About Fleche

"Fleche" is the French word for “arrow”. Teams consisting of 3 (minimum) to 5 (maximum) riders will start on the specified date of the Korean fleche.

Fleche Route & Team

The Fleche

"Fleche" is the French word for “arrow”. It is a team brevet takes place at the second Saturday of April every year. On Saturday at 9 am, teams starting from all over Korea arrive in Gwangju at 9 am after exactly 24 hours in order to enjoy the the celebration lunch. During the lunch, the award ceremony takes place ; KR5000 medals of the past year are handed out, also the members with the most brevet kilometers in the year are honored.

A team consists of 3 to 5 people and ride at least 360km on their own. In order for a team to finish successfully, at least 3 members have to arrive in Gwangju within 24 hours. Fleche rules dictate a mandatory 22 hour control (=last control) at least 25 km from Gwangju. (See "22h Control" below.)
  Flèche 1947

Fleche Teams

Riders interested in joining a team should contact the respective team leader. Randonneurs who wish to form their own team should contact Jan Boonstra to make arrangements.
One week before the fleche, the team leader will receive the control cards by postal mail. The fee is 150,000 won per team, this includes the joint lunch at the arrival.
The teamleader collects the fee from each member and transfers the money to the Korea Randonneurs bank account by the following date. He or she is responsible for compliance with the rules for each team member.
See the Fleche info page for information about the teams and the routes of the upcoming fleche this year.

The Route  

Each team can make the course starting from anywhere in Korea as long as the total distance is more than 360km to Gwangju. Routes, including proposed control locations, should be submitted to Jan Boonstra by the following date. Your route proposal must be completed in a track file in GPX format.

Please click the link above to download and check the Fleche route design guidelines.

Your route proposal must be completed in a track file in GPX format, also showing the control points. Jan Boonstra will check the proposal carefully and will ask the team leader to make corrections or additions, if necessary. When approved, the team and its route will be shown on the Fleche Route & Team.

Routes of different teams should be unique, routes may coincide or overlap for short sections, but the starting place should at least be unique. Refer to the Maps link for the exact location of the finish.

The Controls

As a control, a convenience store or police office serves well, but note that banks and post offices are closed on Saturdays. Each team member must receive a stamp on his control card, in which the date and place name are shown. If a convenience store has no stamp, each team member should bring a receipt. The locations of start and finish are exact, but controls on the way do not need to be exactly identified in advance, as long as the actual control is in the same town / city as in the proposal. The controls should be chosen in such a way that taking a shortcut during the ride is not possible.

If at a desired control location there is no convenience store nearby, Korea Randonneurs offers the option of a "photo control". The team leader takes a picture of his team members at a fixed location and sends this picture immediately from the spot to the staff member mentioned on the control card, using Kakao Talk or text message service SMS. The fixed location must be chosen in advance and must be included in the fleche proposal. A photo image of the fixed location should be made in advance or extracted from Daum- or Naver streetview pictures. Features, shown in this picture, must also be shown in the actual picture taken on the spot during the fleche.

22h Control

Fleche rules dictate a mandatory 22 hour control (=last control) at least 25 km from Gwangju. Each team is allowed to depart from this control only at or after 7 a.m. on arrival day and proceed to Gwangju.