Houston Area Road Runners Association
Board Meeting
March 15, 2004
Members present:
Roger Boak, Bill Dubinsky, Annie Hadow, Bob Hoekman, Roy Lira, Tom McBrayer, Noah Matthews, John Phillips, Camille Yarbrough
The meeting was called to order at 6:07 by John Phillips and he introduced Thomas Fores who presented a plan to revive the Ten Miles for Texas Run in the Woodlands. The proposed date for the run is 2/19/05 or thereabouts and he was approaching us to make it a part of the spring series. He has done a lot of the preliminary work and was very organized in his presentation. The race will be sponsored by Morgan-Stanley in the Woodlands and will follow much of the previous course if possible. John invited him to submit a formal request to become a part of the spring series when they have finalized their arrangements. There was considerable enthusiasm amongst the board for this event as it has always been very popular. There was some concern about the date for the event being moved into February.
Reading of the minutes:
The minutes were voted on and approved.
Reports of Directors and committees:
Membership Committee - Annie Hadow
We currently have 1,445 members. The membership is down a little from previous years.
V.P. Of Clubs – Roger Boak
No news to report. Checks for Runner of the Season were distributed at the 10K. Roger is still trying to get things posted in Inside Texas Running at the same volume as was previously published in FootPrints.
On the subject of ITR, Camille requested that contributors be notified in advance of deadlines for submissions.
Medical Report – Bob Hoekman (The following was a written report submitted by Bob)
The Bayou City 10 K
appeared to go well (5 HARRA volunteers) with no cardiac problems. The only
injury on the course to my knowledge involved a bike cop who fell off his
bike and scraped his leg. This is why I insist all bikers working the course
wear helmets.
This past month I have done certification courses for CPR (6 people) and
CPR/AED (12 people). Two new volunteers have joined the CPR/AED team. I have
permanently removed 5 people by request or for non participation.
We currently have 46 members on the CPR/AED Team. Of those 4 are temporarily
inactive by request for various personal reasons and two have never worked an
event in nearly 4 years although still current in certification. Those two will
be removed if they do not work an event this spring.
Of the remaining 40 current members all have worked at least one event in the
past year. Approximately 30 team members perform 90% of the volunteer effort.
I believe the team is "healthy". A certain amount of turnover is to
be expected but the core group remains intact and enthusiastic.
The American Heart Association (AHA) has developed a new training program for
CPR/AED (must be used after April) with new videos, books, student CDs, course
outlines, exams and training scenarios. The good news is that this will reduce
the course time from 4 to 3 hours and I believe the new material is an
improvement in many ways. It incorporates all of the new science and technique
changes. The student CD can be copied into a computer and kept for review at
any time. I have acquired all these new materials and this week has done the
instructor update required to use them.
The bad news is that now all students must receive the book and CD prior to the
course and perform a pre test. This may result in some difficulty in distribution
of materials pre course. Shortening the course has relegated some of the
information to the manual only so it will be essential that the student have
and read the manual prior to the course.
Finally, AHA now has recognized the safety and efficacy of use of AEDs in
children aged 1 to 8 years, preferably with smaller pediatric pads. There is
scientific literature documenting successful use of our brand of AED (using
adult pads) in saving a 3 year old child with no damage. There are pediatric pads
available for our units which reduce the shock dose. Since we rarely, if ever,
have children under 8 in our races and the risk in this group is virtually nil,
I do not see a need to carry the special pediatric pads at a cost of about
$450/year.
Bob also reported on his trip down memory lane reviewing and his effort to copy and put all of the past minutes prior to 1998on a CD. Bob is to be commended on this effort and his work with the AED team.
Bayou City Classic – Camille Yarbrough
Camille did not have final numbers yet, but there was a decreased level of participation this year with just under 2000 runners. This problem has plagued all of the runs this year. Next year the date will be March 12th.
There was a brief discussion about strengths and weaknesses. There is also a complaint from some runners of their times not showing up in the final results, however there are just as many runners that failed to pick up their chips beforehand. They are notified of the chip procedures when they register and in the race day packet, but it appears as if many of the runners are still not familiar with chip technology.
Equipment – Tom McBrayer
Tom reviewed the insurance costs with the board. The insurance covers equipment that is owned by HARRA, Tom and the Houston Marathon Committee. The procedures in the past have seen HARRA writing the check and subsequently being reimbursed by the other two owners of equipment. This procedure will be followed again this year.
Equipment rentals seemed to be picking up a little this spring as compared to the fall.
PIM – Noah Matthews
The new program began with approximately 195 runners, just shy of the target of 205-215. Noah also reported that he heard positive feedback regarding the HARRA newsletter in ITR.
John began by apologizing for missing the next two races, but he was going to be in Rome for the marathon.
There was a brief discussion about the elections and that we should try and get the word out regarding open positions on the board. He would include it in his Presidents letter in the newsletter. He was also beginning to make arrangements for the banquet which would be run pretty much the same as last year.
Bob inquired about the VVIP program and if it was still viable or defunct. Also warned that perhaps it should be dropped from the website. Roy asked for affirmation that the program was dormant, and Camille asked if perhaps there was still a mechanism for giving the awards. After some discussion it was agreed upon that we solicit lists of volunteers from clubs and directors. Roy will screen the information and those that were active will be placed in a hat for a drawing at the banquet.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:25
Respectfully submitted,
Bill Dubinsky