August 2002 Minutes

FINGER LAKES RUNNERS CLUB

Lorrie Marnell, President
PO Box 185
Locke, NY 13092

Minutes of FLRC Executive Board Meeting

August 7, 2002

Present: Lorrie Marnell, Frasier Williams, Jeffrey Juran, Herb Engman, Joe Dabes, Don Tily, Tom Meyer, Joe Reynolds, Tony Ciccone, Alan Lockett, Tim Ingall, Jesse Ingall, Yvette Deboer, Diane Sherrer, and John Sholeen.

Lorrie called the meeting to order at 5:45 PM.

The minutes of the July 10, 2002 were approved.

Race Reports:

RRCA Women's Distance Festival: Diane Sherrer reported the race was a success. The attendance was down a bit from last year, but Molly Huddle set a pending F17 single-age American record with a 17:04, and the race made about $235. Joe Dabes commented that the 2 mile mark was a bit off.

Forest Frolic: Joe Dabes reported for Steve Ryan that the race went smoothly with about 100 runners, also a bit down from last year. The course re-routing seemed to cause no trouble, although it reduced the length by about 0.4 mi. There was again no rain. The race made about $250.

Fillmore 5K: Alan Lockett reported that this was the smoothest year ever, with a record turnout of 115 runners. He hopes to have the results out to the website soon. The race pulled in $723, though he expects to spend a little more to purchase a few additional T-shirts for the volunteers. This race was part of the 5K race series put together by Chris Getman. Alan managed to secure the services of a professional race photographer (Jim Faller) for the race; his pictures are available on the web and seemed to be getting great reviews.

Jeff Juran brought up a suggestion of creating generic FLRC T-shirts that could be distributed to volunteers at any race. Apparently this has been discussed in the past and vetoed since the same set of volunteers help out at all races, so they would all end up with many identical shirts.

Empire Haven 4-Leaf Clover Run: Joe Dabes reported on this race in Doug Kibby's absence. There were 56 runners. The race was widely reviewed as a "good run" though a few runners got lost on the course. It made about $366.

Upcoming Races:

Virgil Mountain Madness: Joe Dabes reported that 29 people are pre-registered already. He's brought back a T-shirt design from 12 years ago for the race. Overall, planning is in "pretty good shape." He expects Jeffrey Juran to stand in as "acting race director" so that Joe can run the race himself.

It was agreed that Joe could purchase new cork boards for his race if the old ones proved unsuitable.

Loop the Lake 5K and Picnic: Joe Dabes said that 8 people had signed up. Audrey Balander and Jim Hoch will provide the food and Joe will handle race day preparation and cooking. Joe will also correct the placement of the 2 mi mark.

Forge the Gorgeous: Tim Ingall reported that things are in good shape. Joe Dabes agreed to help out with race numbers, but Tim still needs more volunteers. He is also considering providing pizza afterwards.

Summer Track Series: The next meet is Tuesday in Lansing, 6:15 PM. The Lansing high school track coach expects to be there and is encouraging his athletes to attend. Tim expects a good turnout. The starting pistol seems to missing at the moment.

Tim forwarded a request from Andre Goncarovs of the Ithaca United Track Club about joining the FLRC. It was agreed that his team could join at the standard group rate of $25.

Winter Track Series: Tim is setting up the tentative schedule for the winter track meets, with dates of Dec 8, Jan 5, Feb 9, and Mar 9. He is still trying to contact Rich Bowman of Cornell to make sure that he doesn't conflict with the Cornell schedule or the Hartshorne Mile.

Tim brought up the idea of offering volunteers free entry to the event at which they help out. Joe Dabes mentioned that this had been considered in the past, but no one seemed to really take advantage of it. It was generally agreed that finding volunteers is a problem and has been for some time. Lorrie said she usually offers the people from the Finger Lakes School of Massage free admission to the 5 & 10 for their help. Diane mentioned the TCRC volunteer program that tracks everyone's efforts and offers movie tickets and other merchandise as rewards at the end of the year.

Monster Marathon: Joe Dabes reported for John McMurry. The race will begin at The Rafters as usual. He has secured the requested insurance policy to cover the current owners, and offered them a usage fee as well. He is still looking for volunteers for the aid stations.

Ithaca Triathlon: Yvette Deboer met with a group planning a summer triathlon in Ithaca for next year. They are still working on selecting a site, but the date will probably be the first Sunday in August, 2003. They are looking for sponsors and she asked about the club's policy in that regard. It was quickly determined that the club couldn't provide financial support, but would be able to loan equipment and maybe volunteers to the cause. There will be another meeting of the triathlon planners on Sunday Sep 8 at 6:00 PM.

Berkshire 15K: Frasier Williams is the new race director since Tom Ryan moved to Maine. They are working hard on advertising this year, with invitations to all past runners, a large banner over Route 38, and widely distributed race applications. Some additional suggestions were offered, such as water at the start, more food at the finish, and some sort of compensation for the volunteers. He reported progress in all areas. He is still looking for a few finish-line volunteers.

Race Profit Allocation:
This discussion was tabled from last month's meeting. At issue was a detailed request by Twilight race director Todd Mattison regarding the complete distribution of the profits from his race. There needs to be a protocol for donating profits outside the club, and it should probably involve discussion in advance of the race. It was decided to postpone discussion of the Twilight profits to the next meeting, and that in the future, this should be addressed on a case-by-case basis.

Finances:
John Sholeen reported reported that the Club checking account has a balance of $9600. The computer purchase price has not yet been deducted as there was some complication with the form of the payment. John suggested putting $3000-4000 away into a 1-year CD since the long-term investment fund doesn't seem a safe place for the money at the moment.

Newsletter:
Diane reported that the August newsletter is out. She got some contributed articles this month.

Membership:
No report. The general issue of membership came up again, however. John Sholeen reported seeing something like 5-6 new applications each month. It was again clear that we need membership applications to be more widely available. Yvette suggested an ad for the club in the newspaper, beyond the usual mention in the running columns. Alan suggested keeping a current copy of the application on the club's new computer so that it could be printed out if necessary at any (road) race with a printer. Lorrie promised to make additional copies of the membership form for the 5 & 10. Diane agreed to see if it was possible to stuff the Pud's Run race packets with them as well.

Suggestion for a Board Retreat:
Herb made a suggestion that the Board consider a retreat to focus on some key issues facing the club such as its future and goals, and setting up concrete action plans to address specific issues such as membership, volunteering, etc. Such an event might last 4 hours or more, and take place in the fall or winter at a place like the Cayuga Nature Center. It would need careful advance planning. He asked that Board members consider the idea and be prepared to discuss it next meeting.

Barb Booker Memorial Service:
Herb mentioned that there will be a Barb Booker memorial in Upper Buttermilk Park on Aug 18 at 2 PM.

Web Page:
Tom Meyer brought up two recent ideas for additions to the website: profiles of local runners, and a sort of runner's bulletin board where people can contact each other about running together. It seemed that only club members would be interested in reading other members' "bios", and Diane pointed out that a similar idea for the newsletter ran aground after a few issues. Nonetheless it seemed a popular idea, provided people actually provide the information. The bulletin board idea seemed most practical if implemented simply as a listing of regular organized runs. Tom agreed to add some new groups to the short list already on the website.

Equipment:
There was no formal report, but Lorrie reported that the new laptop is expected to ship Aug 12 and cost $1313.