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The Cycling Adventurer
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Rowan Burns
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My Trophy Cabinet
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Life milestones on the shelf
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Keith Welsh Award
The Keith Welsh AWard was my pinnacle achievement in journalism. It was awarded annually by the Tasmanian branch of the Australian Journalists Association. It is now presented by the Media and Arts Alliance, which the AJA became some years ago. The award is named after Keith Welsh, a popular journalist with The Mercury newspaper who specialised in reporting on sports, particularly football and his beloved croquet.
I won the award after a particularly busy and successful year that involved writing, sub-editing and page layout. It was a privilege to win the award as I had known Keith Welsh for many years — my father was a colleague journalist of his, and I remember spending many Saturdays in the 1960s at Australian Rules football matches and in The Mercury office with Keith in the background. He retired before I entered journalism, but I always remember him as being a very pleasant man who was dedicated to his work and his wife. As far as I know he is still alive, and celebrated his 100th birthday several years ago.
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Paris-Brest-Paris plaque
I completed PBP in 2003 then about four months later, the plaque engraved with my finishing time, arrived along with my homologated brevet card. It is a very handsome metal plate and was a reward for the effort of qualifying, getting to Paris and doing the event. It was my first 1200 and very tough.
The plaque represents for me a major cycling achievement in a segment of the sport that I had pursued for only 18 months. Naturally, I am looking forward to returning in August 2007 for the next running of PBP and to ride with my partner, Charlene, whom I met in person for the first time on the event in 2003. Go to Audax Club Parisien for information about the 2007 edition.
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Super Randonneur Medal
This was my first tangible reward in randonneuring. It was enclosed with the participant information pack provided at registration in France for Paris-Brest-Paris — which is natural, because the Audax Club Parisien organises PBP and sanctions all randonnees under 1000km.
The award is presented to any member of an ACP affiliate who completes events in a single year covering separately the distances of 200, 300, 400 and 600km. For PBP, I and my fellow Tasmanians, Tim Stredwick and Paul Gregory, substituted a second 600km ride for the 400, which is permissible in the rules.
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Great Southern Randonnee 1200 Medal
When randonnees are 1200km or longer, except for Paris-Brest-Paris, they fall under the domain of Les Randonneurs Mondiaux, which also is based in France. Finishers of these events within the allotted times generally are presented medallions.
The first award for a 1200 for me obviously was for PBP, but the next to come was at the finish of the Great Southern Randonnee 1200 in Victoria, Australia, in late 2004. I remember that as I rode into the recreation ground as the last rider to finish, co-organiser Peter Moore moved quickly towards me with the medal in his outstretched hand and said: "Congratulations". There was something really satisfying about finishing and receiving that piece of metal immediately.
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Last Chance Randonnee medal
This is another version of the LRM medal, but I had to wait for around five months for this one to arrive. It has a silver plating, or at least I assume so because the black tarnish needs to be removed with polishing from time to time.
This particular award has its own merits. The Last Chance appeared to be a relatively easy 1200 on paper, traversing an out-and-back route across the plains of Colorado and Kansas. But it was far from easy, with headwinds most of the way out, and unstable weather most of the way back;each of the constant rollers also became their own unrelenting challenge.
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Audax Australia badges
The badges represent the distances of the rides that qualify a rider both for the Super Randonneur Medal, and every four years for Paris-Brest-Paris. Each country has its own method of recognition, and for Audax Australia, it is these lapel badges.
I don't wear lapel badges or put them on my handlebar bags or elsewhere as others might, but they are nice mementoes of my first series of long-distance rides, completed in December 2002 to January 2003.
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ATTA medallion
The Australia Time Trials Association conducted an annual series in Hobart, Australia, over a 7km course that started on the waterfront in Sandy Bay and finished about 300 metres higher on Bonnet Hill. I am not a good competitive cyclist, but I did four of the TTs in one season, and that qualified me for the very handsome brass medallion. The time on the back is just under 20 minutes; one factor why I never did really well on the Tuesday TTs was because I generally had finished a randonnee the previous weekend and was still recovering!
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Helios Paramedics Award
My heart attack on 1 February 1997 had a profound effect on my outlook on life. I was sailing aboard the yacht, Helios, when I had the attack. The doctors at Royal Perth Hospital later said a miracle had happened in front of them as I moved past the attack and recovered. I took up cycling afterwards. I do look back occasionally to remind myself of what might have transpired and how I added at least another 10 years to my life. You can read more about this here.
The crew on board Helios were a great bunch. The Wednesday twilight racing crew was always jammed with interesting people, and the owner-skipper, Chris Higham, and his wife Allie were excellent hosts. Out of all the people I met in Perth, they are the ones I miss the most. I had a lot of fun on board Helios.
So it was a great surprise at the 1997 end-of-season get-together to get this little trophy from the Highams. It showed great thought and sense of humour and despite it not being for any outstanding effort — apart from staying alive — it takes pride of place among my other trophies in the cabinet!
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