THE IDEA OF AUDAX was first formulated in 1897 in Italy. One had to swim, run, walk, or cycle a set distance in 14 hours which was approximately the time between sunrise and sunset. The distance to be covered by cycling was 200 kilometres.

IN 1904 Henri Desgrange - the managing director of the magazine Auto visited Italy and was so impressed with the idea that he produced some regulations. These Audax regulations formed cyclists into groups, each with its captain, which stayed together for the entire ride. This method of riding is known today as Euraudax.

ALSO in 1904, those cyclists who had gained the Brevet d'Audax formed the Audax Club Parisien (ACP) and organised events for Auto throughout France.

IN 1920 ACP upset Desgrange by assisting in an event sponsored by a rival newspaper and he withdrew the club's right to organise Audax events. To avoid infringing the Audax method of riding, and to enable them to carry out their programme of events in 1921, ACP created the Brevets de Randonneur (ie Certificates for Long-distance-cyclists).

THE BREVETS DE RANDONNEUR differ from Audax in that cyclists do not have to ride as a group and keep to a set timetable. Each individual can go at his own pace - 'a allure libre' - and stop at will for refreshment. To prevent racing a series of time checks are established at controls with minimum and maximum time limits.

IT IS THESE REGULATIONS which have been adopted by Audax United Kingdom and the name Audax in the title comes from ACP not the style of the event. AUK is responsible for the Brevets de Randonneur in the UK, not Euraudax events.

IN 1966, BARRY PARSLOW, later to be one of AUK's founder members, completed ACP's Paris-Brest-Paris 1200km Randonnée (PBP) on his tricycle.

1975. BRITISH INTEREST in the '75 PBP was generated by J.B.Wadley's description of his successful ride in the 1971 edition in his book 'Old Roads and New'. To qualify to ride the event, however, cyclists had to ride a 600km randonnée in 40 hours. As a concession, members of the 24 Hour Fellowship were allowed to enter if they had completed more than 375 miles (600km) in a 24 Hour Time Trial and 19 Britons subsequently completed the PBP - Barry Parslow's third.

1976. IN ORDER THAT BRITISH CYCLISTS could qualify for future PBPs with a 600km randonnée, the Windsor-Chester-Windsor (WCW) was instituted and AUK was born. The main instigator, John Nicholas, was made the Correspondant (agent) of ACP in the UK, charged with the task of ensuring that UK events complied with ACP regulations.

OTHER EUROPEAN COUNTRIES followed suit and the Brevets de Randonneur, which had been known as Brevets de Randonneur Francais, became Brevets de Randonneur Européens. In each country the club which initiated the Brevets de Randonneur became responsible for those events and became a member of Les Randonneurs Européens, an informal federation which met for dinner after each PBP.

1977. 200km, 300km, and 400km events, 15 in all, were added to AUK's Calendar by those who had ridden the PBP and WCW.

1979. 74 Britons qualified for the PBP and 54 entered, winning the George Navet Trophy which, renamed the Jock Wadley Cup, is now used as AUK's Individual Championship Trophy. Increasing numbers of Brevets de Randonneur have been organised in the UK since that time.

1983. 77 Britons completed the PBP and, with the influx of riders from throughout the world, the Brevets de Randonneur Européens became Brevets de Randonneur Mondiaux (BRM) - thus the Randonneurs Mondiaux (RM), the International Randonneurs, was formed.

THE SAME YEAR, Mark Brooking and Ray Haswell shared the Individual Championship, each collecting 132 points, and Bridget Boon took the then Ladies' Championship with 106 points, all of which were records which survived for many years.

1984. Seven AUK members made an international impact with a successful assault on the ultra- long Brindisi-Calais Diagonale. The 'Brindisi Seven' were - Mark Brooking, Ray Craig, Peter Crump, Simon Doughty, Simon Jones, Mick Latimer, Jane Ramsdale.

1986. Sheila Simpson became the first woman to win the Individual Championship, with 68 points. The Ladies' Championship was accordingly re-allocated to the best performer of the opposite sex. This was also the year that the Audax UK Altitude Award was introduced, the first counting ride being the Exmoor 200. Dave Pountney was the first rider to gain 12 points to complete the AAA, when he finished the Exmoor 200 of 1987. AUK's membership exceeded 1000 for the first time.

1987. AUK'S FOUNDING HONORARY SECRETARY, John Nicholas, retired and the AUK Constitution was amended to give the AUK Committee responsibility for the day to day running of the club. 94 Britons completed the PBP that year - Barry Parslow's fifth - and the Scandinavian countries joined the RM.

1988. Paddy Timson won the Individual Chamionship with 100 points, only the third person to collect a three-figure total, but since then it has never been won with fewer.

1989. The longest Brevet de Randonneur event, the 1300km Edinburgh-London, was organised by Bernard Mawson. This also became the first event to be validated by the RM, ACP being responsible for 200km-1000km events and the PBP.

1990 was the first year of the AAA Annual Championship, won by Richard Hulls with 19 pts. The Mileater Diaries were introduced, the first Champions being Peter Coulson and Sheila Simpson. Since 1990 the 'Opposite Sex' runner-up to the Individual Championship has never been won with fewer than 100 points.

1991 SAW UNPRECEDENTED LEVELS of activity, with records broken in most championship categories. Seven riders gained their Super-Randonneur by riding four 600s, with Graham Moult and Robert Fry riding six on consecutive weekends. The long-standing Individual Championship record was broken by five riders - Ann Daws, Bernard Daws, Steve Underwood, Liz Creese and Robert Fry whose 212 points set the new mark. The Ladies' record was broken by Sheila Simpson, Ann Daws and Liz Creese who raised it to 151 points. There were 264 Super Randonneurs, and this energy was reflected in the PBP, with 149 successful Britons, and internationally, where AUK were Brevet de Randonneur Mondiaux Champions.

1993. AUK's membership passed 2000.

1994. A TITANIC BATTLE for the AAA Championship ended with Mark Houlford's 49/ beating David Vinicombe by the narrowest of margins. Mark Webb became the first Fixed Wheel Champion, with 102 points. Derby Mercury set a formidable record for a York Arrow team of 610km in 24 hours.

1995 ONCE AGAIN IN A PBP YEAR several statistical records were broken. 316 riders became Super Randonneurs, 26 of whom were female. 181 of these went on to success in the PBP. Liz Creese raised the record for the individual championship to 222 points, and it was suggested at the AGM that a future minimum requirement of 100 points should be set for this title.

1996 AND THE RECORD WAS RAISED AGAIN, as Steven Abraham, junior champion in '94 and '95, rode a fixed wheel machine throughout the season to set a new mark of 287 points. Mark Houlford improved his AAA record to 87. Liz Creese was awarded a Brevet 100,000. Serious consideration was given to the idea of abolishing the championships altogether. In the light of this it is ironic that after the Annual Dinner at Wortley, Liz Creese's car was burgled and AUK's trophies stolen - however the police gave chase and soon recovered the silverware.

1997. 107 riders completed Edinburgh-London 1400 km, aided by over 100 fellow Auks at controls from Dalkeith to Epping Forest. Sandra Shaw became the first female AAA Champion. The AGM voted to retain Individual Championships but place more emphasis on the awards system. Annual awards of Randonneur 5,000 and 10,000 were instituted.

1998. 7 AUKs gained the Randonneur 10,000 award, including 73 year old Jack Eason who became the first Britain to ride 3 consecutive Boston-Montreal-Boston 1200 km. Mary Holden became the first female to gain AUK’s Junior Award.

1999. There was a scramble for places in PBP qualifying events which resulted in many organisers turning away entrants before their official closing dates. Fortunately the situation eased as multiple entrants qualified and withdrew some of their entries. Vicki Brown became the first Junior to gain the Individual (Opposite Sex) Award, and the first female Junior to gain over 100 points. In gaining the Individual Award, Chris Avery, and PB Bear, rode 11 Super Randonneur series in the year. 436 members became SRs.

2000. A Super Randonneur 2000 award, a series of 200, 300, 400, 500 and 600 km randonneur rides, the brain child of Graham Mills, was instituted. 193 SR2000s were listed. AUK listed 14 ‘Senior’ SRs (ie, aged 65 or over) - easily a record.

2001. The Fourth Edinburgh-London 1400 km attracted over 300 entrants, starting from Thorne and Harlow.

2002. The South Coast 1000 km was introduced by Dave Hudson. George Berwick completed the coastal circuit of 5100km at randonneur standard. Peter Hansen introduced the Randonneur Organisers’ Award.

2003. John Hayes smashed the Veterans’ record with 217 points for the year. The Bateman/Clarkson/ Hedley/Johnson/Streets team achieved a new record of 530km for the Easter Arrow to York.

2004. Graham Mills introduced the National Super Randonneur Series.

2005. 276 riders started the fifth London-Edinburgh-London: 181 from Lee Valley Youth Hostel and 95 from Thorne. Four continents were represented with riders from the usual European countries, plus the USA, Canada, South Africa, Australia, and more unusually Japan, Hungary, Israel and Russia. 246 completed the event, a 14 per cent drop out, similar to PBP on what is, without doubt, a more demanding event - LEL is 200km longer than the French classic and the northern half is hilly and cold! Not only has the field grown but over 180 AUK members and friends volunteered their time to make the event a great success. Plans for making the 2009 event bigger and even more cosmopolitan are under way! The distance record for the Easter Arrows to York was taken to 541 km by George Hanna, John-Paul Lambhorth, Dave Lewis, Judith Swallow and Ritchie Tout. Tiho Obrenovitch and Jutta Urenjak gained a record 104 points for the year on tandem.

2006 AUK incorporated.

2007 Steve Abraham smashed an unofficial Permanents ride record with 335 points from 78 events, including 14 permanent Super Randonneur series - plus the total points record (Calendar and Permanent rides) with 405.

AUK Rides range from the 50 km Brevet Populaire to the Peneperiphery of over 5100 km.

AUK Membership has increased from the 16 founder members in 1976 to over 4,500 in 2007.