.

Race Results

_{Race Directors Meeting – Tuesday, January 26, 2016}

– Charlottetown

Introduction: Bethany Lucas and Stanley Chaisson

The Board decided to have a meaning to explain the club’s history, or how we’ve come to this point and to have an informal discussion and get feedback/brainstorm where we want to go from here.

2015 year in review:

The sanctioning document was developed for safety reasons – to make sure races were being organized following standards around safety, handling traffic, dealing with injuries.

It was researched by Stanley and approved by the board. However, things fell apart around the fee structure. Race directors saw the document and didn’t really understand it. This really comes down to miscommunication and a lack of communication. A race directors meeting should have taken place last year, but we are now looking to resolve things. The result was that our number of races decreased. The board met to come up with a plan for 2016 and beyond but wanted to get feedback from race directors.

Suzanne explained the financial impact and reasons for having a sanctioning document.

At the beginning of 2015, we had $2600.00. At year end, we had $300.00

We are a non-profit, but need a cash flow – for items such as equipment repair and replacement, as well as to purchase bibs. With more races, more equipment was lent out and some was lost or damaged.

We want to maintain the club and continue to promote running on PEI.

Insurance:

Our insurance is $1100.00 per year and insurance is a necessity. Our annual budget is $4800.00 with about one quarter of that going to insurance. We are covered under the Sport PEI umbrella, but we also need to maintain standards in running events to decrease our liability.

Waivers were discussed: What do they mean and do? Minors are not covered by waivers. Waivers don’t really mean anything except that they show you have done your due diligence. We are covered for $2,000,000.00.

For insurance purposes, a race must be “member run”, the race director must be a member. Also the race has to be run according to standards. We need to know the number of runners to make sure everyone is covered. Our members are covered, day members are not. Members are covered for accident and non-members for liability.

Sanctioning for 2016:

The sanctioning document was made for safety reasons. One race that was advertised on our social media, though not a points race, was very unsafe and this was brought to our attention. The goal of the document was to create a standard, uniform race guideline. Stan did some research and the document was reviewed by the board. When race directors saw it, there were questions. It was rushed to be put out. The necessity of the document was questioned.

Originally there were 3 rating:

1. Sanctioned, certified course (the PEI Marathon is the only one). Certified measurement by Boston Marathon.

2. Points race – we would have our logo on it and certain standards would have to be followed.

3. Fun run/walk – still have standards but maybe fewer rules. Timing is optional.

The executive decided to only put sanctioned races on the website. This was a big mistake.

Some Criteria:

• Age – we decided to follow Run Canada standards for age and distance.

• Measurement – there are different standards for measuring the distances – an A race has to be certified, a B race can be measured with GPS and a C race can be measure by any standard, as long as the distance is communicated to the runners.

• Other items – notifying local authorities and/or the Department of Transportation. Also needed are waivers, our race logo, runner identification (bibs for safety), timing and facility standards. This is basically a checklist as most are doing this anyway. Traffic control, first aid, results, awards, water stops, equipment.

• All of this is in the document.

•  

Most of the feedback we’ve received has been productive. The main issues are around the $2.00/runner fee and that races and results on the website are wanted.

The main reasons we made the document are quality and safety.

The executive met to discuss how best to approach fees and race categories.

Categories:

• points race – automatically sanctioned

• Run using our equipment - $50.00 fee

• Run listed on website for information only – no equipment

Challenges:

• when 3 or 4 events are scheduled for one weekend

• How do we monitor the standards and expectations of the club?

•  

Membership wants us to make things simpler, have everything on the website, and promote running.

It is the sanctioned, non-points races where monitoring needs to be done. Insurance needs to be paid for non-runners.

Maybe two race categories would work.

The race directors present were asked what they thought of the categories (sanctioning, non-sanctioning, and information only).

The $2.00/person is history.

Do not need to have chip timing to be a B race. (example: Freeze Your Gizzard).

Most race directors thought $50.00 fee was okay.

There was discussion around having lower fees if insurance is not needed or if it is a fun run that wants equipment rental from us.

Discussed a $5.00 fee to just have information on website but it was already decided not to do this because we want to promote running, fees are hard to collect, and out membership wants races listed.

Race directors liked the $50 fee more than the $2/person

Race Calendar:

Race Directors page – need to make sure race directors go in and update it.

Maybe give information to race directors who aren’t at meeting for feedback.

We need to monitor and enforce the rules of the document or remove them – such as age requirements and section about sending copies of documents submitted to dept of highways/transportation to PEI roadrunners

Questions & Answers:

What is our average membership? It was 380 but it is down right now.

Would the school districts have an extra timing clock? They actually use ours.

What about an equipment rental fee? Maybe E-banking would be an easy way to manage this? Our\ account doesn’t have this option. Maybe or PayPal – it is free to open but there is a transaction fee.

Banquet tis March 11^th.

Race Directors Meeting - Summerside, Thursday, January 28/16

Sanctioning for 2016:

February 11, 2016 – the date for race directors to have feedback submitted to RoadRunners. The race calendar can still be updated until the banquet.

New Brunswick model – in NB, membership is free and members just pay per event. Everyone pays the same fee.

Monitoring: Making sure funds are collected. Invoices should be sent, even if there are not the resources to chase race directors for collection of fees. It is frustrating and unfair for some non-profit organizations to pay when other race directors have not paid.

Maybe if fees aren’t paid, your race will not be in the calendar the next year.

A flat rate would be easier.

Categories:

• Points (insured)

• Sanctioned (insured)

• Fun Runs (on the calendar)

•  

For the points and sanctioned runs, the race director has to be a PEI RoadRunner member. A list of members and non-members must be submitted for insurance.

RoadRunners need to support, monitor and enforced the document and race.

Maybe the question could be added to the race directors’ form: “Do you have insurance?”

Sanctioning:

Some race directors have been running their events for many years and then suddenly the document was released that stated what a “good race” is. The document wasn’t put out to race directors, but should have been.

Sanctioning is a good idea (for structure and insurance, but we shouldn’t tell a race director how to run a race – such as with awards and the requirement for Gatorade for certain distances. Should be individualized and up to the race director – each could be done differently. (for example – shouldn’t have to wait until all runners finished to give out awards as some runners have to leave early for long rides home.) However, insurance is something that shouldn’t be up to the race directors.

How difficult is monitoring? Survey Monkey could be utilized after races to validate that you put on a good event.

Suggestions for changes to the Sanctioning Document:

• Remove the section about how awards are handled

• Remove the section about mailing a copy of the Dept. of Highways information to the RoadRunners Club.

• Change – Age requirements are based on the Run Canada Long-term Athlete Development Platform – this could be a guideline only.

• Remove questions about having a registration table, washrooms and water stops.

• Maps should be mandatory

•  

In a sanctioned race, non-members only have liability coverage. Has anyone asked a lawyer about our insurance? Triathlon PEI asks “Are you a member?’ If the answer is no, the participant has to go to the insurance table before registering for the event. Paul will look into the fee to be insured for one day.