HTC Executive Board Meeting - 17 May 2005

Board Members Present: David Purinton (President), Kathy Youngren (Treasurer), Harold Tinsley (VP-Communications), Anne Park (Secretary), Jim Oaks (Appointed Member—Cotton Row Director), Dick Franklin (VP-Races & Equipment), Suzanne Taylor (Appointed Member—Rocket City Marathon Director), Craig Armstrong (Appointed Member—Past Officer), Ashley Cain (VP-Programs).

Also present was Louise Tinsley, Huntsville Track Club Member.

The meeting was held in the conference room at Southwood Presbyterian Church, Huntsville, Alabama, and began at 6:45 p.m. To start things off, Jim gave an update of the Cotton Row Run preparations. Total entries so far are similar to this time last year except that we have more in the 1-mile, approximately 100 less in the 10K and 100 more in the 5K. Online registration will continue through this coming Sunday. The field looks strong especially with the women. The race will be broadcast live this year and everything is coming along well with a final meeting of volunteers scheduled for this coming Thursday. So far 82 people have signed up for the Saturday evening dinner at which Amby Burfoot will be the speaker; Harold suggested that Jim set a deadline for next week for dinner reservations.

For the past three years the HTC has given a donation to help sponsor the UAH Golf Tournament, and Ashley briefly updated the board regarding this event and requested a donation. David moved and Jim seconded that we provide $100 to again sponsor this event. The motion carried. Ashley also mentioned that this year six UAH runners have qualified for the Nationals in Abilene, Texas, an outstanding achievement for their team. UAH is also making plans to install a new track. They have a site and have already received some financial support for this future project. She will get further information on these plans and will then request a donation from our club to help with this effort.

The board was in agreement that we welcome the use of our Huntsville Half Marathon as an RRCA State Championship race.

There has been a request for a donation for the Randolph School Cross Country Camp which will take place this summer from June 6 to July 29 at John Hunt Park on Airport Road and the Randolph School track. It was also requested that the HTC donate an ad in the Newsletter to promote this event. There was much discussion regarding these requests. it was determined that it was too late to place an ad in the newsletter because the next issue will come out after the camp has already begun and it was felt the amount charged for camp admission should be plenty to cover costs of the camp and thus additional funding was not necessary.

The subject of bandits in races came up next. There was much agreement that bandits cause problems in races and action should be taken to discourage this. Parents are welcome to run with their small children in races which do not involve State Record competition when their child is a registered runner, but in all other races everyone on the course must be a registered runner. Dick suggested that an announcement should be made to this effect at every HTC race. Harold pointed out that we need a policy in our handbook which we can then use as the basis for addressing this issue at races. David agreed to write something up about bandit policy to present to the board at the next meeting.

David presented a sample new breakdown of age groups for the Grand Prix as a springboard for discussion for possibly changing our Grand Prix divisions. These age groups were provided to him by DeWayne Satterfield, the current Grand Prix scorer. He also suggested that we could keep our present breakdowns but only give awards five deep. To help with this discussion, David also presented charts which showed the breakdown of all entrants in all age groups in all HTC races in the past year. Different possibilities were discussed including Harold's suggestion that we could keep the age groups as they presently are but change the awards to five deep and also give an award to the first place person in each of the upper and lower age group divisions, thereby giving the older and younger competitors an opportunity for recognition. It was pointed out that other track clubs give better awards for this achievement and perhaps we should upgrade our Grand Prix awards. It was decided to present this issue on the HTC web site for member feedback and hopefully our members will give us their opinions as to what they would prefer.

Suzanne suggested that we again think of possible HTC social activities. Sunday afternoon seemed to be the best time for a social activity, and Jim suggested we give the picnic idea another try. Harold felt that the Ranger Station Pavilion would lend a very pleasant atmosphere to a picnic, and Ashley and Suzanne came up with other suggestions regarding setting up tents near the playground so that the children would have a place to play. Members were asked to consider this further, and this issue was tabled for future discussion.

Jeff Kyser has been researching different aspects of race needs, and the board discussed how we could incorporate his research into making all our races more cost-effective. We discussed how items are purchased and whether our present system is lending itself well cost-wise. Suzanne has already become a valuable resource for all race directors as she helps purchase awards, shirts, numbers, etc., so we already have made great improvements from past years. It was determined that since each race has its own requirements it would be difficult to group them all together as to need, and it's difficult to anticipate race needs a year in advance in order to get a better group price on certain items. Suzanne did suggest that we try to develop good relationships with businesses that contribute a lot to our club and races. We also welcome any information that Jeff can come up with--his efforts will give us a good picture of what we are doing at present and where improvements can be made.

The next item of business was the possibility of purchasing a race trailer that would carry all our race equipment and which could then be brought to each race. Many questions came up regarding how large a trailer we would need, how much it would cost, how it would be transported to each race, and where it could be parked when not in use. Harold suggested that a van would be much more convenient and less intimidating to drive around. And since each race has different needs and unique dynamics, a trailer might not lend itself well to individual race requirements as it would be difficult to stock a trailer that would meet all our races needs and still be manageable. Craig also suggested that maybe if we reorganized our present shed we would find this to be adequate; Jim also pointed out that we have rented additional space for Marathon and Cotton Row equipment. It was determined that this subject needed a lot of further research.

Suzanne gave us an update on how the marathon is coming together. Surprisingly, ten people have already registered online for December's race. Jack Daniels will be the guest speaker and wants monthly updates on marathon progress. Nike has given us a good deal on tech shirts for entrants and there will also be special cotton shirts for volunteers. April Brass is working on sponsorship and also the idea of having a "wall" at mile 20. Packets will be prepared for all houses along the route, group runs are planned to begin in the fall, and an anonymous donor is paying for the chips. Much effort is being made to obtain a sponsor, but if we have not found a sponsor by the summer we will still be able to move forward to have a great event. Suzanne will contact the Huntsville Convention & Visitor's Bureau for any help they can give us, and she is still in need of all the books and financial information from previous marathons so she can effectively organize the finances and get a better picture of marathon needs. Harold will contact Malcolm to accomplish this.

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 8:40 p.m.