Reports Index
This year has very much been one of trying to keep the Permanents ship afloat, with a much larger element of hunt the missing brevet card and unscramble the missing or duplicated validation records than any of us would have wished. I sincerely hope that next season will see a better than normal service resumed.
So, my first comment is one of thanks to all organisers and riders for your patience; and thanks to all AUK Committee members who have helped with the task. This especially includes Francis for keeping the IT end of records together. Having had to re-visit database records and adjust, update and generally piece together bits of the Permanents jigsaw has confirmed what I previously thought about how well served we are in AUK by the web site and its related databases. No unnecessary in your face graphics and distractions, but lots of solid functionality and reliable systems.
Not all has been gloom, however and the year has seen some welcome additions to the Permanents events menu. For example:
· The mesh has stepped across the Channel with Linda Johnston’s Brittany Mesh
· Rob Kilby’s former events have been found new organiser homes
· Dave Minter, returning to Australia, has retained his AUK links by organising our first Oz PROF
· The Snow Roads classic and missed event is re-born with Alex Pattison’s Permanent version
and more Scottish Perms are in the offing
· Wessex SR lives on and Ian Hennessey offers 600km in the far south west
· and more from John Harwood, Oliver Wright, Peter Marshall and others
On the riding front, over 1100 events have been recorded, spread as shown below.
100km 200km 300km 400km 600km 1000+km * 7 x 200km 12% 68% 8% 3% 3% 2% 4%* Manche to Med and End to End
The spirit of long distance cycling is alive and well because, in addition to LEL, Permanent riders have managed to clock up a further tally of 21 events of 1000km or more. The Permanents record also shows that AUKs are by no means fair weather cyclists, with the RTYR award going from strength to strength - although some would be qualifiers have had wait a bit for a few critical mid-winter permanent events to be 'found' and validated.
The Championship had an exciting finish with some serious late October Permanent kilometres being achieved.
The unofficial Permanents 'prizes' include:
· George Berwick: most Permanent points overall (9600km including a 1400km Highland Fling)
· Anne Learmonth: opposite sex most Permanent points overall (5800km including 2600km Calais-Brindisi)
· Peter Turnbull: completing the most Permanent events (35)
· Dave Randerson: climbing most Permanent hills (33 AAA points)
· Jim Gresty: the longest Permanent completed, which fittingly in this bi-centenary year was 3100km of
Trafalgar - Trafalgar; and to round it off Jim also brought the Trafalgar news home (see below)
Special mention should also be given to:
George Berwick and Norman Lazarus, who once again jointly deserve the 'keeping the YHA in business' award for their many Darts.
Simon Jones and those who took part in his DIY Perm, complete with special brevet card, to celebrate the Trafalgar bi-centenary by re-tracing the route by which the news of the battle was brought from Falmouth to the Admiralty in London.
John Ward