Biggest Breveto event ever organised in Croatia, the BRM200 Štrigova was held over the weekend in Međimurje
With 75 starters and 75 finishers, BRM200 Štrigova was the biggest gathering of randonneurs in Croatia up to date. Breveto is a cycling event (often called randonnee) that features extremely long rides from 200 up to 1400km, and official results were published on April 5, 2016, on the Randonneurs Croatie page .
Participants do not race, they ride and have set up start and end times so most of the events can be finished in a timely factor.
Randonnee in french means a walk or a long trip, "breveto" is a piece of paper riders carry with to stamp it on control points. Breveto is not a race, riders do not compete, rides are tests of endurance and independence. Randonneurs (riders) need to carry everything they need with themselves (clothes, spare parts, tools, lights etc.).
There are four classic breveto rides: 200, 300, 400 and 600km and finishers of those rides every year get a title "Super Randonneur". Every four years a club from Paris, France "Audax Club Parisien" holds a Breveto event "Paris - Bres - Paris" or "PBP" where qualified randonneurs get to participate in a 1227 long ride. With a tradition going back to 1891 this type of events are older even than Tour de France.
Why is this so special for Croatia? Međimurje organiser holds the most popular Brevetos in Croatia, and possibly region, with the first one being BRM200 that was held past Saturday in Štrigova. The riders passed through three countries on a ride from Štrigova to Leibniz in Austria and back. 75 riders started and all 75 finished in a spectacular event.
"It was one of the nicest events we held. I'm especially happy that all the riders finished it. We had 75 starters, a number that our colleagues from Zagreb said was the biggest in Croatia. The start was in Štrigova, a beautiful place in upper Međimurje and we passed through tree countries on our ride to Leibniz. From Croatia, we rode through Slovenia into Austria and back" said Nenad Ciglar from MBK Mura, a traditional randonneur, and organizer of these type of events in Međimurje.
Even though Štrigova is a traditional wine county, randonneurs enjoyed a post ride beer in Kult, a cult bar that was both a starting and end point of the first Breveto of the year.
