Personality or popularity?

Last year Andy Murray won the trophy. He thanked the nation for all of their support and he spoke in his usual understated manor as he accepted the 2013 Sports Personality Award. I wouldn't for one moment question his achievements as a tennis player but I was left wondering what part of his personality had contributed to his win? In Andy's case it was clear he was going to take the award after securing that elusive Wimbledon title and he had my vote purely due to his sporting results.

I've been honoured to be on the panel for a smaller sports personality award and the debate comes up time and time again: which is more important, the personality or the results? Is it the background story, the press coverage they've had or the popularity of their sport that sways the vote? I've always argued that it should only be the results for that particular year that do the talking but it is hard to ignore the other influencing factors. With a public vote the personality is naturally a stronger factor so instead should we have a sportsperson of the year award where the results are somehow fairly compared?

This year it was the more popular sports that took the top slots. Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton won the SPOTY title followed by golfer Rory Mclllroy in second. It was, however, refreshing and brilliant to see the lovely Jo Pavey take third place. It's great to see the smaller sport of athletics represented, have a girl in the top three and most importantly to have a down to earth Devonian prove that sheer determination does pay off.

Too cold for a bikini?

I was supposed to be commentating on a beach in Brazil last weekend but instead I found myself in the UK plunging into a pool of iced water. Special Olympics USA originally came up with the concept to help raise awareness of their charitable work assisting intellectually handicapped people through sport; the big difference being the Americans 'plunged' over the summer not on one of the coldest days of the year. I decided it would be cheating if I wore a wetsuit, and thought Christmas attire a little too predictable, so I opted for the other extreme - Hawaiian fancy dress. ‘Character building’ is certainly one way to describe it but more importantly I hope it raised money and awareness of sport for all and it's ability to enhance lives.

Despite dressing in a bikini and sunglasses on Saturday, I've embraced the festive spirit earlier than usual this year. There are a few specific things that mark the start of Christmas time for me but fear not, Black Friday is not one of them. It began last week when I had my first mulled wine, visited the Christmas market and wrote some cards. This was promptly followed by my friend's annual Christmas jumper party which confirms the countdown has officially started.

I’m reliably informed that as a nation we are behind on our shopping this year and I have to confess that I fall into this category. I have been so distracted by the all the festive cheer that I’ve failed to make a start on my own Christmas shopping. This wouldn’t normally be an issue but I’m spending Christmas abroad this year which gives me just over a week to get things sorted. Luckily I’ve never been one to shy away from shopping.

Polar plunge

From thirty two degrees to just two degrees in under twelve hours; it was a chilly welcome home. On my return from Thailand I headed straight into London wearing a summer dress which was not the brightest idea even after purchasing the thickest tights I could find. It was ironic that I'd been invited onto Simon Mayo's Radio Two drive time show to talk about an upcoming event called the Polar Plunge.

I expect most of you heard about the 'ice bucket challenge'. It saturated the world of social media for the latter months of the summer. You couldn't  escape the videos of people throwing a bucket of water over themselves and then publicly challenging their friends. I have to admit I resisted the peer pressure even after being challenged twice; I felt it had lost it's connection to the original concept, become rather pointless and was just too easy. That said, I'm now getting involved in a bigger and better version of this challenge. Allow me to introduce... the Polar Plunge.

The Polar Plunge is the brainchild of the Special Olympics, a charity which helps the intellectually handicapped to compete in sport. Forget a tepid bucket of water; this is on an altogether different scale and involves a container with twenty tons of icy water in which you have to submerge yourself. As if that weren't enough there is another catch - fancy dress is compulsory. As an ambassador I'm struggling to think of ways to excuse myself from this challenge. I wonder if dressing as a deep sea diver or polar explorer would be considered cheating?

Tasty blood

It would have been all too easy to start this week's column by bragging about how fantastic the weather is here in Phuket. Whilst it has certainly been good, I have to confess the first day of the inaugural Beach Modern Pentathlon event was rained off.

As you might have guessed, the Asian Beach Games is composed entirely of sports which can be played on the beach; a slight problem when November marks the tail end of the monsoon season. It only seems to rain in the north of the island for an hour or so in the late afternoon. Unfortunately this is exactly when and where the event I'm here to commentate on was scheduled. After a sensible reshuffle we made the most of the guaranteed sunshine the next morning which resulted in a successful debut for Beach Pentathlon (shoot-run-swim). Maybe next year they can bring fencing and riding to the beach as well?

I decided to make the most of the long flight by extending my stay in Thailand. As soon as duties were over in the north I headed to the south of the island in search of sunshine but more importantly to distance myself from the rainforest and its mosquitoes. I love the food, the people, the climate and the beautiful clear seas but sadly the mosquitoes love me. I'll be coming home with a nice glow, that will probably fade in a few days at this time of year, so the only evidence of my holiday will be the bites all over my body. Believe or not, I actually don't mind the thought of returning to Dartmoor - there aren't any mosquitoes.

Beach games

My rugby bonanza continued this week with an atmospheric charity match at the Rec in Bath in support of the Royal British Legion. Watching the Combined Services against the Barbarians on the day of remembrance reminded me just how sport can raise its head above political agendas and unite nations. We've all heard the spine tingling story from the First World War: the football match held in no mans land during the Christmas ceasefire that epitomises the power of sport. The match last week was another chance to watch a fantastic game of rugby whilst raising awareness of what happened one hundred years ago and how we owe our lives as we know them to those brave men.

It was probably wise that I had a full dose of rugby as I'm now in a country with no interest in the oval ball. I've been invited to Thailand for the Asian Beach Games. There are a huge variety of sports on offer here and unsurprisingly the only balls involved are round: basketball, volleyball, petanque (boules), sepaktakraw (I promise I haven't made that one up) and I could go on. You have probably guessed that I don't qualify for any of these sports, or in fact for the continent; I'm out here to add colour to the event in the form of commentary.

The fact I've not heard of some of these could sound worrying, however, I do know a lot about modern pentathlon and am a fan of the beach which should stand me in good stead for the Beach Modern Pentathlon. With a name like that I'm considering coming out of retirement although sadly it doesn't include my favourite event, horse riding. This is the first year "my" sport has been included in the Asian Beach Games - I'll let you know if it was a success next week.

It could have been an overdose

I like to call myself a rugby fan so thought it is high time I actually headed to a game. I can't believe we are over two months into the season and I've only just managed to watch my first live match. This hiatus hasn't been intentional - there have been no home games that have coincided with my actually being at home. I had some catching up to do and at last the dates played into my hands; in eight days I've seen matches at the Rec in Bath, Sandy Park in Exeter and watched most of the recent autumn internationals on big screens.

I arrived early to Exeter in order to catch the England game at Sandy Park but after an unbearably tense match I began to worry I'd signed myself up for a rugby overdose. If the tension of a top level international clash was too much to bare how was I going to cope with a local derby? Quite simply the combination of live rugby and local rivalry. It was a sellout crowd at the home of Exeter Chiefs where they welcomed Bath, a club they still hadn't beaten at their Sandy Park ground. After an exciting eighty minutes it proved hard work and determination does pay off with the Chiefs securing their second victory over their old rivals in as many seasons.

I just wish I had re engaged with the rugby season a couple of weeks earlier. I was invited to an Olympic pub quiz and presumed the questions would be general knowledge or sport based. It transpired the main sponsor of the event was the Rugby World Cup 2015 and half of the questions were related to the noble game.

Weatherman

I’m conscious it often sounds like I’m obsessed with the weather. I blame this on my upbringing on the moor and the fact that weather is the most British of preoccupations - after all what else would we chat to strangers about? My fascination might well have predisposed me to a career in meteorology but this wasn't to be.
A good understanding of weather systems is essential in sailing as demonstrated on my recent trip to Croatia. We arrived at the beginning of the week to temperatures in the high twenties and bright blue skies which was brilliant unless you were competing in a regatta as there was next to no wind. The racing could not be postponed as this was the National Championships so we set off across the millpond relying on the current to take us in the direction of the finish. A couple of boats had to turn on their engines to avoid running aground on one of the many islands and were subsequently disqualified. Thankfully we made it safely but slowly to the finish line.
The next day there was a decent breeze and good sailing conditions before the arrival of the notorious Bora, bringing with it ferocious winds for which the region is renowned. All movements in and out of the marinas were cancelled and boats had to have extra tethering to secure them in place. Racing was most certainly cancelled. I couldn't believe that just a few days earlier we had been praying for wind.
It seems Hungarians also enjoy talking about the weather. On my way to the airport in Budapest the taxi driver insisted we spoke about nothing else in a quest to improve his English - we got on splendidly.