HTC Executive Board Meeting – 18 October 2004

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

The meeting was held in the conference room at Southwood Presbyterian Church, Huntsville, Alabama, and began at 6:30 p.m.

The meeting opened with an update from Malcolm regarding the December 11, 2004 Rocket City Marathon. Everything is progressing on schedule, with the course markings scheduled to be done after completion of the repaving. Because of the loss of the race sponsor there was a discussion regarding whether to suspend the giving of prize money for the 2004 race, and the pros and cons of this action were deliberated. This decision was postponed until we could hold a marathon meeting (which would include a future race director), allowing us more time for discussion and the opportunity to examine the race funds in order to make a more intelligent decision. Malcolm was given an action item to secure hard financial data for the 2003 marathon. It was also desired to have financial data from years prior to 2003 for historical purposes.

Race Permits were brought up, and Dick mentioned that there was no problem with the triathlon parade permit. Harold suggested that we submit a calendar of events for possibly ten years in advance, thereby securing desired dates and giving the Police Department firm commitments to work with.

The Liz Hurley Ribbon Run was a tremendous success in its first running on October 16 with over 1,000 people having participated. The chip timing worked very well; however, Jim observed that with this size and particularly this type of race, the finish line could have been handled very comfortably without chip timing. He suggested that we not use the chips until the race becomes much larger, thus providing more money for the race cause. Jim also suggested that perhaps we could redirect some of our portion of the proceeds from the race back to the Liz Hurley Foundation considering that they were able to handle the race very adequately without what appeared to be a lot of help from the HTC.

The AARC and the RRCA will be merging at the end of the year. Harold said that they will be sending us a dues billing, and we will also have to reapply for non-profit status when our club is again affiliated with the RRCA. We haven't yet heard what the amount will be for insurance.

The next item of business was the upcoming Race Director's Meeting to be held on Thursday, October 28, at the Lodge on Monte Sano. Ashley reported on the figures she received from several caterers. There was a discussion regarding the price range and the type of food. It was decided that we would aim for an approximate $6 per head quote for a barbeque dinner, and Ashley agreed to call a few more suggested vendors. Craig pointed out that we could possibly get a better price if we would include both the Race Director's Banquet and Awards Banquet in our price deliberations. David asked the board members to come up with items for the agenda for the Race Director's Meeting, and Jim agreed to present an overview of RunScore. Craig suggested that we need some kind of guidelines for putting on a race, and David thought that perhaps each race director could put together a list of his race activities as a guideline for a future director. Regarding the Annual Awards Banquet, David moved and Kathy seconded that the cost to members be $5, and children under 12 would be free. The motion was carried.

The Board then proceeded to the selection and nomination of HTC award recipients and discussed and approved the recipients of the 2004 awards. The HTC Awards Banquet will be held on Tuesday, November 16, at the Lodge on Monte Sano. The presentations and the names of the award recipients will be included in the next edition of the newsletter.

In the Spring of 2004 a Committee composed of HTC members met for five sessions to pursue an in-depth examination of how we could improve our club specifically in the areas of volunteerism and marketing. The next item of discussion was the question of how we could move on the suggestion from that committee that we set up a Committee on Volunteerism to assist race directors with obtaining volunteers and sponsors. This committee would be a direct link between the HTC Board and the races/race directors. There was a discussion involving how race directors recruit volunteers, and Harold suggested that we review past use of our volunteer database to attempt to improve its usefulness. Jim asked for clarification of the basic purpose of this proposed Committee, and David stated that it would be to help our club run races better, since putting on races is our primary function. Harold suggested that the VP of Races and Equipment would be the logical person to head this committee. David agreed to talk to Joe Francica, who headed up the committee last Spring, to get more ideas about forming the Committee on Volunteerism.

There were a few more brief items of business.

· David had received a suggestion from a member that we add more categories to the Grand Prix. We discussed different possibilities and came up with perhaps adding an age-graded category. David is compiling data on all HTC races to determine if adding additional categories is warranted based on the relative participation levels of differing age groups.

· Anne gave the board an update regarding the Shoe Amnesty program and our preliminary discussions with a Huntsville group that could possibly make this a city-wide effort.

· Ashley inquired as to whether we should reexamine the splitting of the excess money from the Women's Festival Race, and it was decided that we would stay with the 80/20 split.

· Jim presented the names of the organizations which will be receiving a donation from the 2004 Mercedes-Benz Cotton Row Run profit created by the large number of runners who registered for the races on Sunday night before the event and they are as follows: The UAH Cross Country Team, the Harold and Louise Tinsley Scholarship Fund, The AARC/RRCA Roads Scholarship Program, Hemsi, The Red Cross, and the UAB Medical Scholarship.

There was no further business, and the meeting was adjourned at 9:10 p.m.