Queen City Striders

Regular Meeting Minutes

February 16, 2007

 

 

The February regular monthly meeting of the Queen City Striders was called to order by President Rob Smith at 7:30pm. Members present at the meeting were President Rob Smith, Vice-President Jaron Hawkins, Jeremy Rice, George Nolan, Tom Dawson, Joe Altobello, Shauna McQuade, and Brian Grove.

 

Minutes: The minutes for the January meeting were not read.

 

Announcements

            Future Meeting Dates: President Rob Smith set the dates for regular monthly meetings for the remainder of 2010. It was noted that the July and August meeting dates coincide with Junior Striders events. Those meetings will be held following the conclusion of Junior Striders events at those locations. The July meeting will be at Keyser High School and the August meeting will be held at Dan’s Mountain State Park under the pavilion.

            Other Conferences: President Smith asked if there were any upcoming meetings or conference that officers of the club should be concerned with. Jeremy Rice noted that Thursday, February 18, he and Rob Smith will be attending a Grantsville Lions Club meeting to discuss the prospective Grantsville Days mile race.

            George Nolan also made officers aware that as past president he had attended meetings of the Georges Creek Watershed Association since they organize a 5k in October. The next meeting of the GCWA will be on March 16th. George would like to see the Striders to continue to work closely with the GCWA.

            Jaron Hawkins highlighted the meeting of presidents of Maryland RRCA members will take place in Columbia, MD on Sunday, February 28th following the RRCA 10-mile Challenge. George Nolan has attended this meeting as past president of the QCS and thinks it is a benefit for the current President to attend.

 

Reports and Information

            Officer Reports: Officers present at the meeting detailed the QCS work that they had accomplished since the last monthly meeting.

            Vice-President Jaron Hawkins talked about the work that he did for the Annual Banquet and results of the Membership Survey that was taken at the banquet. Results indicate that the majority of members would still like to see a paper version of the newsletter, as well as web content focusing on club members and training information. Jaron stated that the QCS is committed to giving the membership what it wants as long as it is feasible.

            Question s for Officers: Jaron Hawkins voiced the only question to officers. The question posed was about requiring race directors to be a member of QCS. Hawkins mentioned that for 2009, there were a number of race directors that were not members of QCS. Jaron noted that if this policy is in place to help ensure liability insurance that we should make sure that all race directors are QCS members in 2010 and let none fall through the cracks. President Smith will talk to past president Randy Lowe about why this policy is in place. President Smith will also talk to the insurance provider as to what is actually covered under our insurance policy through the RRCA.

            Race Directors Update: Joe Altobello and Shauna McQuade were present to discuss the races the are directing this spring. Joe Altobello thanked the Striders for selecting the Maple Festival 5k to be part of the 2010 Circuit. Joe mentioned a need to change the finish line to help increase runner safety. He also talked about possibly having to change the course due to snow that may remain on the current course. If need be, Joe will change the course to be the same as the Run to Remember Travis Macina course.

            Shauna McQuade talked about a need for bib numbers for her race, Catch Me If You Can to be held on May 1st at Rocky Gap. Jaron Hawkins opined that since the race is a trail run, it will need to be marked very well.

 

Old Business

QCS 09-01 RRCA Convention: Jeremy Rice, head of the RRCA Convention Exploratory Committee, updated the club on a request by the Mountain Maryland Marathon Club to assist and partner in an effort to bring the 2012 RRCA National Convention to Allegany County. The RRCA Convention Exploratory Committee met with the Mountain Maryland Marathon Club in mid-December. There were a number of ideas tossed around at the meeting. The resulting outcome was that the Striders would need to see more solid numbers on costs related to hotels, travel, and food. The QCS would also need to have more partnerships in place for the convention to occur such as a place to hold the convention, official hotels, caterers, etc.

With the deadline to apply for the 2012 convention as January 15, 2010, the QCS tasked the Mountain Maryland Marathon Club with establishing partners and presenting a list of costs to the RRCA Convention Exploratory Committee no later than the QCS January monthly meeting on January 12th. The Mountain Maryland Marathon Club failed to meet these requests and the QCS did not partner in a bid to host the 2012 RRCA National Convention.     

            After this update by Chairman Rice, Jaron Hawkins made a motion that we no longer pursue the RRCA National Convention in partnership with the Mountain Maryland Marathon Club for 2012 or for the foreseeable future. He also made a motion to dissolve the RRCA Comvention Exploratory Committee. Jeremy Rice seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously.

QCS 09-02 Assessment of Snowflake Chase: President Rob Smith and members Tom Dawson and Jeremy Rice gave a detailed assessment of the Snowflake Chase. It was noted that there again were problems with walkers deciding to run the race after signing up as a walker. This caused some problem in figuring out the results in a timely manner.

 

New Business

            QCS 10-01 Race Director Meeting: President Rob Smith discussed that the QCS Board of Directors would like to see a meeting with all race directors to address how to properly manage a race as well as the details of the relationship between events and QCS. This is also an opportunity to address any questions from race directors.

            Vice-President Jaron Hawkins suggested that this course consist of three components: 1)an overview from a long-time race director, 2)an overview from a race timer, 3)an overview from volunteers that normally work the finish line.

            Jaron Hawkins made a motion that the QCS design a course for race directors and set two tentative dates for the course. Jeremy Rice seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. President Smith set the tentative dates as Thursday March 4th and Thursday March 11th. A location will be found by President Smith with information to be posted on the QCS website ASAP and also sent out via e-mail to all race directors.

            QCS 10-02 Race Timing: President Smith discussed a need to archive pulled bib numbers for approximately 1-2 months following a race in case any problems with the results should arise. This will serve as a backup to error ensued when entering data into the timing software. Tom Dawson made a motion that we draft a procedure for archiving race bib pull-tags. Jeremy Rice seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.

            QCS 10-03 2010 Budget: With Treasurer Tommy Chandler absent from the meeting, discussing the 2010 budget was tabled. President Smith, however, noted that he would like to appoint a budget committee with member Randy Lowe as Chairman. Tom Dawson made a motion that the QCS establish a budget committee and have Randy Lowe as Chairman. Jeremy Rice seconding the motion and it passed unanimously.

 

 

 

 

QCS 10-04 Form New Committee

            Public Relations Manager: Vice-President updated the club on the creation of the position of Public Relations Manager. He detailed a meeting of the Executive Committee following the Annual Banquet. That meeting resulted in the creation of said position being held by Dan Dewitt.

            Vice-President Hawkins stated that this position was created to manage all media for QCS. Any material to be posted on the QCS website could only be posted with approval of this position. The Public Relations Manager will also be responsible for the newsletter, press releases to media outlets as well as race coverage and promotion.

            Revisions to Mutual Support Document: Vice-President Hawkins noted that he felt changes should be made to the Mutual Support Document to make the document more binding. Hawkins felt that with the addition of a new timing service, QCS could ultimately see fees agreed on by race directors not be garnered by the QCS. Hawkins mentioned that work QCS does for races does not take part on a one-day basis but instead throughout a 3-4 month period. Hawkins mentioned that the possibility existed for a race to utilize services such as mailings and course measurement, but then utilize a timing service other than the Striders. This could complicate matters when it comes to collecting fees for services QCS has performed. Hawkins suggested that a document be constructed that a race director would have to sign. The document would state that the race director agree to the fees charged by QCS for those services listed in the Mutual Support Document. Hawkins thought that there should be a clause that stated if a race director chose another timing service, but had already utilized some of the QCS services, the race director should be charged for those services.

            President Rob Smith explained that he felt a contract would be a good step to ensure QCS retain fees for services rendered. However, Smith thought that the agreement should be more of a “good faith” contract.

            Vice-President Jaron Hawkins made a motion to explore changing the Mutual Support Document to include a contractual agreement between race directors and the QCS for services rendered. Tom Dawson seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.

            Equipment Committee: Chairman Tom Dawson gave an inventory of equipment owned by the club. Chairman Dawson noted that the clock is getting old and will need to be refurbished or replaced soon. President Smith and Chairman Dawson agreed to work together over the next few weeks and report back to the club at the next monthly meeting with prices to replace the finish line clock.

            Chairman Dawson also mentioned that the Gateway laptop used to time races died at the Snowflake Chase. The laptop will either need to be repaired or replaced. President Smith will look into getting it looked at. Vice-President Hawkins noted that an effort needs to be made to pull all the data off of the hard drive since in houses previous race results and all of the formatting used to time those races. He noted that it would take many man hours of work to reformat those races.

            Junior Striders Committee: President Smith suggested appointing a committee for Junior Striders. Vice-President Hawkins noted that there really isn’t a lot of work that goes into Junior Striders. The club just needs somebody to take care of the initial flyers as well as t-shirts and pizza at the final race. No committee was formed.

            Membership Committee: Chairman Jeremy Rice filled the club in on details of trying to increase perks for members. Chairman Rice is currently pursuing t-shirts for club members. No final costs have yet been assessed and Chairman Rice noted that we would need to discuss this further with Treasurer Chandler.

            Vice-President Hawkins suggested that another way to increase membership might be to have a membership drive at the Snowflake Chase and offer reduced prices on that day only. Hawkins opined that it may help the club set a better annual budget with more money upfront early in year.

            Mailing: Vice-President Hawkins discussed the next club mailing. With races coming up in March, he noted that a mailing should be sent out ASAP. Hawkins would like to see the mailing out no later than March 1st. All material for the mailing should be sent to the Public Relations Manager. Hawkins outlined the material that would need to go in the mailing including race flyers through June, a listing of 2010 Circuit Races, the new club officers, and a letter from the President.

 

Other Business

            Marine Corp Marathon: Vice-President Hawkins discussed trying to get a gigantic representation from the Striders at the Marine Corps Marathon on October 31st. Hawkins noted that it has been a while since the Striders sent a large contingent to an out-of-town race. Hawkins views this as an opportunity to promote our club and camaraderie amongst club members. It was noted that in 2007 and 2008, the Queen City Striders won the team competition at Marine Corps. Hawkins would like to see a male team, a female team, as well as male and female Masters teams.

            Vice-President Hawkins will type up something for the website as well as the mailing to get interest in this group endeavor.

 

Adjourn: The meeting was adjourned by President Rob Smith at 9:26pm. The next regular meeting is scheduled for March 9th at 7:30 PM at Kelly’s Bar.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

 

Jaron Hawkins

Interim Secretary