MINUTES OF THE CLOWNE ROAD RUNNERS

7TH MARCH 2008

 

 Present:

 

Geoff Jackson, Les Banton, Lewis Banton, John Proffitt, Hilary Smith, Denis Learad, Jim McIntosh, Trevor Platts, Terry Richardson, David Whitehead, Henrietta Whitehead, Tony Redfern, Sharon Bache, Sarah Coakley, Andy Ward, John Harrison, Janet Butterworth, Paul Sadler, Brian Banton, Paul Blunt.

 

Apologies:

 

Andrea Jackson, Dave Johnson, Greg Goddard, Steve Shipp, Maurice Jones, Fiona Cunliffe, Andrea Walker.

 

Minutes:

 

The minutes of the previous meeting, 1st February 2008 were read and agreed as a true record.

 

Matters Arising:

 

1)      Clowne Cross Country: The Chairman thanked everyone who had helped organise and run the event this year. Generally there were no problems. Regarding the concerns over the safety of large numbers of people in the cricket club, Terry had spoken to the cricket club and was assured the numbers were under the legal limit.

Dennis voiced his concerns over the marshalling of the course, difficulties in recruiting marshals’ on the morning of the race and complaints that some runners had gone the wrong way. He felt there should have been more marshals on the course and was concerned that he had had problems getting in touch with Roger  Street and so did not know he was not available to organise recruiting marshals.

2)      Cross Country Series: The Chairman congratulated all 26 runners who had completed all four races and received a medal.

The results were still not entirely clear, John noted that the results have missed one Clowne runner off which was equal to 7 points and so the final result was possibly wrong.

Dennis asked Trevor why when we had a medal for the over 55’s, but not for the over 40’s? He suggested the club organised the medals/trophies earlier so there are trophies available on the day for the winners. He also felt the quality of the medals was very poor and suggested we organise a better quality, engraved medal for next year. He asked who is responsible for the medals Clowne road runners or the X country committee responsible. Trevor thought it was the Xcountry committee.

Dennis also suggested that each member who completed the series could get a good quality, engraved medal presented at the presentation night.

Andy commented that he understood the concerns regarding the clubs responsibility for rewarding runners, but felt that overall the atmosphere and relationships between runners was very supportive and very positive. The Chairman noted that it was very important that the good natured spirit of the X country series should be maintained.

The Chairman suggested that there should be advanced planning for these events so that all the issues could be sorted before the X country series began.

Dennis proposed his suggestion of having good quality, engraved medals for the 26 runners to be given out on presentation night and all agreed. The Chairman asked Trevor to organise this and he agreed.

John noted that Clowne had never had so many lady runners take part in the series before.

The Chairman stated that the summer X country was to be held at Handsworth this year and was on Wednesday June 25h  at 7.30pm.  Also the monthly meeting in July would not take place as this was the night of the handicap race.

 

3)      Committee Meeting: The Chairman gave feedback on the committee meeting of February 27th. The committee discussed how the club would manage junior members. It was felt it was an issue that would increasingly become a concern, but the club had a lot to offer junior members.  Dennis is in contact with England Athletics regarding this to find out what the information is available regarding legal issues, what we need to do and what kind of model we can use. He noted we can pull all these issues together later on in the year, with a view to coming back to the club with what would be the way forward. Also there were other issues apart from legalities, in that we would need people to take responsibility for a junior section of the club, who had criminal clearance and had suitable coaching qualifications and who were happy to supervise the juniors as a full time commitment, so it is a big issue and needs more thought and consideration before any decisions are made.

The Chairman then reported the committee had looked at the clubs bank balance which was presently very healthy. The committee were keen to do something that would be of a benefit to members, some of the suggestions were; the club pays for the presentation evening in 2009 for everybody, also people who join the club could get a free club vest or subsidising the visits to special races. This issue would be revisited at the September committee meeting and any ideas from members regarding this would be most welcome. The Chairman reminded members that suggestions should be realistic as the club needs to keep a certain amount in the bank as a buffer, for situations occurring e.g.; the half marathon not being successful etc.

The committee also discussed what the club could do regarding rewards for members and second claim members and the quality of the rewards.

 

4)      Clowne Half Marathon: Les reported there was no ½ marathon news. He had received a letter from Roland Gibbard from BARR, who has a numbers of signs he is willing to sell at a reduced rate, Les will look into this further and write back.

John requested we have new sponges and drinks stations for this year and Les noted that it was already decided that the club would replace all the signs and drinks stations, as many signs were very old and in need of replacement.

 

5)      Club/Membership Secretary: Dennis reported he had received a letter from Reg and Karen Bestwick asking for a donation of £50.00 towards the ‘ Larwood Healthy Hearts’ 10K race, all agreed to this.

Dennis noted he had written to Graham from Greencore to thank him for the sandwiches at the Clowne Xcountry which were excellent.

 

6)      Club Captain: Dave was not present as he was elsewhere celebrating his birthday! The Chairman spoke on his behalf,

§        Firstly regarding the induction document for new members which gives information about the club, some of which is already on the web site, but will be available in a more structured form soon, also Dave will publish this as a leaflet.

Terry queried whether the change in the membership fee had been altered on this document and Sarah commented that the way the website is presently set up is confusing to use as the routes to different information is not straightforward. The Chairman noted these concerns and will look into sorting these issues out.

§        The Chairman had also been asked to mention Reg and Karen’s three trail race series. He was not sure of the dates and Terry said he would clarify these. It was thought the dates were on Reg and Karen’s website, 2pointb.co.uk

 

7)      Club Treasurer: Lewis had no news.

 

8)      Social Secretary: John had no news, but thanked everyone for their efforts with the Xcountry series.

 

 

9)      Grand Prix: Steve was not present. The Chairman gave out a summery of the races so far.

 

10)  Club President: Terry asked members to let him know if they wanted the dates for this years fell races and he would email the list.

 

 

11)   John – Worksop: John was present, but had no news.

 

A.O.B: The Chairman reported the June 6th meeting is on the same evening as the Castleton Fell race, but the date would remain as the next weekend clashes with Swaledale.

Elmton Chase is Wednesday 18th June.

 Meeting closed 8.25pm  - Next meeting 4th April.