Pace Setter : October 2016

HMRRC Club Minutes (September 14, 2016)

Attendance: Tom and Marcia Adams, Frank Broderick, Maureen Cox, Ed Neiles, Ray Newkirk, Chris Nowak, John Parisella, Jon Rocco, Ken Skinner, Cathy Sliwinski, Lara Stelmaszyk, Jim Tierney.

Call to Order (John Parisella):

1. Approval of August 10, 2016, minutes. Motion to approve minutes made by Marcia Adams, seconded by Frank Broderick. Motion passed.

2. Reports of Officers

2.1 President (J. Parisella): No report.

2.2 Executive Vice President (F. Broderick): Frank read thank you-notes from scholarship recipients.

2.3 Executive Vice President – Finance (R. Newkirk): Finance Committee met. Ray will prepare a financial annual report indicating what has been changed and accomplished with regard to club finances. He will also prepare a transition document for Chris Nowak, who will be taking over as HMRRC’s VP of Finance.

2.4 Secretary (L. Stelmaszyk): No report

2.5 Treasurer (J. Golden): (Not present; report e-mailed) See attached report. Total of accounts: $345,415.71. See attached report.

3. Reports of Committees

3.1 Membership (D. Fisher-Golden): (Not present; report e-mailed) See attached report.

Total membership: 2819

Change in membership: -30

New memberships: 17

Facebook followers: 2,670 (+8)

Twitter followers: 250 (+8)

3.2 Volunteers (M. Adams): Arranged a Marathon/Half Marathon course cleanup focused on Watervliet, so that the course looks good on race day. The cleanup effort will take about 2 hours. There will be food and refreshments. The meet-up will be at Purple Pub in Watervliet, at 10 a.m. on Saturday, October 1; approximately 14 people have signed up already to help. There is also a cleanup on the Monday after the race (October 10); there are some volunteers signed up for this day as well. People interested in helping should contact Tom and Marcia Adams at madams01@nycap.rr.com.

HMRRC will be loaning flags and vests to ARE Productions for the Palio Half Marathon.

HMRRC will be present, with the van, at the Race Back to School 5K at Schalmont Middle School on September 24, so the club has a presence there.

Took van in for service.

3.3 Public Relations (R. Moore): (Not present; report e-mailed)

Press releases about HMRRC’s upcoming races sent to newspapers.

HMRRC will have a booth at the Mohawk Hudson River Marathon and Hannaford Half Marathon.

3.4 Race Committee (J. Rocco):

Races since last meeting:

Weeks two and three of Tawasentha XC were completed. The three weeks brought in 433 finishers, compared with 403 last year. Josh Merlis won all three races; Irene Somerville, Mollie Turner, and Karen Bertasso won for the women. Thanks to John Kinnicut for directing, to Bob Oates for setting up the course, and to all the volunteers. USATF ADK, with a $2,000 grant from their national office, covered chip timing and red-white-and-blue plastic cups to finishers for the three weeks.

SEFCU Labor Day 5K: 272 finishers, versus 326 in 2015. Winners: Anthony Giuliano (16:05) and Karen Bertasso (17:44). Thanks to John Parisella for directing, and to all the volunteers.

Anniversary Races: HMRRC, 45th anniversary races, Sunday, September 18, at 9:00 a.m. at the University at Albany. There will be a 2.95M and a 5.9M, with the longer distance being a club Grand Prix event. The first 125 registrants will receive a commemorative glass mug. New this year: a 1K kids’ run. An e-mail blast went out last week; we will send another one out before the weekend. Special thanks to Pat Glover and Ken Skinner, who will be stepping down after this year’s race.

Town of New Scotland/Voorheesville Race: 7.1M set for Sunday, October 2. A Grand Prix event

for under-40s.

The Hannaford Half Marathon and Mohawk Hudson River Marathon (a club Grand Prix event): will be held on Sunday, October 9.

Some changes to race directors: David Tromp to take over Delmar Dash; Sally Drake and Liz Chauhan to take on the Distinguished Service race; Dana Peterson stepped down as co-race director of the Winter Marathon and Relay; Mike Kelly has stepped down as director of the Indian Ladder Trail Races. (He has directed these for the past 12 years; he was 1 of 2 directors for this race. The other was founder Jim Gilmer, who directed for 10 years.)

The Race Committee will be meeting on Wednesday, September 28.

In anticipation of this, Jon Rocco is looking at the race schedule, evaluating which races might be dropped from the schedule, a process that happens periodically. Jon is looking at which races are not drawing many participants, which consistently lose money, and which have not had volunteers step up as race directors. The three Summer Series Thursday-night runs and the Indian Ladder Trail Run will likely be dropped. Also looking at combining WS 5 and the Winter Marathon (note: 80 percent of people who run the Winter Marathon are from out of the 518 area code) and dropping the Marathon Relay. Considering changes to the Memorial Day race in Voorheesville to draw more runners.

HRRC received a $392 bill from the University at Albany for cleanup of orange spray paint on purple path.

3.5 Race Committee Treasurer (C. Sliwinski): See attached report.

3.6 Pace Setter and website (E. Neiles): Presented website analytics.

3.7 Conflicts Committee (R. Newkirk): No report

3.8 Safety Committee (VACANT):

3.9 Grants Committee (R. Newkirk): A new committee needs to be convened.

3.10 Long Range Planning Committee (E. Neiles): No report

3.11 Just Run Program (K. Skinner): Fall cross-country meet will be November 2 at Tawasentha Park.

4. Unfinished Business:

Grant to Watervliet Junior-Senior High for $5,000, to reinstate their modified cross-country and spring track and field programs for the 2016–17 school year, which have been cut for budgetary reasons. Cathy Sliwinski had spoken with the asst. principal and athletic director of the school, Michael Faust. These cuts directly affect about 20 to 30 kids. Cathy suggested that HMRRC offer them a grant to restore the program for the year, so that these kids have the opportunity to run. She indicated that the town of Watervliet has been very, very generous with policing during the MHR Marathon and Hannaford Half Marathon. Discussion followed about how to handle the grant, including that it should be indicated that this is a one-time, not recurring, grant; also, that it might be too late to fund the cross-country program, since the season has begun. Motion made to approve the grant of $5,000, contingent upon submission of a budget from the school. Marcia Adams seconded the motion. Motion passed.

5. New Business:

Maureen Cox made a motion to accept the slate of officers presented for 2016-17; Marcia Adams seconded the motion. All in favor.

Officers for 2016-17

President: Ray Newkirk

Executive VP: Frank Broderick

VP for Finance: Chris Nowak

VP for Running Events: Jon Rocco

Treasurer: Jon Golden

Treasurer for Running Events: Cathy Sliwinski

Secretary: Marcia Adams

Member at large (one-year term): Ed Neiles

Member at large (two-year term): Maureen Cox

6. Announcements:

Hall of Fame meeting, Wednesday, September 21, 2016, at Point of Woods recreation hall.

Adjourn:

Motion to adjourn made by Marcia Adams at 8:55 p.m. Seconded by Maureen Cox.