The whole point of paying LRM or AUK or ACP is that they homologate the ride. The idea being that if I do a ride homologated by ACP in .NL, and you do one in .BE, then we can both look at each other and know we've both achieved the same standard. The same is true if we both do a ride homologated by AUK or LRM.
Take out the homologation, and its just a ride. It's no longer a Randonee, or a brevet or an audax.
Except it's not a few pence, is it? In 2021 I am likely to pay £4,500 in temporary membership fees to AUK, £600 in AUK validation fees and 3,000 euros in LRM validation fees. That's over £7,500 or £3.75 per rider of LEL. For that LEL receives what looks like will be a token route check, no insurance cover, no brevets, no entry management and no publicity support. To be clear, LEL is the only event that AUK will not cover with their insurance without us paying a premium.
In 2013 we validated our own cards with stickers provided by LRM. We were charged £4,000 for the stickers and it was years before those results appeared anywhere except on our own website. Admittedly in 2017 we were an administrative burden to AUK, resulting in a pretty sharp email from AUK about getting my cards in order for 2021.
So yes, that £7,500 pays for homolgation, an almost abstract concept, and nothing else. I'd argue that that is very poor value for money.
