RRtY and COVID-19 advice and FAQ

Advice on restarting your RRtY after COVID-19 (updated 28th February 2021)

With the resumption of DIY and permanent events from the 1st August we realise that riders will be keen to know how they can continue any RRtYs in progress before shutdown 1 in March and further shutdowns & travel restrictions at various times in each of the UK nations since November 2020.

The rate of change in government local travel restrictions has complicated how RRtY can continue in an equitable way.  
The grace period operation described in the original advice in June still stands, now with the addition of ‘assumed suspension’ for each participant as COVID-19 restrictions and personal conscience allow.

From 1st November 2020, all active RRtY series will be assumed to be suspended without penalty until 31st May 2021
With the announcement of calendar and permanent event validations from 29th March 2021 the assumed suspension period for active RRtY series is extended to 31st May 2021. ALL active RRtY series must have a validated BR event added before 31st May or they will be considered to be lapsed.
If validating a BR in April '21 a BR must also be ridden in May and each consecutive month until series completion.
 
This covers the national lockdown period(s) whilst AUK BR validations are suspended in the UK, and where there are local travel restrictions due to COVID-19 Tier rules.

That does not preclude inclusion of validated BR rides in months where they were/are possible, those will be counted when a series is claimed.

AUK BR permanent events including DIYs ridden overseas in circumstances in which they are permitted can be included in a RRtY series as can similarly permitted events such as PBP validated by ACP, Flèches Nationales (Arrows), BRM and RM events validated by ACP or LRM respectively, and Audax events validated by UAF of 200km or more, wherever held.

This RRtY flexible validation is intended to allow members to ride where they wish to, and are able, under local rules whilst not placing undue pressure where it is legally possible to ride but an individual’s conscience advises against riding 200km simply for the sake of servicing an active series.
During the period of RRtY flexible validation single months may be included in a series without months where it was not possible to ride a BR.
A series will be considered to be complete when it has 12 months of validated rides.
Further details are in the FAQs further down this page.

The flexibility may be considered by some as being outside the spirit of RRtY so feel free not to claim a series if that is your belief.  As RRtY Secretary I want to facilitate your AUK aspirations but do not wish to place pressure on anyone to ride when they do not consider it safe to do so during the COVID-19 pandemic.
If you require further explanation or wish to ask about a specific COVID-19 restriction circumstance applicable to you for which you need to ask for a personal suspension period please email rrty@audax.uk

 

Advice on restarting your RRtY after COVID-19 (30th June 2020)

With the planned resumption of DIY and permanent events from the 1st August we realise that riders will be keen to know how they can continue any RRtYs in progress before the shutdown in March.

As a reminder, in order to qualify for inclusion in the RRtY Roll of Honour, you need to complete a Randonnée (minimum 200km, either calendar event, Permanent or DIY) in each of any twelve consecutive calendar months.  This is rightly valued as an award only the hardiest of riders can aspire to and this is why it is so highly esteemed by riders and the Audax community.  COVID-19 has caused an unavoidable break and we want to give riders the possibility to resume the challenge with some flexibility whilst respecting the difficulty of the challenge and taking into account that RRtY validation must remain workable for the RRtY secretary.

We offer the following advice:

  1. The last ride before the enforced stop in validation may have been in Feb 2020 or Mar 2020.  If you had a ride in March it will be counted.
  2. The six months grace period refers to the restart period starting from 1st August 2020 and ending at the end of January 2021.  Therefore the latest restart date for an RRTY to be considered for validation is during February 2021.
  3. Once a rider has completed a ride that qualifies for RRtY they have reset their RRtY in motion and need to complete the RRtY without any further missed months.  Any validated ride of minimum 200km will restart the clock on your RRtY therefore we advise you to consider carefully when you restart your rides.  If you take part in a ride but do not wish to restart your RRtY you must request that this ride is not validated. 

Additionally we appreciate that some riders had multiple RRtY attempts in progress at the time of suspension and offer the following further advice as multiple concurrent RRtYs give rise to further complications:

  1. You may have completed fewer rides in March than the number of series in progress.  In this case rides in March will be allocated to the longest running series first.  Any additional series will count as having their last ride in February.
  2. If you had multiple RRtY attempts in progress you must restart all series in the same calendar month.  If you have any validated ride in a month prior this restarts the clock on all RRtY attempts in progress; therefore you must consider carefully when you wish to restart riding validated events. 

We kindly request that RRtY claims covering the period of suspension are sent in as soon as possible after completion in order that the inevitable difficulty of validation is handled by the current RRtY secretary who is fully conversant with the unique situation.

The following examples are designed to help explain these rules in practice:

Example 1

Rider j has ridden qualifying rides from August 2019 to February 2020 (i.e. has completed 7 months).  This rider can restart during any month from August 2020 to February 2021 inclusive.  The remaining 5 rides must occur in consecutive months, so If the rider restarts in August then she must complete rides in Aug/Sep/Oct/Nov/Dec to complete the RRTY.  Alternatively if she restarts in November then she must ride in Nov/Dec/Jan/Feb/Mar to complete the challenge.

Example 2

Rider z has 2 RRtY series in progress starting August 2019 and Jan 2020 respectively.  The rider completed only 1 ride in March before suspension.

Series A currently comprises rides from August 2019 - March 2020 (i.e. 8 month completed).  Series B will count as Jan 2020 - Feb 2020 (i.e. 2 months completed).

In order to complete both series, the rider must complete 2 qualifying rides for 4 consecutive months and 1 qualifying ride for the subsequent six months in order to complete both series.  So if the first ride after restart is in November 2020 there must be 2 qualifying rides in each month November 2020 - Feb 2021 inclusive and one ride in March 2021-August 2021 inclusive. 

Note that there must be no "one-off" validated qualifying rides before November 2020 as this would count towards the first series and the second series would lapse.

We will post any updates and answers to frequently asked questions on this page, so do check back here in the first instance.  If you are still in doubt about how to resume your RRtYs please contact us:

Dan Smith (Event Services Director) services@audax.uk

Grant Huggins (RRtY Secretary)  rrty@audax.uk

FAQ

Your last ride can be in either February 2020 or March 2020.  If you rode in March then it will count, but if not the series will continue from February 2020.

Assumed suspension of an RRtY series starts from 1st November 2020 and will last until at least one full calendar month after a qualifying 200km+ is able to be validated under local/national COVID-19 travel restrictions. 
UPDATE: BR validations are possible from 29th March 2021.  The assumed suspension period extends to 31st May 2021. 

During assumed suspension a rider is not required to ride every calendar month to service an active series. The suspension period is flexible and personal to you until ride validations are possible.  You may miss one or more months if you consider it irresponsible to ride 200km in your area, just explain the missed month(s) when you submit your series claim.
Any months when a qualifying ride is ridden can be counted towards an active RRtY series.

The first ride can be between 1st August 2020 and 5th January 2021.
From 5th Jan 2021 RRtY assumed suspension is introduced which is back dated to 1st November 2020 to cover various local & national travel restrictions.

UPDATE: BR validations are possible again from 29th March 2021.  The assumed suspension period extends to 31st May 2021. An active series must have a validated BR between 29th March 2021 to 31st May 2021 and consecutive months from restart until completion.

Yes, you may continue by completing a qualifying ride any time between 1st August 2020 and 5th January, and then on subsequent months to complete your series after the end of assumed suspension.

UPDATE: BR validations are possible again from 29th March 2021.  The assumed suspension period extends to 31st May 2021. An active series must have a validated BR between 29th March 2021 to 31st May 2021 and consecutive months from restart until completion.

The grace period applies to the restart from 1st August 2020.  Thus your first ride after resumption can be in August 2020 to 5th January 2021 when the period of assumed suspension was introduced, backdated to 1st November 2020.

UPDATE: BR validations are possible again from 29th March 2021.  The assumed suspension period extends to 31st May 2021. An active series must have a validated BR between 29th March 2021 to 31st May 2021 and consecutive months from restart until completion.

The original grace period allowed for you to restart your series anytime up to end February 2021, however, with various local and national lockdowns that grace period end is now not relevant.
Simply pick up your series again between 29th March 2021 and 31st May 2021, then in consecutive months from restart to completion of the series.

All months from August 2020 when you rode a validated ride will count towards your series.
From 1st November the assumed suspension period means a series does not need to be serviced until at least one calendar month after validations are possible again.

UPDATE: BR validations are possible again from 29th March 2021.  The Assumed suspension period extends to 31st May 2021. An active series must have a validated BR between 29th March 2021 to 31st May 2021 and consecutive months from restart until completion.

An announcement will be made on the AUK website when the first month for a qualifying ride is required.

UPDATE: BR validations are possible again from 29th March 2021.  The Assumed suspension period extends to 31st May 2021. An active series must have a validated BR between 29th March 2021 to 31st May 2021 and consecutive months from restart until completion.