Background

The BC Randonneurs Cycling Club is a pioneer of marathon cycling in North America. Now in its 30th year, BCRCC offered over 40 brevets in distances of 200 to 1200 km in the six months from April through to September, 2008.

Club members have ample opportunities for long-distance brevets through the spring and summer seasons. After the last brevet in September though, members continue to cycle - most throughout both the fall and winter months. In an effort to provide members with long distance cycling events throughout the year, BCRCC is introducing permanent brevets "Permanents" beginning in October 2008.

A Permanent is "like a [registered ACP] brevet but you can ride it any time, not just on one specific date. Like brevets, routes can start and finish in the same location, but they can also run point-to-point, and can be any distance of 200km [or more]" RUSA web site. A Permanent is typically organized by any member who is interested in cycling a designated route at a date and time that is convenient to that member. An upcoming Permanent may be announced via the club's mailing list with a general invitation to all club members. A Permanent can also be a private event with communication limited to confirmation from the club member(s) who coordinate the Permanent Brevet program.

The Permanent program is well established in the Randonneur community around the world. Over 800 Permanents are available in the United Kingdom and the USA covering distances of 200 to 4900 km. In the USA in 2007, 1705 individual Permanents were completed for a distance of 345,162 km. This exceptionally successful program has helped maintain a club's vibrancy throughout the year.

The Permanent Brevet

A Permanent is recognized within a club that but is not a registered ACP brevet (distance accumulated in Permanents is not eligible for awards offered by ACP nor for distance awards offered by the BC Randonneurs). Permanents are cycled according to the rules governing ACP brevets (route cards are used; minimum and maximum speeds are respected; proof of control arrival is required; cards are to be submitted within 2 weeks of the completion of the event).

This new initiative is supported with an award to recognize those members who have ridden at least one Permanent or registered ACP brevet of 200K or longer for 12 consecutive months. The "BC-12" Award is modeled on the Randonneur Round the Year award in the UK and the R-12 Award in the US. Note that a member can begin their quest to cycle and subsequently qualify for this award at any time throughout the year.

An initial list of Permanents is available of new member-created routes and a selection from archived brevet routes that members have already endorsed as Permanent routes. This list is expected to grow as members submit new Permanent routes.

This BCRCC initiative is facilitated by two Permanent Coordinators (initially by Tracy Barill and Bob Koen). The control cards, route sheets and liability forms would be provided by the Permanent Coordinators to a member who requests the cards for the Permanent requested. For the specifics on how to become involved, go to the "Details / Rules" page linked at the top of this page

Tracy Barill
October 2008

Updated by Eric Fergusson in 2015