Paris Brest Paris - 1999 (#14)
Plaquette by Audax Club Parisien
(100 pages - 66 photos)

There's just something about the 1999 plaquette - the matte paper, the more polished format, the photos. It's a great browse. Some of the photos are very very small and are not the easy to see, but they do capture an ambiance. Wonderful cover photo.

A major change in the '99 plaquette is the inclusion of more non-French language written contributions - 10 in English, 2 in Spanish, and 1 each in Italian, German, and (I think) Flemish. Contributors, it seems, were permitted to choose the language in which their words appear. In every case, there is also a French translation.

As for the ride itself, 1999 saw a big jump in participation - the 3500 rider ceiling was exceeded, but only slightly and all entrants were accepted.
[Eric F - June 2011]

PBP '99 - Vital Statistics:

Participants (Starters): 3573
Finishers: 2976
Women Finishers: 184 (6.2 %)
DNFs: 597
Attrition Rate: 16.7 %
1st Solo Men: Chistophe Bocquet & Philippe Deplaix (44:22)
1st Solo Woman: Melinda Lyon (53:11)  77th overall
First Tandems: Didier Drouet / Lionel Delahaie & Michel Mingant / Philippe Reynaud (46:22) 11th overall
First Mixed Tandem: Adrian Harris / Jodi Groesbeck (49:03) 34th overall