Monday, January 3, 2011

Jettribe Team USA Meets Princess of Thailand!

December 5, 2010 was a day that Jettribe Team USA would never forget. The weekend in Phitsanulok, Thailand for the King’s Cup was memorable enough for our racing team, but it would only get better on the last night of the races. What an honor it was just to be able to see the Princess of Thailand, Ubolratana Rajakanya, present the King’s Cup awards to the Pro riders; but that wasn’t good enough for Jettribe president Tony Vo. The always ambitious Tony was not satisfied with just seeing the Princess from a distance…he wanted our team to have the honor of presenting one of our Team USA pit shirts to the Princess personally. We weren’t sure if we were going to be able to pull it off (considering all of the security and military that surrounded the building where the awards were held), but Tony was determined for us to meet the Princess and, sure enough, he made it happen!

After the Princess was done presenting the King’s Cup awards to the Pro riders we were quickly escorted outside and we stood along the red carpet waiting for the Princess to exit the building. As we waited for the Princess there were photographers and camera crews everywhere, and they all had their lenses focused on us! When the Princess came out to greet us we respectfully bowed before her as we were given the honor to present her with one of our Jettribe Team USA pit shirts. We expected her to walk away from us as soon as we had given her the shirt, but we were surprised to find that she was very polite and engaging and took a few minutes to speak to us. It was easy for us to see why the people of Thailand are so fond of the Princess!

Princess Ubolratana was born on April 5, 1951 in Switzerland and is the oldest daughter of King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Queen Regent Sirikit. Although she is not in line for the crown (due to the fact that she married an American in 1972) she is still loved and adored by the people of Thailand. The Princess takes part in royal ceremonies and even has an acting career. She presents the Pro awards for the King’s Cup every year and we were so honored to be the only race team to personally meet her and present her with a gift from the US. This will certainly be a trip that we will never forget!

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