DC's AZ wins Markus Cook Award...congratulations

Andy Zalan, from 2006 perverts invitational in DC. photos by demoncats

from tour LeMond:


Congratulations to Washington DC's own Andy Zalan, race organizer, messenger, tricks master...nice work.
This comes from Joe Hendry of messmedia.org:
"The International Federation of Bicycle Messenger Associations (IFBMA) is pleased to announce that Washington DC messenger Andy Zalan has been awarded the 2007 Markus Cook Award. The Cook Award is given annually to bike messengers who best represent the camaraderie and community spirit of the international messenger community. In the past year, Andy set up the Destination Dublin race series in Washington that enabled several DC messengers to travel to the Cycle Messenger World Championships in Dublin, Ireland. His annual bike messenger calendar is a tribute to those who work day in and day out.

However, beyond Andy’s accomplishments of the last year, lies a decade long history of community advocacy and bridge building among American and European messengers. Andy is one of the founders of the District of Columbia Bike Couriers Association, one of the first organizers of alleycat racing in Washington and he brought the world to his city as host of the 1998 Cycle Messenger World Championships.

Andy has been instrumental to the continued success of the CMWC and is a critical component of the international messenger community. In his nomination for the award, veteran Swiss messenger, Luk Keller accurately summed up the international messenger community’s appreciation of Andy Zalan:

"He never loses the spirit. He unites every aspect of what I like about messengers (he’s uncomplicated, he can race, he can party, he's good-looking, he's smart, friendly, badass...helpful) and by being the way he is he unites the messenger mob with the messenger snob."

With all this in mind, the IFBMA and previous Markus Cook Award winners are pleased to welcome Andy to the list of winners."