HARRA Leadership Team Minutes
May 16, 2005
Attendance: Rachel Guenther, Geoff Guenther, Roger Boak, Noah Matthews, Lisa Ruthven, Barbara Shepard, Steve Shepard, Doug Spence, Randy Carlson, Tom Stilwell, Bruce Mansur, Tom McBrayer, Audrey Christiansen, Jo Ann Luco
Meeting started at 6:10pm
HARRA Volunteer Day Recap—Roger
There were three HARRA participants - disappointing, but the Memorial Park Conservancy was pleased that the work got done. Thanks to Roger Boak, Rich Siemens and Kevin Campbell for participating. Other groups also participated. Equipment, water and snacks were provided. Three hours clean-up in all. Steve said unfortunately the Striders were already managing a race that day. Similar conflicts account for other clubs low participation. Steve discussed Peter Tyler’s email asking HARRA to consider donating equipment to the park for trail expansion. The Board discussed this, and Steve proposed that Roger and Randy follow up with Peter to research an agreement with Memorial Park Conservancy, with pre-approval from the Trail Fund. Agreement was unanimous.
2006 HARRA Spring Series Selection Status—Randy/All
Randy reviewed the races that have contacted HARRA and submitted applications to the Spring Series. The Selection Committee will review the proposed races. Steve and the entire Board were enthusiastic about the response so far. Bids are due June 1. As the new Board takes hold just a few days later, Steve asked Tom Stilwell, as incoming president, to co-ordinate with the Selection Committee. Tom said he is also stepping down from Law Week as race director to avoid conflicts, but will remain on the Board for this race.
RRCA Convention Recap—Steve/Barb/Doug/Noah
Steve was awarded the Rod Steele Award as the Outstanding RRCA Volunteer of 2004. Way to go! Out of 5 national race championships awarded, Bayou City won the RRCA National 10k Championship. 3 awards went to HARRA clubs. Bayou City also won honorable mention for their club newsletter “Word from the Bird”, and Pam Paling and Lisa Ruthven won honorable mentions as club writers. Texas had the second largest number of representatives from any state. This year’s convention also celebrated the merger of the RRCA and AARC. Some changes are inclusion of for profit clubs and a 5% annual raise in dues. Barb said it was enlightening to find out how advanced the Houston running scene is with race participation and co-ordination. Noah said he also found that Houston’s clubs were already using a lot of the techniques discussed in the presentations. Steve mentioned that incidentally, there are no bids yet for the RRCA 2006 or 2007 conventions. Any takers?
2005/2006 HARRA Leadership Team—Steve/All
Steve asked that the Board agree within bylaws to submit a New Board slate at the Summer Celebration for acclamation; this would be consistent with the successful RRCA Board determination process. The Board discussed this and agreed.
HARRA Above and Beyond Award—Steve
Non-contending Board members met after last month’s meeting. Selection/s have been made and will be presented at the Summer Celebration.
HARRA Summer Celebration—Doug
Doug said he had 117 registrants so far for the June 4 celebration. The Chronicle will run an interview with Bart Yasso on Thursday. Doug spoke with Bart last week at the RRCA convention, and Bart announced that Runner’s World will contribute door prizes! An artist from the Chronicle has also donated a cartoon. Giveaways include Cliff Bars and CarbBoom. Doug said he was pleased with all help from volunteers. One last Jerry Smith email will be sent. Steve said information was also in several HARRA club newsletters and websites. The “Run with Bart” trail run will be Sunday June 5, 6:30am on the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
Activity Updates
Membership—Barb
The “new” new members have been separated out from current members renewing. Thus, there are 54 new HARRA members: 30 individual and 8 household. Renewals total 74, with 31 individual and 18 household. 1634 total memberships: 866 individual, and 286 household. Audrey and Doug were awarded one year memberships for perfect Leadership Team attendance!
Treasury—Audrey
New memberships continue to come in. Also insurance reimbursements were made.
Web Site—Geoff
The home page will be updated, with further updates in June to include awards from the Summer Celebration. Doug and Geoff discussed PDF file archives.
Footprints—Doug
The July/August issue will be dedicated to the Summer Celebration, with club news and awards. Steve said RRCA is also bringing back Footnotes and that he suggested they carry it as an insert to Runner’s World or Running Times, much as Footprints is in ITR.
Member Discount Program—Doug
Holding steady.
VVIP—Camille
No new VVIP news.
Power in Motion—Lisa
May 4 wrapped up the Spring PIM session. April 30 was the goal race of Wortham’s Loop the Lake 5k. PIM added 114 participants to the race register and was a successful venture. Run with the Saints has been contacted for the Fall goal race. Lisa answered Board members questions, reviewing that PIM is not for profit; all monies are used to keep the program going. It is two 10 week sessions, with 32 weeks free to all comers on Wednesdays during the rest of the year. All organization and coaching is donated as community service. Lisa said two Summer Celebration tickets were raffled on the last night of PIM.
Tour de Bayou—Roger
Tuesday nights worked well, with overall participation up. Roger cited PIM, website/email coverage and positive word-of-mouth as reasons. Spotts Park was a new addition this year. 350 people came at least once, 154 three times, and 74 came all five times. Coolmax shirts, sponsored by FILA were awarded for those who participated at least three times. Continued thanks to Runsport for support of the Tour de Bayou!
Meeting closed at 7:40pm.