HTC Executive Board Meeting

09 February 2010

Board Members Present: David Purinton (President), Harold Tinsley (VP – Communications), Jim Oaks (VP – Programs), Eric Fritz (VP – Races & Equipment), Kathy Youngren (Treasurer), Joey Butler (Secretary), Suzanne Taylor (Appointed Member – Co- Rocket City Marathon Director), Dink Taylor (Appointed Member – Co-Cotton Row Director)

Board Members Absent: Craig Armstrong (Appointed Member – Past Board Member)

The Huntsville Track Club Annual Business Meeting was held on February 9, 2010 at the Lodge at Southwood Presbyterian Church. David opened the meeting at 7:00.

The meeting began with a discussion of marathon issues including the following:

• Suzanne reminded the board that a group is hoping to add a relay component to Rocket City Marathon. The board discussed pros and cons to this issue. The most notable issue is the race limit would need to be raised from 1500 to 2000. 1500 is the limit stated in the permit with the city and it is also the maximum size that the current host hotel can accommodate for race weekend activities. Any increase in size would most likely require changing where the race is hosted and would likely require a course change. Suzanne and the board are scheduled to meet with this group before the end of February to discuss their proposal.
• The 2009 marathon had issues with the Holy Spirit Church parking lot. Suzanne is going to talk to some HTC members who attend/work at that church and see if they can help resolve the issue and hopefully be able to continue to run through their parking lot during the marathon.
• The board discussed donating a portion of the marathon proceeds to local charities. David moved and Jim seconded a motion to donate $2500 of marathon proceeds to Huntsville Pediatric Oncology Unit at Huntsville Hospital and $2500 of Liz Hurley 5K proceeds to the Huntsville Hospital Foundation. The motion passes unanimously.
• Suzanne noted that the lack of spirit teams is still an issue. The board discussed ways to increase spectator participation.
• Other issues discussed were the 1500 runner limit, headphones, trash on the course, and demographics of marathon entries.

David stated that the Huntsville Half Marathon still needs a race director. David asked the board members to think about possible directors and to give recommendations back to him soon.

Dink informed the board that there are no issues with the Mountain Mist course. There had been some confusion about whether the course went over private property. Dink researched the issue and assured the board that the course is ok as-is and will require no changes.

The board discussed a request from SORBA Huntsville to help with a plan to preserve the McKay Hollow trail. No firm decision was made whether or not to help with this effort. The board discussed the nature of previous SORBA changes to the trails and that these changes are often not necessary for foot traffic and can change the nature of the trails by removing harder obstacles.

An HTC member made a suggestion that the board donate money to the Red Cross for the Haiti Relief Effort. The board noted the outpouring of support by the local community for the Haiti relief effort and was concerned that local charities might suffer a reduction in donations in the coming months as a result of people already having committed resources to Haiti. In general, the board tries to make most charitable contributions to our local community as evidenced by donations made tonight.

The board noted the need to update the HTC Website. Those present discussed ideas for improvement. David is going to speak with someone about helping us move forward with these ideas.

David brought up the idea of having an early entry period for HTC members at races that tend to close early. Though no decision was made at this meeting to implement such a plan, it did lead to a lengthy discussion about ways to increase HTC membership and also increase participation by existing members. Ideas included multiple early entry options for members, reduced races fees for members and having an HTC booth at the Cotton Row expo.

The board decided to limit the Cookie Dash 5K to 500 runners. The board feels that the facilities at the race site cannot handle more the 500 people, particularly in the event of bad weather.

A brief discussion was held about publishing an electronic newsletter in the months in between printed versions.

Suzanne gave a handout of Cotton Row updates. Highlights include 2 new sponsors: Jason’s Deli and Domino’s Pizza. Suzanne showed the 2010 entry forms to the board. She also mentioned that we will have a Satellite Iraq Cotton Row 10K.

David showed the boards potential new HTC logos. After a few suggestions, David will send the designs back to our graphics designer for modifications before the board votes on the new logo.

Lastly we had a short discussion about race timing. Eric, Jim, Joey, and Carl Smith travelled to Decatur for a demonstration of the chip timing system used by the River City Runners. HTC member Eric Schotz gave the demo. The demo was very informative. The board is simply looking at alternative timing methods to see if they would be beneficial to the club.

There was no further business and David adjourned the meeting.

The following issues were discussed via email in between the last 2 board meetings:

• Suzanne presented a suggestion to the board to modify the price structure for the Cotton Row runs. After hearing recommendations from all of the board members, David submitted for approval the new price structure for Cotton Row and the board approved it.
• David submitted a motion to retain Craig Armstrong as Appointed Member – Past Board Member for a 2-year term. The motion passed.