Great Vegan Athlete of the Year 2012
By baldy on Mon, 12/03/2012 - 11:59
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Patrik Baboumian
Professional strongman and strength athlete, Germany.
This year has been great for Patrik, and by extension veganism in Germany and worldwide. After becoming vegan a year ago Patrik took it as his mission to use his position as the Germanys Strongest Man to speak out about veganism and plant based diet at every opportunity.
He was able to get a lot of media coverage across all big german newspapers such as Bild and FR, numerous TV interviews and features and so on. Worldwide he has used his athletic achievements to break the myth about animal products and strength and muscular size through various vegan media, and as an Iranian-Armenian has also featured in BBC Persian programmes twice to talk about veganism.
Sports achievements during 2012 include winning GPA European Championships in RAW-Powerlifting with two world records in 125-140kg bodyweight division, world record in the Keglift 150kg and Fronthold with 20kg for 1:26m. He was the reigning Germanys Strongest Man from 2011, placing third this year, but also winning the log lifting german championships with 170kg.
Meagan Duhamel
Canadian pairs skater Meagan Duhamel fulfilled a lifetime ambition by winning the Canadian national Gold in January. Skating with Eric Radford, their score of 129.19 places them among the top teams internationally. 'Golden Skate' website described their routine as ‘magical’ and said the score could have been even higher: “With a tight landing on the throw triple Salchow and a downgrade call on their triple Lutz combination, Duhamel and Radford could have still topped 130 points—a true benchmark of excellence—but they were definitely not about to split hairs over their score.”
Later in the year they competed in Skate Canada, an international event, finishing second to a German pair. “We wanted to get 60 for components from our long (program) by the end of the season and we just started with 62. It’s huge for us. Last year, when we skated our very best, we barely got (a total score of) 120. And now, we didn’t skate our very best – it was still good - and we’re at 126.”
Following the win she spoke to the press about her decision in 2008 to turn vegan. Next year they plan to improve on their fifth place in the World Championships, and have targeted a top three place.
Andy Lally
Before the years started Andy already had won the GT class of the Daytona 24 hour more times than anyone else already. The sport is prominent across America, with the Daytona 24 hour event ranking as the most prestigious of victories.
The 24 hour team event relies on quick driver changes, endurance and of course, driving skills. In January this year Lally won again in a tight race in which his team did not lead until later stages. Their driving was described as ‘error free’ in their #44 Magnus Racing Porsche GT3. Coincidentally the team finishing second also included a vegan.
Andy also successfully defended his Streetluge world title in Canada.
A passionate vegan, Andy urges everyone to look to go vegan. “If most people were able to see the mistreatment of these animals at factory farms and what goes on behind the scenes before it shows up to them in a nice shiny package they would be sick. Its very easy to find on the internet, stop pretending you cant find it and look it up."
Fiona Oakes
In January 2012 Fiona was already a world class marathon runner with top ten places at high profile events and the record for the fastest women’s marathon in the Arctic circle.
In April 2012 she undertook one of the toughest events available – Marathon des Sables. The event covers 154 miles of sand dunes and stony tracks across the Sahara desert in temperatures of 51 degrees, carrying clothes food and water.
Fiona cares almost singlehandedly for hundreds of animals at Tower Hill Stables. Days before the race a horse stood on her foot and broke two toes. She pressed on with the journey to Africa and the massive undertaking.
On day one another runner collapsed behind Fiona. Fiona responded by going back to help, later carrying her up the hill before running for help. The additional exposure to heat and extra effort took their toll. She also suffered a terrible allergic reaction to her socks which caused swelling to her legs and blistering. She continued with the event, which included an 81km night/day stage and some of Africa’s highest sand dunes.
Fiona was emphatic that her motivation for completing the event was to prove the conditioning that can be achieved on a vegan diet, and wore her Vegan Runners vest. She was interviewed on Sky Eurosport TV and in a number of magazines.
Sarah Stewart
Sarah was part of the Australian Paralympic team as a key member of the wheelchair basketball team. Vegan since age 16, the Philosophy teacher made the national team just two years after taking up the sport and has been selected, and played in, every Australian team international since her first Australian team selection in 2003.
After medals in two previous games, Sarah’s team saw success in the group stages. In the quarter finals they secured a 62-37 win over Mexico, one of the highest winning margins of the competition.
The semifinal against the USA proved extremely tight and was eventually settled by a single point as Australia won 40-39. The German team met them in the final which proved hard fought but slipped away from Australia who had to settle for Silver again.
At National level she was named in the ‘All Star’ five as one of the league’s top players.
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