Audax Australia

Audax Australia Cycling Club^[2] runs cycling events under the auspices of Audax Club Parisien (ACP) and Union des Audax Français (UAF). Rides are normally from 50 km to 1200 km in distance and operate throughout Australia. The club also has a list of long distance rides that can be ridden at any time called raids.

The name Audax Australia is a misnomer as the organisation runs events that are predominantly in the style of randonneur (long-distance over an unmarked course), although it also runs audax-style where a ride captain dictates the speed of the ride.

Event types

Calendar events are held on a specific date and appearing in the Audax Australia calendar. Permanent events can be ridden by Audax Australia members at any time.

Calendar and permanent events take several forms:

• Brevet Randonneur Mondiaux (BRM): 200 kilometres or greater calendar events controlled through a series of time and distance checks by means of a brevet card. BRM events are registered with ACP or Les Randonneurs Mondiaux (LRM) and appear in the Randonneur Mondiaux calendar published by ACP or the calendar published by LRM.
• Brevet UAF (BUAF): 100 km or greater calendar events ridden under UAF rules (peloton riding at a fixed pace) and registered with the UAF.
• Brevet Australia (BA): calendar events controlled similarly to BRM rides but registered with Audax Australia only.
• Brevet Dirt (BD): calendar events shorter than 200 kilometres where the route is primarily on unsealed surfaces, controlled similarly to BRM rides and registered with Audax Australia only.
• Brevet Permanent (BP): permanent events where the route may be either primarily on sealed or unsealed surfaces and controlled similarly to BRM rides but registered with Audax Australia only.
• Brevet Raid (BR): point-to-point multi-day permanent events that do not have time limits on intermediate checkpoints and are registered with Audax Australia only.

Major Events

The Fleche Opperman All Day Trial

The Fleche Opperman is an event for teams of three to five bicycles and is held over 24 hours. The course and distance are chosen by each team and must be at least 360 km long and finish in either Rochester (Victoria) or the capital cities in other states (where run). The event is named after former patron of the club Sir Hubert Opperman, and its format based on the French equivalent Flèche Velocio.

First run in October 1985, the finish coincided with the Bicycle Expo, held at the world Trade Center Melbourne. Although the Fleche Opperman All Day Trial is a non-competitive event, teams successfully completing the furthest distance are officially recognised. In its inaugural year the Port Fairy Cycling Club, including Graham Woodrup, achieved this honour completing a total distance of 570 km.

Audax Alpine Classic (AAC)

The Audax Alpine Classic is run each Australia Day weekend in Bright, Victoria and is run over distances of 70 km, 130 km, 140 km, 200 km and the 250 km Alpine Challenge Extreme. The first AAC was run on Australia day 1986^[3] over a 200 km circuit with just six riders. Since 2007, in excess of 2000 riders now ride each year.

Irene Plowman

The "Salute to Irene Plowman" recognises the efforts of Irene Plowman who held the Sydney–Melbourne record and rode regularly from Albury to Melbourne to collect supplies for her dress shop.^[4] The ride is run in early February as a 200 km night ride from Port Melbourne to Portsea and back.

Great Southern Randonnee (GSR)

The GSR runs every four years in Victoria for distances between 300 km and 1200 km, with the next edition been held in October 2016.

Perth Albany Perth (PAP)

The PAP runs every four years in Western Australia. The first 3 editions followed a traditional "out and back" route through the forested South-West of the state. From the 4th edition, in 2010, the route has been changed to a loop, passing down the west coast to Margaret River, along the south coast to Albany and then returning to Perth via the wheat-belt and the Stirling Ranges: a very scenic route. The next PAP will be held 6 October 2014.

Giro Tasmania

The Giro Tasmania is a 1000 km circumnavigation of the island based on a traditional cycle touring route, and is held every second year during the summer.

Sydney–Melbourne Alpine 1200

The SM1200 runs every four years starting on the foreshores of Sydney Harbour and finishing in downtown Melbourne. The route travels through Australia's national capital, Canberra, and traverses Australia's alpine range, the Snowy Mountains. The SM1200 will next be held 17 November 2013.

Awards

Riders can obtain awards for completing BRM, BUAF, BA and BP rides.^[5][6] Most awards are available only to full members of Audax Australia.

There are four Riding Award categories:

• Single Season – defined rides
• Single Season – cumulative distance
• Multi-Season – defined rides
• Multi-Season – cumulative distance

An Audax riding season is between 1 November and 31 October.

Single Season Awards

Defined Rides

Australian Super Randonneur: 1500 km minimum, comprising one ride each of 200 km, 300 km, 400 km and 600 km.

Australian Interstate Super Randonneur: as above, where each distance must be ridden in a different State or Territory of Australia.

Gran Turismo Super Randonneur: a specified series of Audax Australia calendared events of 200 km, 300 km, 400 km and 600 km all ridden within a 9-day period.

Year Round Randonneur: One ride each calendar month from November to October, ride distance to be at least 200 km.

Dirt Series: 205 km minimum comprising one Brevet Dirt (off-road) ride of each of 35 km, 70 km and 100 km.

Nouveau Randonneur: 300 km minimum comprising one ride of each of 50 km, 100 km and 150 km.

Cumulative Distance

The Audax Australia Annual Award recognises the cumulative total of Audax or randonneuring kilometres ridden in a single season. Award distances are as follows:

• 1,000 km
• 2,500 km
• 5,000 km
• 7,500 km
• 10,000 km

Multi-Season Awards

Defined Rides

The Woodrup 5000 Award consists of 5000 km minimum of road rides within 4 continuous seasons, including:

• Fleche Opperman All Day Trial (360 km)
• Super Randonneur
• 1 × 1,000 km ride
• 1 × 1200 km ride (Paris-Brest-Paris not permitted)
• 950 km of other road rides homologated by the Audax Club Parisien.

The Ultra Randonneur requires 50 road rides without time limit. These must comprise the following:

• 10 × Super Randonneur (200 km, 300 km, 400 km and 600 km rides in a single season)
• 10 × rides of at least 1,000 km

Cumulative Distance

The Australian Randonneur Award recognises lifetime riding achievements for the following cumulative distances:

• 25,000 km
• 50,000 km
• 75,000 km
• 100,000 km
• 150,000 km

Publications

Audax Australia's magazine Checkpoint is produced quarterly and is circulated to current financial members. The Journal (the predecessor to Checkpoint) was first produced in summer of 1983 by Terry Gross.^[7]

Audax Australia also produces annually a printed booklet of its Rides Calendar. The first National Rides Calendar was produced in 1995 by Peter Moore.^[8]

History

Audax Australia was formed in 1981. The first officially homologated Australian ride took place at Easter of that year, following near-simultaneous letters to the ACP by Alan Walker and Russell Moore. Riders started simultaneous 600 km rides from Melbourne and Sydney finishing in Albury.^[9][10]

The club offers a calendar of events in all states and the Australian Capital Territory, and (until 2010) in New Zealand. Since late 2010, Kiwi Randonneurs has operated as an unincorporated society and operates randonnees in New Zealand under an individual agreement with the Audax Club Parisien.^[11]

Introduction of new ride types

Dirt Rides

Dirt, or MTB rides, were initiated in the 1997/98 season with the first ride being the 70 km Tracks of My Tiers on Sunday 2 November 1997 in southern Tasmania, followed by the 35 km, 70 km and 100 km 'Down and Dirty' rides on Sunday 8 February starting at Trentham, Victoria.^[12] These rides then traversed around the Wombat State Forest and Lerderderg Gorge.

Dirt rides are normally run over three distances of 35 km, 70 km and 100 km. A Dirt series award is riding all three in a season.

BUAF

Fixed-pace rides following the model of the Union des Audax Français (UAF) were introduced to Audax Australia in 2008, and are often referred to as "BUAF" to distinguish them from randonneur style rides. BUAF brevets are ridden as a peloton with a leader, generally averaging 22.5 km/h between checkpoints. The organiser has a published ride schedule, noting the expected time the peloton will reach each turn and rest stop and the time the peloton will leave each rest stop.^[13]

Patrons and Life Members

Patrons

• Sir Hubert Opperman until 1996 (Oppy was also patron of Audax UK)
• Lady Opperman, from 1997 until 2001^[14]

Life Members^[8][15]

• Lorraine Allen
• Phil Bellette
• Hans Dusink
• Terry Gross
• Don Halton
• Enid Halton
• Tim Laugher
• John Martin
• Peter Moore
• Russell Moore

See also

• Audax (cycling)
• Randonneur
• Brevet (cycling)
• Cyclosportive
• Bicycle lighting

External links

• Audax Australia Cycling Club
• Kiwi Randonneurs
• Audax UK
• RUSA
• Audax Club Parisien
• Union des Audax Françis

References