In 2003 458 Americans crossed the Atlantic and participated in the premier ultracycling event, Paris-Brest-Paris. In 2006 a half-dozen Americans went to Europe to compete in LeTour Ultime and 37 riders from 13 countries outside the US competed in the Race Across America.

Ultracycling has long been an international sport:

• In 1975 four Americans rode in P-B-P. I rode my first of five P-B-Ps in 1979.
• Herman De Munck, who had many first place finishes in Paris, came to the US in 1984 to compete in RAAM, but dropped after 1,605 miles.
• In 1987 Franz Spilauer, from Austria, was the RAAM rookie of the year and in 1988 he won the race from San Francisco, CA to the Washington Monument, D.C. Since 1987 Europeans have competed in every RAAM.
• In 1991 Gerry Tatrai from Australia raced his first of eight RAAM, including two wins. Over the same period Americans and Europeans have gone down under to ride in randonnées.
• In the last several years Americans and Canadians have gone to Europe to race in RAAM Qualifiers.
• Team Brazil took third in the 1994 Team RAAM and since then Brazil has been represented in six RAAMs.
• Riders from many countries come to Canada to ride one of their 1200 km randonnées and cyclists come to the US to ride 1200 kms.

Three international ultracycling organizations sanction and coordinate events worldwide:

• The Randonneurs Mondiaux sanctions 1200 km randonnées.
• The Audax Club Parisien sanctions all other brevets.
• The UMCA sanctions other events.

The UMCA's organizational structure is international and we are committed to improving each piece of the organization to better serve riders and event organizers around the world:

International Liaison
In 1998 I appointed Reinhard Schroeder to represent the UMCA in Europe. Schroeder retired and early this year I appointed Chris Hopkinson to represent the UMCA in northern Europe and Fabio Biasiolo to represent the UMCA in southern Europe. The next step is to develop liaison relationships with other countries and continents.