Our Colorado RUSA Awardees for 2015 ... and More!

We honored our 2015 Super Randonneurs in a post last summer.

Here we recognize those who've earned other RUSA awards this past year!

Also, we're covering awards that can be earned over multiple years. All Colorado randonneurs who've earned them over the years are listed. Special congratulations to these accomplished randonneurs!

While the physical awards are pictured here, we know it's the challenge (and accomplishment), not the trinket, that's most important.

The listed riders are drawn from the RUSA awards pages. A rider must apply for an award to be recognized (but need not purchase the physical award.)

---

One-Year Awards R-12 P-12 American Randonneur   Challenge	Multi-Year Awards American Explore RUSA Cup ACP Randonneur 5000 Ultra Randonneur Coast-to-Coast Mondial
— other awards not covered here —
RUSA Distance Awards K-Hound	Ultra R-12 Galaxy

---

R-12

Complete a 200km or longer RUSA ride in each of 12 consecutive months.

Catherine Shenk

John Lee Ellis

Paul Foley
Malcolm Fraser

Timo Haugen

Ken Heck

P-12

Ride a 100km to 199km RUSA ride in each of twelve consecutive months.

Paul Foley

Malcolm Fraser

ACP Randonneur 5000

Ride 5000km in events including Paris-Brest-Paris, a Flèche, and 200km, 300km 400km, 600km and 1000km brevets within 48 months. (An Audax Club Parisien award, not RUSA.)

Michelle Grainger

Steve Le Goff

And now for RUSA awards that randonneurs can work towards over multiple years ...

American Explorer

Cover at least ten different U.S. states and territories on RUSA rides.

Cathy Cramer (12 states)

Catherine Shenk (20)

John Lee Ellis (22)

Paul Foley (19)

Ronaele Foss (23)

RUSA Cup

Complete at least one of each type of RUSA event, accumulating at least 5000km over a two-year period.

Paul Foley - 2004

John Lee Ellis - 2005, 2009

Tom Knoblauch - 2008 

Cathy Cramer - 2011

John Mangin - 2015

Ultra Randonneur

Complete ten Super Randonneur series over any number of years.

Tom Knoblauch - 2013

Paul Foley - 2014

Dick Wiss - 2014
John Lee Ellis - 2007, 2015

Cathy Cramer - 2015

Coast to Coast

Complete four different RUSA 1200km or longer events over any number of years.

Paul Foley - 2012, 2015

Catherine Shenk - 2012
John Lee Ellis - 2010, 2013

Tom Knoblauch - 2013

John Flanigan - 2013

Mondial

Complete 40,000km in RUSA rides - a lifetime achievement award.

John Lee Ellis - 2009
Catherine Shenk - 2012
Paul Foley - 2015

And finally, here is a one-year award, listing all Colorado awardees over time ...

American Randonneur Challenge

Complete two or more RUSA 1200km or longer events in one season.

2006	John Lee Ellis	Boston-Montreal-Boston / Last Chance
2006	Vernon Smith	Cascade 1200 / Last Chance
2008	Tom Knoblauch	Cascade 1200 / Last Chance
2010	John Lee Ellis	Shenandoah 1200 / Last Chance
2010	Irene Takahashi	Cascade 1200 / Last Chance
2013	John Lee Ellis	Gold Rush Randonnee / The Big Wild Ride
2014	Paul Foley	Colorado High Country / Natchez Trace 1500

Courtesy Randonneurs USA

A Final Thought

I would just say that this is both a recognition of accomplished - and persistent - randonneurs who are our fellow riders, and also an encouragement to you! 

RUSA has created these awards over time to give you more and more diverse goals to shoot for. Maybe you don't have the personal time to achieve K-Hound mileage, but have the grit to complete an R-12 ride each month for a year in hot and cold, sun and snow.

Then there are limits and expectations ... and what you can do about them. The Can-Am Challenge was created in the 90's as a challenge to ride not one but two 1200k's in a season. This had not been a rational expectation up to that point. The American Randonneur Challenge is the same award but for RUSA-only 1200k's. And plenty of randonneurs have manage to achieve it.

That doesn't mean you should aim for the ARC, just that you should leave your imagine open for new goals over time.

You can find details on each of these awards via the RUSA Awards page, 

including all those who've applied for recognition.

Bonne route!

-jle