Hudson Mohawk Road Runners Club
Point-of-Woods
Community Center
October 13, 2004
7:30 PM
Attendance: Dave Bacon, Susie Bacon, Lori Christina,
Jessica Spatz, Mark French, Jim Gilmer, Robert Irwin, Barbara Hammond, Gregg
Hammond, Neil Snedeker, Tim McGuire, Ray Newkirk, Vince Juliano, Robert Moore,
Don Wilken, Elaine Humphrey, Jim Thomas, Jim Tierney, Nancy Briskie and Debbie
Beach.
Call to Order (J. Gilmer/R.
Irwin): Jim Gilmer called the meeting the order at
7:32 pm. Jim thanked all the officers
and committee members for all the help and work. Jim presented Jess with a going away gift in appreciation of her
work. His final act was to pass the
baton (literally) onto Bob.
Reading and approval of
minutes (D. Beach, B. Hammond): Motion made
by Ray to accept the minutes as written with a second from Susie. Motion
passed.
Reports of Officers:
President
(R. Irwin): Bob thanked Jim and feels HMRRC is a club
that promotes health and wellness which are similar to the reasons he chose his
profession. Bob received some
concerns/criticisms regarding the marathon, specifically chip distribution,
which he passed onto Elaine.
Executive
Vice President (R.Newkirk): No report.
Executive
Vice President – Finance (J. Thomas): All is fine
and a budget is being prepared.
Secretary
(D. Beach, B. Hammond): No report.
Treasurer
(M. Hannah): No report.
Reports of Standing
Committees:
Membership
(N. Briskie): Nancy reported for the month of August there
were a total of 34 new individual memberships, 2 family renewals, 14 family
memberships, 85 individual renewal memberships, 6 people interested in
volunteering, two donations and 1 gift membership. For September there were 11 new family memberships, 30 new
individual memberships, 21 family renewals, 50 individual renewals, 5 people
interested in volunteering and two donations totaling $188.00. Ken Orner represented the club at the Health
Fair that was held at Thomson Delmar Learning Center on September 24th
and reported all went well. An ad was put in Adirondack Sport and Fitness
(about business card size) to solicit new members and to direct them to the
website. This ad costs $29.00 per month. Don made a motion to continue the ad
with a second from Robert Moore. Motion
passed. Vince offered to take membership brochures when he promotes the
Stockade-athon. Lori suggested trying
e-group/chat room be established again as Nancy has been getting frequent
requests for information regarding running groups, etc.
Volunteers
(T. McGuire): Tim reported that recruitment for the
marathon went fairly smoothly. Vince requested volunteers from the Schenectady
area. Ray offered to pull out the Schenectady zip codes out of the membership
list.
Public
Relations (P. Murray): No report
Race
Committee (D. Bowden): Debbie read Doug’s report
(submitted by e-mail), which is as
follows:
Town of New Scotland 7.1 Mile Race: Congratulations to new directors, Russ Hoyer and Jim
Thomas, who had a recent record of 107 finishers, including 21 Team Utopia
runners. In the past five years, the race has usually attracted 70-80
competitors. Jim
Thomas provided a complete financial report.
Marathon
and Half Marathon: Elaine Humphrey reported that 400 registered
for the half marathon. There were 407
finishers marathon with 460 registered.
The course had to be changed by a 1/10 of mile due to Columbus Day
parade. She is in contact the parade
coordinator to discuss a possible cooperative venture for 2005. She is also going to explore the possibility
of doing a race weekend in Albany possible with Race for Literacy. No financial report is available at this
time. Elaine explained the problem with the chips.
Race
Schedule:
Winter
Series Race #1: This year’s race has
been rescheduled from December 12 to December 5, 2004. UAlbany changed the date
of the Winter Commencement to December 12, 2004 and requested that we
reschedule our race to avoid a conflict with the graduation. The November Pacesetter will display the new date in
a box on the cover. All other media and electronic schedules have been
adjusted.
2005
Race Schedule: The 2005 schedule is
posted on www.hmrrc.com. The schedule will
be printed in the December Pacesetter.
Changes from the schedule originally presented at the September 8th
club meeting include: (1) at the
request of race directors Pat Glover and Ken Skinner, the date of the
Anniversary Race has been changed from September 11th to September
18, 2005. The Arsenal run is the following weekend, September 25th;
(2) the date of the Fall Marathon is currently shown as T.B.D. (To Be
Determined) to allow consideration of dates other than the Columbus Day
Weekend.
Winter
Series Race Directors Meeting: Ed
Thomas has scheduled the meeting for Monday, November 15 at 6:00 PM at his
home.
Race
Insurance: Certificates have been
received for the Stockade-athon and Turkey Raffle Run.
Race Equipment: Doug Bowden has purchased 25 new traffic control flags and a case (12 cans) of yellow, temporary spray marking chalk for $290.24. New equipment will be stored at USATF.
National
Running Industry Conference, February 3-6, 2005, San Diego, CA: Doug recommends that the club send Mark French and
one additional major club event director to the conference. Conference
registration is $395 per person (by November 1, 2004). With air fare and
lodging, total cost would be about $1250 per person. Doug expects to spend
approximately $2,000 less than was budgeted for race committee expenses in
2004. Doug recommends spending $790 of this surplus to register two race
directors for the conference by November 1, 2004 and rolling the remainder of
the surplus into 2005 to support attendance at the conference.
A discussion of Doug’s recommendation to send Mark
and Elaine to the conference followed.
Mark explained the conference and benefits of attending. Mark has had e-mail contact with the
director of the event. Lori mentioned
the positives of networking. Jim Thomas
made the motion the club pay the registration, air fare and lodging for Mark
and Elaine to attend the conference with a second from Gregg. Following further discussion the motion was
passed.
GHI Challenge: Mark French presented information on the GHI
Challenge. The management committee has
decided to dissociate the GHI Challenge from the national event. He complimented Al Maikels for leaving great
records as the former race director and the 15 people on the current management
committee. The 2005 event will be the
25th anniversary. A public
relations firm has been hired for $12, 000 to help promote the event and they
have had experience with other not for profits. A launch event will be held in January 2005. The Honorary race director for 2005 is John
Gray from Fox 23. The charity is
Vanderhyden Hall. The team aspect of the event will be the focus of 2005 with
hopes of increasing registration by 10%.
The GHI contract is between club and GHI and following a legal review by
Ray Newkirk, Mark will give it to Bob Irwin to sign. At the next GHI meeting there will be a chip timing presentation
by Granite. Arrangements will be made
for team photos. An informal focus group compromised of hopefully
representatives of 50 teams will be held at Desmond to discuss specific topics. The tribute teams for 2005 will be from education
profession. There was a 10% growth in
teams in 2004 when compared to 2003.
Total revenue was $102,740.50 with $69, 242.79 in expenses which left
$33, 497.71. The amount of $6,500.00
will be kept in the event account leaving a total profit to club of $26, 997
from 2004 event. Discussion was made that as the race is going through a major
transformation a budget of the 2005 event be available for the club. Don made a motion to endorse in principal a
type of event that Mark is putting together and that a when a budget is
available, it should be brought to the club, with a second by Vince. Motion passed.
Race Committee Treasurer (S. Bacon): Debbie provided Susie’s report.
She had an opening balance of $5473.22 and a closing balance of $5043.94. The Winter Marathon reported a loss of
$568.90 compared to $142.00 in 2003.
The Pentathlon reported a profit of $50.75 compared to a loss of $66.00
in 2003. The Bethlehem Cross Country
Series reported a profit of $159.92 compared to a loss of $11.00 in 2003. The Anniversary Run reported a loss of
$192.30 compared to a loss of $220.00 in 2003.
Outstanding reports include The Mother’s Day Race, SEFCU Labor Day 5K
and MHR Marathon.
Safety Committee (H. Hennessy): No report.
Pace Setter (D. Wilken, E. Neiles): Don reported the Pace Setter is humming along smoothly. There are 3 production editors. Don’s responsibility has become recruiting
writers and photographers. Don
requested Bob form a committee to search for an editor.
Reports of Special
Committees:
Grand
Prix Subcommittee (J. Moore): No report.
Hall
of Fame (C. Kelly): Tom Bulger is the 2004 Hall of
Fame inductee.
Pace
Setter Editor Search Committee: Bob
reported that this committee will be formed following a discussion with Jim Gilmer. A chairperson is needed.
Unfinished Business:
Legal
Review of Scholarship Procedure (B. Irwin): Bob
reported that he had received an e-mail from John Vero requesting information
from Jim Thomas concerning the clubs not for profit status.
Safety
Campaign Report (J. Gilmer, J. Merlis): Jim Gilmer
reported that the person doing the work has not produced. He will be following up with a letter which
will request a product or the matter will be taken to small claims court.
Strategic
Planning Committee (J. Gilmer): No action
and will discuss with Bob Irwin.
New Business:
Stockade-athon
Health and Fitness Expo (Don Wilken): Don has
been in contact with a podiatrist, Jennifer Hutton, who has volunteered to be
available and even recruit one or two others to man a booth (a 6 hour
commitment) representing HMRRC and/or to conduct a seminar at the expo. Don requested that the club pay the $500.00
for the booth. A discussion was
held. Don made a motion to pay $500 to
have a booth, which was seconded by Vince.
The motion was passed. Don will
follow-up with Jennifer and the coordinator of the expo from the Daily
Gazette.
Banquet
(D. Beach, S. Bacon): Debbie reported an ad will be
in the Pace Setter for November. Times
will be set for the presentations of awards.
Stockade-athon: Vince reported an ad campaign has started in Gazette and
Adirondack Sport and Fitness. 150
runners are already pre-registered.
1000 runners expected. The
Stockade-athon is the 4th oldest 15K and 10th largest in
the country. Ed Witlock is coming back
due to the hospitality he received and he enjoyed the race.
ARE
(Robert Moore): Robert reported that the ARE
is going to Niagara Falls to run marathon and half marathon.
Nancy
Taormina (Debbie Beach): Deb reported that in the
United Technologies Greater Hartford Marathon held on October 8th,
Nancy was the 8th woman overall and the 3rd master in a
time of 3:09 in a field of about 1250 finishers.
Announcements:
Refreshments: Sign up list for the upcoming months will be passed around at the
November meeting.
Meeting
adjourned at 9:21pm, with a motion made Ray, seconded by Nancy. Motion passed.
Respectfully
submitted by,
Debbie
Beach