Kottayam youths earn global honours for long-distance cycling

Kottayam youths earn global honours for long-distance cycling
Renju Joan and Kiran C Kurien, who earned the title of Super Randonneurs in cycling.

Kottayam: Two youths belonging to Kottayam in Kerala took up cycling in a bid to shed their excess weight. However, the exercise eventually grew into a passion and finally led them to secure the title of Super Randonneurs, a global honour given to long-distance amateur cyclists for completing a series of races called brevets in the same year.

Renju Joan of Kanjikuzhi in Kottayam town and Kiran C Kurien of Vakathanam village, 18 km away, secured the prestigious title bestowed on cyclists who complete distances of 200, 300, 400 and 600 km within a stipulated time in one season.

Renju and Kiran covered all the four distances separately during the last two months. On November 27, they completed their cycling trip of 400 km in 27 hours during a championship held in Bengaluru. On December 6, they covered 300 km in Kochi within 20 hours. Later, on December 11, they finished 600 km in 40 hours at a competition in Bengaluru. This was followed by covering 200 km in 13.5 hours in Kochi on December 20, thus bagging the title of Super Randonneurs.

Renju and Kiran say that their next goal is completing a cycling trip of 1,000 km. They also dream about participating in Paris-Brest Brevet, the most prestigious event at the Amateur Cycling Championship to be held in France in 2023.

Members of the Kottayam Cycling Club, the two youths reduced their weight significantly after starting cycling for exercise. Renju, who weighed 104 kg two years ago, now stands at 77 kg, while Kiran could slash his flab from 86 kg to 69 kg in one year.

Renju is the owner of Christ Holidays, a taxi cab service, and Kiran, who belongs to Chirathalattu House in Vakathanam, has a gas agency.

Randonneuring is a long-distance cycling sport. It is called Audax in UK, Australia and Brazil. "Brevet de Randonneur Mondiaux or BRM is long-distance cycling within prescribed time limits in designated but unmarked routes with control points to check off."

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