By Mark Thomas
In 1961, the Audax Club Parisien created an award for those randonneurs who have completed at least one of each of the major BRM events and who have completed at least 5000 km in BRM events. The award is called the Randonneur 5000. To qualify for this award, the successful randonneur must complete the full BRM series (200, 300, 400, 600, and 1000k), a Paris-Brest-Paris, a Flèche, and additional brevets to bring the total distance up to 5000 km.
In 2007, 42 members of Randonneurs USA have completed the requirements for this prestigious award and submitted applications for the R-5000 medal.
The riders have ranged from rookies—Mike Pyles of Florida met the requirements in his first year of RUSA membership—to veterans—8 of the applicants have been RUSA members since the first RUSA events were held in 1999. Three of the riders have 2 digit RUSA membership numbers (10-99), five of the riders have 3 digit numbers (100-999), 11 riders have numbers from 1000-1999, 15 riders have numbers from 2000-2999, and 8 of them are relatively recent members with numbers above 3000.
To be eligible for the award, all of the qualifying rides must be completed within a four year period (48 months). The applicants took from 4 months to 45 months to complete their requirements.
Three applicants are in their 30s, 18 in their 40s, 18 in their 50s, and 3 in their 60s. Clubs with more than 2 applicants are the Seattle International Randonneurs (10), the Lone Star Randonneurs (3), and the Oregon Randonneurs (3). States with more than 2 applicants are Washington (11), California (7), Texas (5), Florida (3), and North Carolina (3).
Congratulations to all of these riders on their accomplishments.