IN A positive start to 2021, 58 cyclists, including 10 women, rode 100km under seven hours in a Brevet Populaire (BP) organised by Nagpur Randonneurs under the aegis of Audax India Randonneurs. The BP, which started from Zero Mile and went to Umari beyond Saoner, was led by Dr Bhupendra Arya, who, at 77, is probably India’s oldest randonneur. A cyclist who completes a brevet is called a randonneur. Brevets are self-supported longdistance checkpoint rides of 200km, 300km, 400, 600, 1000, 1200 and 1400km.

 

The BP marks restart of randonneuring in Nagpur, which had come to a standstill due to COVID-19. The 100km will be followed by a 150 next Sunday ( Jan 10) and a 200 on the January 17, giving riders the opportunity to become a randonneur in three weeks. The woman riders who participated in the Brevet Populaire include psychologist Sneha Damle, CA Swati Thakkar, Dr Prajakta Aswar of Chandrapur, Dr Anne Wilkinson, Dr Swati Kulkarni, Dr Trupti Dongre, Mamta Sarda, Maha Metro additional GM Shwetali Thakare and entrepreneurs Sweta Dandare and Sarah Shafiq. Prominent among men participants were Madhur Agrawal, CA Satish Sarda, Milind Chittawar, Dr Amol Dongre, Jetane Gopwani and doctors Ajay and Atul Kulkarni. A Nagpur Randonneurs team comprising randonneur Yogesh Dapurkar, Super Randonneurs Vikas Patra, Aniruddha and randonneur Urmila Dhanke provided support to the participants.