Newly crowned Female Athlete of the Year, Kiera Aitken, was all set to collect her award in person last Saturday night at City Hall Theatre – but was thwarted by the weather.

She had flown to New York from her training base in Barcelona and was about to hop on the flight to Bermuda when bad weather forced the flight to be cancelled.

So instead of picking up the award herself, she flew all the way back to Spain with her mother, Mary-Beth, accepting the trophy on her behalf..

But the three-time Athlete of the Year took it all in her stride.

"It would have been nice (to be in Bermuda at the Annual Sports Awards)," she said yesterday from Barcelona. "I was supposed to be there but I got stuck in the storm in New York."

Aitken was back in Bermuda over the Christmas holidays and after a short break, returned to Barcelona to resume training.

Looking ahead to this year the two-time Olympian said her main focus would be to peak at the Commonwealth Games being staged in New Delhi in October.

"This year that is the important event for me. I don't really know what other meets I will be going to but I definitely want to go to the Spanish Nationals in August and December," she said.

And while she would like to compete at the CAC Games in Puerto Rico this summer, Aitken said: "I don't think I can make them because the (Spanish) Nationals are around the same time."

The Commonwealth Games this year will be the third for Aitken – a former star at Dalhousie University in Canada. She first competed at the Games in Manchester, England in 2002 and then in Melbourne, Australia in 2006.

Aitken has also competed at the 2004 Olympics in Athens and the 2008 Olympics in Beijing as well as in two Pan American Games and a couple of World Championships.

While back in Bermuda in December, she talked about the tough and sometimes lonely world of constant training.

Admitting that it can be tough training all year long, she said: "I get tired all of the time and I wonder why I keep doing it. But when the big competitions are on that is the point in the year where you really get inspired and motivated. During the year away from competitions it is hard to keep going. But when I get to Beijing (Olympics) or Rome (World Championships) it makes it all worthwhile."

Last year saw Aitken become the first Bermudian female to break the one-minute mark in the 100 metres backstroke when she set the new record at the Spanish short course Nationals in Madrid, where she also broke a host of other records.

She set her first record in the 50 metres back with a time of 27.72 that netted her a bronze medal.

Next up was her main event, the 100 metres back where in the preliminaries she became the first Bermuda female to break the one minute mark with a time of 59.87.

In the final she lowered that time to 59:31, and then rounded out the backstroke events with a 2:09.09 in the 200 metres in which she took two clear seconds off the previous record.