4 Provinces
A geographic award specific to Ireland. You must complete at least one qualifying ride in each of the four Irish provinces (Connacht, Leinster, Munster, and Ulster) within a single season.
At a glance
- Rides that count
- Any ride of 200 km or more that starts in Ireland
- Where
- One starting in each of Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster
- When
- One Audax season, 1 November to 31 October
- Permanents
- One at most, and not in your home province
The main challenge is covering all four provinces within the same season. Check the calendar early and plan which events give you province coverage. Permanents offer a flexible backup for one province, but remember you cannot use a permanent in your home province.
The permanent allowance is there so you don't have to travel a long way, at real expense, to reach a calendar event in a far province. You ride it on a date you choose, arranged with the route's organiser.
From the road: A permanent lists a start, but you can start it anywhere along its route, and for 4 Provinces it is where you start that counts. A permanent listed from Dublin or Galway may pass through Cavan or Monaghan. Start it on that stretch and it counts for Ulster. Only one permanent can count, and it cannot be in your home province. In the tracker, set the ride's county to the one you started in.
Your home province is set in Settings. The country and county on the ride determine its province; your home province controls the permanent restriction. If you change your home province, your 4 Provinces progress recalculates automatically.
Claiming the medal
The medal is optional, and currently free, but you only get it by sending in the Audax Ireland claim form. Once all four provinces are covered, the award shows as ready on the Claims page, where the tracker fills in the form with your qualifying rides. See Claiming Awards for how that works.
Track 4 Provinces as you ride
Sign in with Strava and the free tracker shows how close you are to 4 Provinces, which of your rides count, and what is left.
Other awards
- Super Randonneur A 200, 300, 400 and 600 km brevet in one season.
- 4 Nations Super Randonneur A Super Randonneur series with each distance in a different nation: England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
- Brevet 2000 and 5000 2,000 or 5,000 km of qualifying rides in one season.
- RRTY and RRTY 100 A ride of 200 km, or 100 km for RRTY 100, in each of 12 consecutive months.
- The Easter Flèche A team ride to a shared finish: 360 km or more in 24 hours, at Easter.
- SR600 One demanding 600 km ride through the mountains, with 8,000 m or more of climbing.
All Audax Ireland awards also covers the time windows awards use and how to plan a season around them.