MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF CLOWNE ROAD RUNNERS

5^TH October 2007  7.30pm

Apologies:

Ron Wild, Lewis Banton, Andrea Jackson, Andrea Walker, Donna Thompson, Avis Blunt, Jane Dickenson, Paul Somersby, Roger & Sheila Radford, Samantha Kelly, Gillian & Neil Carter, Mick Hanks and Tony Jarvis.

Minutes:

The minutes of the previous meeting, Friday September 7^th 2007 were read and agreed as a true record.

Matters Arising:

1. Remembrance Day Wreath: Paul and Avis Blunt would present a wreath on behalf of Clowne Road Runners, the same as last year.
2. Presentation Night Catering: The Chairman asked if anyone had any catering contacts. Trevor has investigated his contact, Andy Weatheralls' sister who could provide a buffet for £4.00 a head. Trevor read out the menu and all agreed he should proceed and book.
3. Committee feedback on meeting 28^th September: Grand Prix News. Steve reported that the committee had voted on two proposals, his and one from Andy Ward. He noted the proposal discussed at the last meeting that the Grand Prix should be changed from two separate on road and off road sections into one combined on and off road races was agreed upon. Steves' proposal was voted in, which consists of 4 categories each with 1 short, 1 medium and 1 long race -

Cat 1 - cross country

Cat 2 - road races

Cat 3 - fell races

Cat 4 - trail races

Thus giving a choice of 12 races. Members would chose to complete 1 from each category and then any other 4, thus completing 8 of the 12. The scoring for the new structure was not finalised and this will be discussed at a later date.

Chairman mentioned the sub committee, consisting of Andy, Dave and Hilary, who would be looking at which races to put forward for the grand prix and that there would be another committee meeting before the November club meeting to look at scoring and have an extraordinary general meeting at start of November meeting to get peoples views, because we would like to start the new proposal in January 2008.

Johns proposal from the AGM in February this year would normally have started this year. The Chairman has talked to John, who is happy that his ideas would be absorbed into the new structure to be starting in January 2008. The chairman then noted that he would ideally like to get away from the mechanism by which it takes a year for proposals to come to fruition.

Steve clarified the decisions over the long distance races from the overall category, this being a long distance fell race or full marathon. He noted that the only change to this category from the previous structure was that it would be called the category 5 race and have a full title of 'the Best All Rounder'. It will be split into male best all rounder and female best all rounder, with two trophies being presented instead of one. The only issue now is to look at the scoring for the Grand Prix.

Age categories are also going to be kept as before.

The Chairman stated that the new proposals were still 'work in progress' and any suggestions on choice of races should be given to the sub committee.

1. The Bolsover Awards: Maurice Jones achieved a centre spread in the Derbyshire Times after being nominated through a different channel to the club. All congratulated Maurice.
2. Spinkhill: Chairman reported on the opening of the new athletics facilities at Spinkhill School. He noted there was talk of a new athletics club being started at Spinkhill which raised concerns over the knock on affect this would have on local clubs such as Clowne and Worksop. He also reported that the new club would possibly be called the 'North Derbyshire and South Yorkshire Athletics Club@ and would cost £25.00 to join. Also there was talk of them trying to attract the national cross country championships and having a cross country course of their own, which may cause implications for local clubs membership/cross country numbers. The chairman suggested that people keep an eye on any developments in this area.

Clowne Half Marathon: Les reported all was going well and he had received replies for help on the day. There are 84 pre-entries to date which is on a par with last year. He raised the point that the postal strike may cause issues with giving out runners numbers and marathon information and a contingency plan may be needed.

Dennis informed the meeting that Peter Goucher had put a 'fly through' of the course on the Clowne Road Runners web site on the marathon link, which was very good.

The Chairman reminded everyone about marshals and to give the names of people willing to marshal to Hilary. (List at end of minutes)

Club/Membership Secretary: Dennis read out emails and letters received this month;

1. From Ron Wild confirming he is resigning from the committee due to being unable to get to the meetings!
2. From Roger & Sheila Radford asking where their membership cards are, Dennis has emailed UKA about the cards and been informed they are not ready yet.
3. From the Barlborough Babes requesting a donation to their Great North Run fund raising. The club agreed to donate £50.00 to this cause.
4. A letter of thanks from Barlborough Parochial Church Council regarding the clubs donation of £50.00 in aid of the church roof fund.

Dennis reported on the UKA meeting he, Geoff and Peter attended on 10^th September. The overall feeling was that it was disappointing and that the UKA was not overly concerned with the views of athletics clubs such as ours and would push their proposals through regardless. The proposals for the new license fee was likely to be £220.00 although this was still not definite.

The Chairman noted that the overall turnout of small clubs at the meeting was poor.

Club Captain: Dave reported that training nights were still going well although the ladies attendance was dropping off a bit as the nights are getting darker.

Through a suggestion from Sarah regarding information about the club and training for new members, Dave has written a draft of an induction guide which Andrea is currently looking at. He asked for opinions of what would be the best way to get this information out to new members, whether it be in paper form or by the internet or both?. Dennis suggested he could put it on the clubs website

Club Treasurer: Lewis was not present and Les reported the was no financial news, however, Lewis had received the first fifty payments for the ½ marathon.

Social Secretary: John reminded members of his proposal to keep records of member's times for 10k, 10 mile, ½ and marathon races and reminded members it was their responsibility to give him this information.

Club President: Terry reported that Mo Müller had agreed to the handicap race being renamed for 2008 to 'The Pat Müller Handicap Race' and is willing to present the trophy after the race and on presentation evening. Terry and Trevor would arrange for the trophy to be engraved.

Grand Prix: Steve gave out the results of Bawtry Forest trail race and Retford Half Marathon. Congratulations were given to Barry for achieving the gold standard for his age category at Retford ½ marathon.

Steve showed members the off road grand prix results for 2007 , and gave out the on road grand prix results so far and the overall grand prix results so far.

AOB:

John Harrison (Worksop Harriers) advised people to arrive early for the Clumber 10k on Sunday due to the 900 entries. He also asked for any volunteers to help marshal the Worksop ½ marathon.

Meeting closed 8.16pm

Next meeting November 2^nd.

Clowne Road Runners Marshals.

Maurice Jones Paul & Jane Dickenson Terry + 2 sons

J Harrison Hilary & Martin Smith Janet Butterworth + 1

Eunice Johnson Donna Thompson Héllié & David Whitehead

Neil Inns +2 Samantha Kelly G Jackson

Sarah Coakley Paul Sommerly Steve Battle