competition once – he got a widescreen tv, a laptop and a phone IIRC.

Won a ski trip a few years ago. That’s about it for anything major

Won a full XT groupset in 2008 including wheels on a competition in the ST mag, was gob smacked I won. Built up into a very nice hardtail I still have with the original components going strong.

The top prize in my primary school Xmas raffle in 1983 I think: a Dragon 32 computer😲

Also won a 12inch of Eric B and Rakim from a phone in on fresh start to the week… might actually be worth something if I ever find it again.

I once won a full set of top end cymbals, shipped to me from the US. I was quite happy. That’s about it.

The top prize in my primary school Xmas raffle in 1983 I think: a Dragon 32 computer

Very decent price, they were quite expensive at the time!

Win a bundle of PedalED cycling gear on a road.cc comp.

And won a trip to Lego land as a kid as well.

Trip to new zealand for a bike race thanks to nofuss

Bad planning for me was it was in middle of uni finals. Made it work though

won an xbox one just after they were released in a raffle

I’ve been quite fortunate. I won a Kona ManoMano back in 1996 as well as a holiday to France to race an Avalanche cup through an MBUK DH special – couldn’t actually go on the holiday as I needed to spend a fortune on kit to be allowed to race. Was already right into mountain biking at that time (I was 15) but having a good bike like that properly solidified my love of the sport.

About 2 or 3 years later I then won a Spooky Metalhead frame through a competition in Grip magazine, perfect timing as I ripped the front end off the Kona not long after! Still have the Spooky hanging up in the garage.

5kgs of cheese at a track meet at Herne Hill velodrome – that’s a substantial pile of cheese.

Once won, well, kind of cheated but technically it wasn’t cheating, more figuring out their online game and because it was very difficult I was able to repeat the application and with the result adjust my next try until I got every answer correct! I reckon I was the only one who did this and therefore won!

This was a national newspaper competition online back in late 2002, with Skoda being the sponsor!

I won and got a VIP Skoda trip all paid for to the Swedish Rally, even better was I got to sit besides Toni Gardemeister on a shake down stage prior to the start! Proper ice stage on full spikes, unbelievable experience, and that comes from someone who raced cars and has driven many Koenigseggs. Toni was on form that race and even finished 8th.

Guess online comps are more clever nowadays as I’ve not won since lol.

One of my work colleagues – car in a radio phone in competition. Mitsubishi Charisma IIRC, long gone now.

Sister in law – professional chefs to come and make a decent meal for 8 at her house. I got the benefit of that one too.

Me – pair of POC kneepads in the Tuesday Treats competitions that were on here some years ago. Two left knee pads supplied. 🤣 (TBH, it took me quite a few rides to even notice, and I still wear them)

All expenses paid trip to watch England vs Argentina in the World Cup in Japan courtesy of Barclaycard. About 72 hours of mayhem I’ll never forget, don’t think I slept until the flight home.

I won a Christmas cake once, it was an incredibly substantial 4ft by 4ft.

The wife won £4.5k a few years back on the postcode lottery.

2 steaks in a pub raffle  I never entered when I was 12?????

Yeah I don’t know, my parents ate them too, never got a look in (although being a shitty village pub in D&G they were probably leather)

I won 5k worth of car audio equipment many years ago including a bespoke installation. Other than that just a few quid here and there on the lottery.

I’ve won a carbon Hope bar and a torque wrench and tubeless kit in the Christmas giveaway on here. Other than that I won a massive Construx kit in a drawing competition when I was about eleven.

bloke who lives next to us won £84m on the euromillions.

Never see him.

I won an all expenses paid wine tasting for two to Tuscany, accompanied by a Master of Wine, to some pretty decent vineyards.

I won a brand new BMX Burner in a local car dealership’s colouring competition when I was about 10 (1984).

Oh, and I got my letter published in the Beano a couple of years earlier.

Pretty heady stuff!

I won the Mountain Mayhem Christmas Comp one year – a bit like the Singletrack Mega Sack. One of everything – was about £800 of bike bits and accessories. A lot of it still in use.

I won a week bike holiday in the Pyrenees – it was a fixed date and no flights. It was the week we moved England – Scotland, and we were broke. I asked them to pass it on to another entrant.

We also won £1k on the PostCode Lottery.

I won an all expenses trip to Spain from Continental (tyres) to drive a bunch of fancy cars for a week and stay at a flash golf resort in 2017.

https://www.continental-tyres.co.uk/car/stories/performance/black-chili-driving-experience

All I did was send in the receipt for a tyre I bought. Cracking trip and coincided with my 40th birthday too.

The love of my darling wife

Won £100 from £2 scratch card.

£600 on the football pools once. Was skint, straight out of uni, and coughed up for 1 line each week for the season on a special offer for about 30 quid. Totally random, had no idea of who might be likely to get score draw or whatever it was back then, and just put the right number of X’s in the grid for that stake.
Quit while I was ahead.

My parents won a cruise once just from sending in a finished crossword from the paper. I doubt they ever sent off more than 1 or 2 ever.

5kgs of cheese at a track meet at Herne Hill velodrome

I wouldn’t call a mid-afternoon snack ‘a substantial prize’

Nope.

Surly Krampus Frame and Fork at Tide to Tide for getting closest to the Magic Lap time.

Had a heart attack and got 115k payment for critical illness cover.
A win is a win
Easiest 115k I’ve made 😂

Friend of a friend won £1m on a scratch card.
My best is a bottle of wine, in terms of prize value anyway.
Won a pretty major event and got a trophy and a round of a applause 😁

Top end treadmill, couple of track days, a few freebie cycling things like socks, caps,etc.

I won the Universe raffle, how f****** amazing is just being born and i live within walking distance of a pub and the beach.

‘Won’ Tony Blair’s autobiography in a work raffle. Still to’enjoy’ this fabulous prize!

Son won full GCN Castelli – FreeAero shorts and jersey plus a short sleeved Gabba.

Doesn’t sound like much until you add up the costs.

On the flip side of the question, I was ‘given’ a holiday to give away as a prize to help promote a not for profit event I was organising. A one week holiday at a Neilson Watersports centre for two people including flights and equipment hire. I felt like I had won when the email confirming it came through! Sadly the people ticked the ‘no publicity’ box so I never got to meet or chat with them which was a shame.

I won a champagne dinner for two at the Dorchester, substantial when you’re brassic.

Won a full shopping-trolley’s worth of groceries from the local supermarket. It was mostly own-brand, but still got eaten 🙂

And a couple of t-shirts and a graphic novel from a 2000AD competition. Not very substantial, but much appreciated.

I’ve won a bunch of inconsequential stuff over the years. Vouchers, games, nothing large jumps to mind.

I won a Christmas cake once, it was an incredibly substantial 4ft by 4ft.

Very very thin, then? (-: