Chiltern Cross Country League

CHILTERN CROSS COUNTRY LEAGUE CHAIRMAN’S ANNUAL REPORT

Presented at the Annual General Meeting held at Tring Cricket Club, London Road, Tring HP23 6HA on Monday 4th September, 2017 at 7.30.p.m.

2016 / 17 was a successful winter for the league. 2068 athletes competed over the five fixtures and they accumulated 5501 finishing positions. This was a slight drop on the number of athletes competing but an increase in the number of finishers on the previous year of 2015/16.

We had thirty seven clubs competing having lost three from the previous year – Cookham A.C., Ampthill and Flitwick Fliers and Olney Runners.

We are indebted to the clubs of Oxford City A.C., Luton A.C., Bedford and County A.C. plus Marshall Milton Keynes A.C. and Leighton Buzzard A.C.(twice together) for hosting our five fixtures. Hosting a fixture for over a thousand competitors each time can be a daunting task but all the clubs have been a credit with their courses and organisation. Clubs not able to host need to offer assistance if at all possible on the day with marshalling or other duties to ease the burden of searching for helpers. Don’t just come and accept that all is fine – it is your league to help support and grow as much as possible.

Venues are a problem and we have lost some in recent years through inconsideration of parking which is detrimental to the league being able to share the burden of fixtures and a greater variety of courses. This is the reason why our fixtures are mainly in the northern half of our league area. We are always hoping for new courses so if your club, or two or three together can supply a new course, it will be much appreciated.

The use of “ Results Base” for the second year who provide our numbers with their chips and the results quickly has proved a successful partnership. We are ahead of many leagues in this initiative of chip recording of results . The league is indebted to Richard Inchley(Treasurer) and Mick Bromilow (Results) for the considerable time they have spent over the past two years negotiating the arrangements and helping to fine tune the efficiency of the system. Results Base have been positive in their endeavours and we are continuing to use them this winter and hopefully into the future. Additionally, Runners Retreat of Marlow are sponsoring the league and are offering some financial rewards. Full details are on the website.

We reintroduced the awarding of plaques for the first, second and third placed individuals in all the age groups. This has been appreciated by the recipients in recognition of their achievements rather than receiving the same medal as the team awards. Although it increased our costs it was a necessary to help increase the leagues profile. We use Running Imp to provide our awards and they have proved to be an efficient company to liaise with.

Costs of putting on each fixture continue to increase and last winter the five fixtures cost the league around £6000 with a couple of clubs carrying the burden of extra costs involved. Despite this the cost per competitor is cheap when we compare it to track and field and road racing. We need to keep this in perspective when the treasurer, Richard Inchley, relates our financial position and our future financial proposals. Although we ran at a loss last year of around £3000 we need to consolidate our financial position so that we always have a sufficient balance to cover any unexpected eventuality.

Kerry Cooper (Secretary ) , Richard Inchley (Treasurer) and Mick Bromilow (Results) have spent numerous voluntary hours supporting the league to make it as efficient as possible for your pleasure and hopefully to have any queries sorted quickly and efficiently. We all owe them a huge appreciation for their dedication.

The four of us met in Milton Keynes in early July to analyse and plan the details for tonight’s meeting. We hope we have made you feel that we are providing you with a good service. Clubs, please help us to help you. Keep us (Kerry most of all) informed of any contact detail changes for your club. Any result mistakes need to be sorted within a couple of days with Mick Bromilow so that results are always correct for members to evaluate their progress. Club treasurers need to pay their subscriptions to the treasurer Richard Inchley in October if possible. They should not have to chase you with reminders.

Over the years various shields and trophies have not been returned for presentation at the final fixture. Only three were presented last year plus the new Dennis Orme Cup whereas we have had eight or more in the past. Can all clubs please check whether they have any “lost” awards among present or past members. We would like to retrieve as many as possible and update them to add to our history so that we can add them to our website. The league has been in existence since the 1950’s so there is an interesting history to review.

Bill O’Connor.

President.

Queens Park Harriers.