If you thought being an umbrella girl was a glam job, you can think again.
How does a 5am start sound? And heels that don’t fit properly? We spoke to Zoe and Alexandra, the Yamaha umbrella girls at the MotoGP Silverstone, to see what a day in the life of a paddock girl is like.
For them it started at 5am when Zoe went to pick up Alexandra, a girl she’s never met before, at a hotel because Alexandra had to be a bridesmaid the day before the MotoGP Silverstone final.
They came to the track, and got dressed here.
It’s not a job where you get pampered by others, but a job where you do your own makeup and hair, grab an umbrella and troop down to the box to have your ears blasted out by motorcycle exhaust systems.
Zoe and Alexandra are both local British girls who found their brolly girl job via a local agency.
They do have day jobs – Alexandra is a make-up artist and Zoe is, in fact, a special needs teacher who is on a gap year from university.
Both have been motivated differently to come to Silverstone as brolly girls.
Umbrella girls live pics silverstone motogp Zoe loves the PR aspect.
As a chatterbox, she’s good value as a brolly girl – friendly, obliging and cheerful.
She actually loves cars and has previously worked at Mallory Park and Donnington.
While not a MotoGP nut, she found the oppportunity of seeing Jorge Lorenzo in the flesh quite exciting.
Alexandra is the British beauty of the couple, with lighter hair and a more mysterious, diffident attitude.
Generally doing more modelling jobs, this was Alexandra’s first time as a brolly girl and she quietly confided that the idea of being on television and the internet was actually quite exciting.
In fact, both girls had told boyfriends and family members, who in turn were recording the race or at least watching the television in case of getting a glimpse.
So what does the overall experience give you? Alexandra and Zoe posed on Rossi’s bike with the “That’s Rossi’s bike!” celebrity influence overcoming them for the moment.
They saw Lorenzo: with Alexandra sailing past and saying ‘hi’ without realising who he was, and Zoe saying “That’s him”.
They stood up most of the day, in short skirts in chilly weather (trying to warm themselves at the pit-box by standing in front of the tyre warmers) and now have sore feet.
But they did it with grace and friendliness, with unending poses and politeness for guys passing and wanting photographs.