Eight riders clinch the coveted Super Randonneur title after completing a 600-km ride in 40 hours

The Brevetes De Randonneur Mondiaux was organised by Mangaluru-based Team We R Cycling

As many as eight seasoned riders, seven from Dakshina Kannada-Udupi and one from Kasaragod in Kerala, clinched the Super Randonneur Title by completing a 600-km Brevetes De Randonneur Mondiaux (BRM) within 40 hours between January 22 and 23 in Mangaluru.

The BRM was organised by Team We R Cycling affiliated to Audax Club Parisien (ACP), one of the most coveted cycling bodies in the world, and Audax India Randonneurs (AIR).

Aptly named Wheel-O-Coast, the route took the riders all along the coast connecting BC Road, Ullal and Kundapur with a 40-hour target. After being flagged off at Mangala Stadium, the riders moved to BC Road via KPT, back to Ullal via Pumpwell, then to Kundapur Shastri Circle, back to Mangala Stadium, again to Shastri Circle, back to Mangala Stadium, again to Shastri Circle and back to Mangala Stadium, to complete 600 km.

While many would dread a 600-km ride at a stretch, 10 riders who were determined to become Super Randonneurs, began their ride after WeRC’s own Super Randonneur Shyamprasad Naik flagged it off on January 22. Mr. Naik briefed the riders about safety, rules and a few tips to survive beyond 600 km.

Of the 10, two — Kaushik Boloor and Rajesh Nayak — dropped out in the middle due to weather condition and other reasons. The other eight, Shemjaz Arakkal Maniyat, Navin Kotian, P.N. Ramaraj, B. Gautham Baliga, Joseph Pereira, V.N. Sreekanth (Kasaragod), Gururaj Krishnamurthy and Sarvesh Samaga, completed the ride with ease.

Sixty-one-year-old Pereira, who was regularly riding an average 100 km a day since a fortnight, was not seen at all after the flag off. The other nine rode in groups all through the first stretch and the group got split as the riders’ ordeal escalated.

Super Randonneur Tilakchandra supported the event and the riders throughout. Mr. Pereira said that it was his first longest ride and he dedicated it to his wife Violet Pereira for making it possible.

BRMs are rides of fixed distances to be completed within specified time limits, passing through predetermined time controls. The recognition is equal regardless of the finishing order with every rider finishing the event within the cut-off time getting a certificate and a medal directly from ACP.

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