RRtY awards

Welcome to another Randonneur Round the Year Award – the prize for riding at least one 200km (or longer) Audax ride at BR/BRM pace per month for 12 consecutive calendar months. It can be started at any time, and riders can have more than one RRtY series running concurrently, starting in the same or different calendar months.

This consolidation report of the last two years of RRtY series additions and updates brings the received claims up to the start of the validation suspension period due to Covid-19.

The last two years have seen more records broken for RRtY claims. Since Arrivée Winter/Spring edition 139 we have 223 new names (members claiming their first, in some cases multiple series) and 152 who have completed one or more additional series, in a total of 605 validated series. This brings the total number of award holders to 952. For the full roll of honour see https:// audax.uk/results/rrty-roll-ofhonour/ where there is also a link to the claim form.

The validation is based on individual rider results lists, although “special adjustments” are permitted. For example, by default a ride spanning more than one month is taken as belonging to the start date month, but can be claimed by request for the finish month as long as at least 200km at BR pace has been completed in that month. LEL 2017 triggered that adjustment with 23 members requesting LEL to be counted for August.

Of course, we can’t escape the impact Covid-19 has had on Audax and ride validation. I hope that by the time you read this report we will once again be riding at least 200km validated rides and beginning to accumulate months to your next or first RRtY series award.

To view latest news about the RRtY validation resumption and rules see this page https://audax.uk/ awards-pages/randonneurround-the-year/rrty-andcovid-19/

Mark Agar Paul Alinejad Margaret Allison Will Armitage Tim Arnold Christopher Ashford Roy Ashman Edwin Bartlett David Baston Les Bauchop Phil Beed 2 Charlie Beresford Dean Bicknell David Bishop Paul Bolton Gary Bray Vanessa Bridge 2 Keat Brigham Clive Brooker Andy Bruce Julie Bullen Paul Bullen Tim Burdon Paul Burnip Asif Choglay Nick Cleaton Stuart Clitherow Phil Collard Laura Collett Claire Cooper Peter Crawley Kate Culleton Matthew Cunningham Tristan Davene Arthur Davis Adrian Dean Michael Denton Dave Dodwell Michael Donaghy Sarah Dowden John Duggan Robert Duncumb Stephen Eason Bruton Elizabeth Jeff Ellingham David Elliott Yasmin Emerson Jason Evans Robert Fargo Russell Filby Vicky Ford Andrew Foreman Claire Francis Julia Freeman Sarah Freeman Ulrich Freyburger Simon Galaway John Gallagher Alison Gardner Amey Gokarn Mark Goldstein Andy Goodman Steve Grace Hugh Grainger Amanada Grant Ben Granter Don Gray Jonathan Green Alex Greenaway Michael Greer David Gregory 3 2 2

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2 Keith Griffiths Anthony Grimes Byron Grimes Blair Hafford Mark Harding Thomas Harding Steve Harrop Tom Hatton James Hawkins Paul Haxell Philip Hay Simon Healey Neil Henn Ian Henry Nigel Hicks Chris Hodges Ben Holmes Peter Horne Mark Hudson Grant Huggins Mike Hughes Richard Iddon Dmitry Ilchenko Mark Jacklin Pete James Eleanor Jaskowska James Jinks Sheni Jiwa Duncan Johnston Geoff Jones James Jones Rob Jones Rob Jordan Julian Joseph Henrik Kaiser Sally Kelly Vince Kitley Christopher Knox 2

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2 Mark Kowalski Adrian Lai Richard Lake Grace Lambert-Smith David Lane Spenser Lane Gary Laver Nigel Leech Clare Liley Carl Lister Peter Lockey Peter Loveridge Ron Low James Ludlow Paul Mabley Daniel Mahler Andy Martin Robert McCready Jake McCreedy-Evans Sara McLoughlin Helen Millier Richard Mitchell Jane Moore Allen Morgan Julian Morgan Keith Mount Geoffrey Mowatt Kelly Murphy Jo Nevin Mark Nicholson Denise Noha Colin Norcup Debbie Norcup Jonathan Nunney Simon O’Gorman James O’Neill Richard O’Sullivan Tony Oakley 10 Clare Parkinson Jamie Pearson Sarah Perkins Ian Perry Andrew Phillips Hugo Pile Antony Pollard Nic Pow Julian Pring Julian Prokaza Graeme Provan Sharon Puleston Tim Puleston Ian Pullen Matthew Radford Edwin Raj Jonathan Reed Kevin Reed James Rees Chris Regan Cheryl Reid John Reynolds Phil Richards Mark Richardson Fiona Ridley Jocelyn Ridley Marcia Roberts Craig Robertson Neil Robinson Andrea Rodgers Peter Rogan Jeff Rowell John Rye Mark Sadler Richard Sanderson Moritz Schick Stephen Scott Dave Sharpe

Nick Shenton Chris Skelhorn Andy Smart Mark Smith Mike Smith Alan Sousa Da Silva Kevin Speight David Squance Ray Stagg Alan Steele Martin Stefan Jim Stewart Nick Stokell Matt Swaine Jamie Swann Jan Swanwick Nick Tait Adam Taylor Peter Thayer Phil Thomas Lee Tooey Alex Turner Piotr Tyrala Niall Wallace4 Pablo Walsingham Nick Wargent Adam Watkins Rob Waugh Mark Whalebelly John Williams Johnatan Williams Rob Williams Ian Wilmshurst Niki Wilson Iain Wood James Woricker Lee Wren Wayne Wright 2

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Stephen Agnew 9 Aiden Allcock 3 Graham Allen 5 David Allison 4 Reid Anderson 2 Jackson Andrew 3 Nigel Armstrong 4 Simon Ashby 4 Rob Baird 9 Jon Banks 9 Alan Barnard 4 Steve Beard 2 Denise Booth 6 Stephen Britt 3 Sarah Britton 3 Andrew Broadbent 3 Anton Brown 5 Nik Brunner 4 Chris Bullock 3 Jason Burns 5 Russell Carson 8 Glen Charman 2 Raymond Cheung 12 Paul Conyers 3 Jim Cope 4 Andy Cox 4 Andy Cox 2 Neil Crocker 5 Martin Croxford 7 Andy Curran 16 Martin Davey 6 Ivor Davies 5 Nigel Deakin 2 Tom Deakins 8 Bill Dean Stephen Dee William Dickey Neil Dixon Ritchie Dixon Bob Donaldson David Eastwood Brandon Edgeley Richard Evans Ian Fairweather Hugh Falkner Caroline Fenton Kevin Firth Nick Firth Jo Flint Chris Forrest Ricki Goode Tony Green Jonathan Greenway Miles Griffiths Barbara Hackworthy Mark Hagger John Haile Robert Hanwell Shaun Hargreaves Peter Harper Daryl Hayter Gary Hibbard Graeme Holdsworth Francios Hugo Oliver Iles John Irwin Andrew Jackson Tom Jackson Joe Jord Mike Kear Lee Keillestein Nic Ketley Lee Killestein Simon King

2 5 5 2 5 3 3 2 4 3 2 4 2 10 3 3 6 5 14 4 2 3 2 2 14 4 5 2 4 16 10 3 2 8 7 3 8 6 10 2 Yvonne King Sian Lambert Marcus Lancastle John Lilley Derek MacKenzie Martin Malins Jacklin Mark Paul Martin James Metcalfe Smith Mike Ian Milne Suzannah Minns Dave Minter Liam Morris Dave Morrison Ian Newall Rick Nice Robert Norris Tony Oakley Stephen Ogden Steve Orchard Gordon Panicca Richard Parker Alan Parkinson Graham Parks Ivor Peachey Carl Pegnam Emyr Peregrine Tim Pickersgill Julian Plummer Steve Poulton Andrew Preater Andy Preston Stuart Proctor John Prout David Randerson Eric Richardson Steve Rosewarne Tim Rusbridge Ian Ryall

2 2 4 2 2 16 2 5 2 2 4 4 10 3 10 6 2 5 3 8 3 5 8 2 2 8 3 3 7 3 30 5 7 4 3 10 4 5 7 11 Richard Salisbury Neil Shand Dave Sharpe Jiwa Sheni David Sleigh Cliff Smith Gill Smith Ian Smith Stephen Smith Steven Smith Kevin Speight Graham Spiller Graham Spiller John Straughan Paul Summers Pete Summers Adam Talor Bruce Taylor Tim Taylor Chris Tillapaugh David Tobin Thomas Towers Christopher Tracey Andrew Turner Jack Tyler Andrew Uttley Trevor Wale Angela Walker Peter Walton Liz Webb Paul Whitehead Phil Whitehurst Adrian Wikeley Nick Wilkinson John Wilton Carlos Wong-Fupuy Andy Yates Anne Young

Special mention goes to Raymond Cheung, Andy Curran, Nick Firth, Shaun Hargreaves, Oliver Iles, Lee Killestein, Dave Minter, Dave Morrison, David Randerson, Ian Ryall and Anne Young who have all achieved the coveted Ultra RRtY award for completing 10 series, however, extra special kudos must go to Colin Norcup who became Ultra in just 15 months after riding his first Randonnée. Steve Poulton completed his third Ultra series with clocking up a total of 30!

With the introduction of a web form to submit claims we asked for your thoughts about the experience. These are some of the responses: Richard Sanderson – “I’ve loved finding Audax and finding the RRtY to have a crack at. I’m now working on my qualification for PBP. Onwards!” Elizabeth Bruton – “As soon as I’d completed my first 200km Audax in July 2018, I knew I wanted to try for RRtY and it has honestly been one of the best and most challenging cycling-related things I’ve done. I’ve met such interesting people, cycled through places I would never visit, and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Thanks for organising this!” Chris Forrest – “I learned that double felt more than twice as hard as single RRTY because ‘once a fortnight’ is much more ever-present in your life than ‘once a month’.” Paul Burnip – “Mix of 200s DIYs and Perms plus first SR series – it’s all the fault of John Hamilton and his wonderfully organised National 400, in 2017.” Helen Millier – “I was inspired to try for this award by a rider who helped us out in the 2018 London Orbital Audax. I was new to Audaxing and didn’t know that there were awards. Since then I have attained my SR and now I am off to Paris in August! It’s amazing what a brief

conversation with another cyclist can inspire.” Keith Griffiths – “Didn’t plan to do it, until I realised late in December I’d entered all rides to complete the year, if I did a DIY a couple of days before the end of the year.” Mark Hagger – “Mainly DIYs on fine roads, plenty of red squirrel sightings and more cups of coffee.” Sheni Jiwa – “Well that was an

unexpected series. Started with an unplanned night time 300 on the Moonrakers & Sunseekers from Bristol last November and then I thought I’d try to do two simultaneous series from there onwards.” Nick Shenton – “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed completing my first RRTY and look forward to starting again in January for another 12 months and beyond.” For the statisticians among you, fig 1 gives a few statistics of some year-on-year trends. Although an RRtY series can be started in any month of the year, for the last four years there are two obvious trend finish months – end of season September, and December being the end of calendar year. However, February is holding strong as a popular finish month year on year. Spring and early summer starts are continuing to not be popular. Fig 2 shows the split between female and male riders claims. Not much change in the ratios, but interesting to see that again the proportion of women claiming their first series is higher than men. The close ratio of first timers to old timers maybe suggests not continuing on for a follow up series straight away. perms, DIYs and shorter rides with ECEs. Generally, most people use a mix of types. The chart below shows the percentages of completed series using calendar rides only, perms/DIYs only and including one or more ECEs for the last four years.

Very few riders counted purely calendar events – probably the most difficult way to continue through the winter months. The reduction of series consisting of only 200km rides and only one per month in 2018/19 may be indicative of build up to PBP 2019 as longer rides feature more. ECEs remain popular, and a flexible way of increasing validated distance (the ACME Anvil Winter Series of 100km rides and similar almost certainly had some influence on this). Fig 3 – Most members only ride one series at a time, but RRtY 18 in 2016), some completely concurrent, others involved various degrees of overlap. And 37 new AUK members completed an RRtY series in their first year of membership, two of them, Vanessa Bridge and Mark Whalebelly, doing two concurrent series.

To complete an RRtY series demands the respect for year-round perseverance, to complete multiple series is outstanding. I know from my own experience of riding two series over a 24-month period the RRtY award is a great motivator to get out for that next BR/BRM validation tick; it was also a relief when I decided to step off the treadmill, although the draw of starting series 3 does keep nagging at me. Above all, RRtY is just another enabler for getting out on your bike and supporting the cafés by eating cake. Andrew Preston – “2019 is my eighth consecutive year of RRtY, and the last seven years rides have all been AAARRtY (i.e. all 200km plus AAA rides). I think that qualifies as ‘interesting’.” Grace Lambert-Smith – “Chuffed to have achieved this!”

Any validated ride of 200km attracting AUK points or more can be counted for RRtY – so that includes calendar events,

rules allow for more than one series to be claimed. A total of 52 riders completed multiple series in the last two years (up from

(hopefully) enjoying it all year round.

So, until next year, keep riding, keep claiming and keep Peter Loveridge – “My first RRTY series!”