MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF CLOWNE ROAD RUNNERS

Friday 7th September 2007

 

Apologies:

 

Les Banton, Lewis Banton, Andrea Jackson, Ron Wild, Maurice Jones, Andy Porter, Samantha Kelly, John Harrison, Paul Dickenson, Louise Coetser and Karen and Reg Bestwick.

 

Minutes:

The minutes of the previous meeting, Friday August 3rd 2007 were read and agreed as a true record.

 

Matters Arising:

 

  1. a)  The Chairman reported that there is a national concern over the issue of runners swapping numbers in races. He read an article from the ‘British Association of Road Runners’ publication about a race where a runner, who was wearing someone else’s number had collapsed, which caused great confusion not only over the identity of the runner, but also the problem of having no contact numbers to inform friends/relatives of the situation and in this case, ambulance time and staff being wasted when it was thought two runners had collapsed and therefore two ambulances were sent out, when in fact it was the same person. The Chairman concluded that if runners do swap number’s, they should all ensure they inform the race organisers before the start of the race. Also all runners should fill out emergency details on the back of numbers and as marshalls, ensure this information is looked at and runners numbers are reported if an emergency occurs.

b) There is also an issue over runners wearing Ipods/Mp3 players when racing due the dangers of runner’s not hearing approaching traffic or others runners coming up behind them.

            c) There is an issue of parking at the start and finish of races.

d) The issue of ‘are you fit to run?’ the Chairman commented on the importance of runners being responsible for their own well being and should not race if at all unwell or not fit enough.

 

  1. John Proffitt: The Chairman congratulated John on achieving the Bronze award in the North Nottinghamshire Road Race League over 60’s and presented    him with the ‘Spire 10’ over 65’s award John won last Sunday.

 

  1. Andy Ward: Andy suggested organising a fell running training day on a weekend to help members become more familiar with running under hard fell racing conditions and also noted that it would be very useful for members if Terry could run some training on compass reading and navigation skills. After a show of hands it was decided that a Saturday would be a good day to hold this training day. The Chairman suggested that the day could be split with fell running in the morning and navigation in the afternoon. The idea of a pub lunch in between was considered a very good idea, but not a very practical one!

 

  1. Grand prix: Andy voiced his concerns over the current structure of the Grand Prix. His concerns were firstly the current situation where runners could win awards simply because there was no one else competing in their age range group rather than winning awards due to their performance. After discussion amongst the members in attendance it was felt that this was a complicated situation to resolve.

A second point Andy made was that people had voiced concerns to him about the length of the Grand Prix and the amount of races needed to complete it. Again there was a long discussion on this point which concluded that three main points needed to be discussed in full. These are; the introduction of an age related handicap, a combined on and off road Grand Prix schedule, and the length of the Grand Prix to be reconsidered. The Chairman felt that all these points should be discussed by the committee at a later date.

Andy finished by commenting on the system currently used to choose the races within the Grand Prix whereby members are given a list of races and they then vote for the ones they want to be included. He suggested the committee could choose the races for the members using their knowledge and experience of these races, but Steve was not happy with this idea as he felt it should be decided democratically which is why the members should have the opportunity to vote. Terry noted, and many agreed with him, that the problem was that members, especially new members, did not know enough about the races offered which led to problems when choosing races. The Chairman reminded the meeting he would be drawing up a preliminary list of information on each race, before the voting began, to give everyone knowledge of what they were voting for. It was felt a guided choice was a good idea and the introduction of different races each year would help to maintain enthusiasm within the club.

 

Clowne Half Marathon – Les was not present at the meeting and the Chairman spoke for him. He reported that Dr.Collins will be in attendance at the Half Marathon.

The numbers for the race presently stand at 34 entries.

 

The Chairman proposed that at the forthcoming committee meeting the kind of support that could be given to Les should be discussed and he thanked Dennis for all his help so far with correspondence. He then went on to mention the issue of recruiting marshalls and appealed to all to put out the word to others now to avoid the situation of last minute panics over the lack of marshalls.

 

Club/Membership Secretary – Dennis reported that the permit has now been issued from the Derbyshire County Athletic Association for the Half Marathon.

 

Dennis, Geoff and Peter Fendly (Worksop Harriers) will be attending the UK Athletics and Road Running Leadership Group meeting on Monday 10th September in Leeds and will report back at the next committee meeting.

 

Dennis also mentioned the excellent work Peter Goucher did on our club website and expressed his thanks to Peter for working with him on the Clubfinder website. Dennis reported that this was a useful website and recommended it to the members present.

 

Dennis also reported on the success of the Retford Running Club at being granted funding from Norwich Union to promote sport in Retford. He felt Clowne Road Runners was presently not in a position to become involved in a similar funding bid.

 

Club Captain – Dave reported that a Clowne member had recently been asked to remove her I pod headphones before taking part in a race and reiterated the concerns over runners’ safety when wearing them.

 

He reported that the Thursday training evenings are still very well attended and the Chairman thanked John for his Tuesday evening training night. Andy queried whether his training night was needed if there was steady running training on a Tuesday, but all felt the speed work was very well liked and Thursday night’s training should not be changed.

 

Dave mentioned an email he had received from an L.Way; she is not a member but was enquiring if anyone could give her a lift to the Great North Run.

 

Club Treasurer – Lewis was not present and there were no issues regarding finance this month.

 

Social Secretary – John suggested that if he kept a record of all the member’s races and times an award could be given at the end of the year for the best 10k, 10mile & ˝ marathon times for males and females. The Chairman felt this would be very helpful for members to know what times are achieved in certain races, which would aide voting for races and it would help Andy to know how members he trains are performing. John requested that members remember to let him know their times so he could do this from the 1st January ’08.

 

John suggested that now would be a good time to approach the Barlborough Babes regarding the catering for the presentation night and Sarah agreed to ask them. The Chairman noted that the presentation evening will be on Saturday 19th January ’08.

 

President – Terry was present, but had no news to report.

 

Grand Prix – Steve gave out the results of the on and off road Grand Prix races since June and the overall results so far. The Chairman thanked Steve for all his hard work regarding this task.

 

AOB – The Chairman reminded members that the next Grand Prix race was the Bawtry Forest Run on Sunday 16th September.

 

The Chairman requested a brief committee meeting to be held immediately after this meeting.

 

Dennis stressed the importance of members to promote the Clowne Half Marathon.

 

The meeting closed.

 

Next meeting Friday 5th October.