Minutes 2014 USATF Annual Meeting Anaheim, CA Women's Long Distance Running General Session #1 December 3rd, 2014, 8am-9:50am Pacific Attendees (for one or more sessions), Executive Committee: Kim Keenan-Kirkpatrick (Chair), Kathy Nary (Vice-Chair- International Competition), Mickey Piscitelli (Vice-Chair- Awards and National Championships), Camille Herron (Secretary/Athlete), Lesley Higgins (Athlete), Nina Kuscsik (Law & Legislation), Darren De Reuck (National Championships Chair), LeeAnn Meyer (National Championships Committee), Julie McKinney (Developmental Chair), Nancy Hobbs (MUT Chair), Bill McKee (Rules Committee), Amy Yoder-Begley (Member) I. Call to Order/Welcome: Women's LDR Chair, Ms. Kim Keenan-Kirkpatrick, convened the meeting at 8:04am. II. Introduction of Attendees: At the request of Ms. Keenan-Kirkpatrick, she had everyone in attendance introduce themselves and their role with USATF. III. Approval of 2013 General Session Minutes: Women's LDR Secretary, Ms. Camille Herron, mentioned that the 2013 General Session Minutes should be available online in the document library for review. Also, Ms. Herron sent out the minutes via email last year to all of those who provided an email on the attendance sheet. She will continue to do the same for this year’s minutes. Ms. Mickey Piscitelli made a motion and Ms. Nina Kuscsik seconded to approve the minutes. The minutes were unanimously approved. IV. WLDR Awards: Ms. Piscitelli (WLDR Vice-Chair for Awards) talked about the two awards our committee gives: the Runner of the Year Award and the Marja Bakker Contributor of the Year. Ms. Molly Huddle- Runner of the Year. Objectively given to the top point scorer of the USARC. Ms. Huddle will be unable to attend the awards breakfast. Mr. Doug Allred- Marja Bakker Contributor of the Year. Mr. Allred is the longtime race director for the Gate River Run/15K US Championship. He said he’ll have the Gate Rive Run serve as the 15K Championship as long as they are welcome. He also won’t be able to attend the breakfast. V. Report from RR Technical Council: Mr. Gene Newman (RRTC) noted to make sure our list of US Championships get pre-verified for record purposes. VI. 2015 US Championships: Ms. Keenan-Kirkpatrick talked about how LA is hosting the 2015 US Marathon Championship in March on the regular marathon course. While the athletes won’t get to run the Olympic Marathon Trials course, they’ll get to familiarize themselves with the city, travel, roads, LA, the hotel, and the race director crew. We’re hoping the Olympic Trials course will be finalized by March, so the athletes can take course tours. Ms. Keenan-Kirkpatrick and Mr. Ed Torres (MLDR Chair) and others got to preview the proposed 1 course on Monday (drove and walked). They made some recommendations/tweaks. There’s a 2.2 mile out-and-back North loop (fairly straight, three turns). Then you come back and do a 6 mile loop four times towards the USC campus—this loop is like a “U” you do in the middle of the campus. It will be surrounded by college kids cheering. Also, it goes further South to showcase the Coliseum. They made recommendations so the course flows- no crazy turns and curbs. They want the course to be “athlete friendly”. We’ve also learned the Olympic Trials will be on the same weekend as the Grammy’s, so we hope to have a star sing the National Anthem. The race will start at 10am Pacific time and be televised live on NBC. The men and women will start separately (women first) - the time differential will likely be the time it takes for the women to complete the first full loop (2.2+6 miles). VII. Review of 2014 US Championships: Our National Championships Chair, Mr. Darren De Reuck, gave a report on this year’s Championships and the winners. Jan. 19th- Half Marathon- Houston, TX Serena Burla won the first US Championship of the year in 1:10:48. Feb. 15th- XC 8K- Boulder, CO The Cross Country Championship is now part of the USA Road Circuit. The race this year was won by Amy Van Alstine in 27:35. Mar. 15th- Gate River 15K- Jacksonville, FL Shalane Flanagan set a new American Record at Gate River, finishing in 47:03. Apr. 6th- Cherry Blossom 10 mile- Washington DC Janet Cherobon-Bawcom set a Women’s-only American Record of 52:12. Apr. 22nd- Blue Mile- Des Moines, IA Heather Kampf won the Mile Championship in 4:32.62. May 10th- Fifth Third Bank 25K- Grand Rapids, MI The longtime 25K in Grand Rapids once again played host to the US Championship. The race this year was won by Kellyn Johnson in 1:25:26. July 4th- Peachtree 10K- Atlanta, GA Peachtree was an American-only race this year. Amy Hastings won in 32:16. 2 July 26th- Bix 7 Miler- Davenport, IA This year was the 40th anniversary for the race- they host the US Championship every five year when they celebrate their anniversary. Ms. Molly Huddle won her first (of four) Championships this year at Bix, in 36:14. Sept. 1st- New Haven 20K- New Haven, CT Ms. Huddle won her second US Championship of the year at New Haven, in 1:08:34. Sept. 21st- Providence 5K- Providence, RI Facing strong winds, Ms. Huddle ran an impressive 15:10 to win the 5K Championship in Providence. Oct. 5th- Twin Cities Marathon- Twin Cities, MN The US Championship was won by Esther Erb this year in 2:34:01. Oct. 13th- Tufts Team Championship 10K- Boston, MA Team USA-Arizona won (Janet Cherobon-Bawcom/Amy Van Alstine/Kellyn Johnson/Alvina Begay). Of note by Mr. De Reuck, three of the four team members had won National Championships this year. 1st American- Emily Infield- 31:47 (2nd Overall) Nov. 16th- US 12K Championship- Alexandria, VA Ms. Huddle capped off winning the USARC by winning the 12K in 38:08. USARC Results 1) Molly Huddle 2) Sara Hall 3) Brianne Nelson Stats of 2014 National Championships 1) 13 Championship Events 2) 8 different National Champions 3) Molly Huddle- 4 Championship wins 4) 2 National Records- 15K (Shalane Flanagan) and 10 Miles (Janet Cherobon-Bawcom) VIII. 2015 Upcoming Championships: Mr. De Reuck listed off the 2015 Championships, starting with: -the Houston Half in January 18th -Cross Country National Championship will be in Boulder, CO on Feb. 7th and serve to select the 3 World Team that competes in China -Gate River 15K, who says they are “on board as long as we want them”, will be on March 14th -LA Marathon is serving as the Championship next year on March 15th -Fifth Third River Bank 25K is May 9th; the 1 mile is going back to Twin Cities on May 12th (serving as a Championship the next 2 years) -New Haven 20K will be on Sept. 7th -Tufts 10K will be a stand-alone individual Championship with no team competition on Oct. 12th There’s a few competitive bids- Cherry Blossom and Twin Cities have both bid for the 10 miler, so it will be in either April or October; and, Carlsbad bid against Providence for the 5K Championship. Also, we might have a bid for an 8K Championship. There will be 12 National Championships in 2015. Women’s LDR Athlete, Ms. Lesley Higgins, asked Mr. De Reuck about the prize money breakdown for the Championships. He said it’s on the USATF website (it’s on the Runner’s Space site devoted to the USARC, although the present prize money breakdown is for 2014- http://www.runnerspace.com/gprofile.php?mgroup_id=30069 ). As Ms. Keenan-Kirkpatrick mentioned, Men’s LDR gave a handout in their meeting with the prize money breakdown- 11 Championships in 2014 provided $323,800; there will be 10 Championships in 2015 giving $331,650+. There will be $697,000 of prize money given for both genders in 2015. As Ms. Paige Biglin (OH) pointed out, the National Championship prize money comes from the local organizing committees, except the .US 12K Championship which comes from .US and USATF. This is important to note, since with the T&F Championships, the prize money comes from USATF. Mr. De Reuck mentioned there are guidelines in the bidding that so much money (a minimum) must be devoted to prize money. WLDR National Championships committee member, Ms. LeeAnn Meyer, spoke up about her experience as a liaison with the Bix 7 miler. They like to host the US Championship every five years, in conjunction with their anniversary celebration. Otherwise, they usually draw an international field. She showed a book they put together in celebration of the race. She also showed the newspaper headlines (always good to have the local newspaper provide sponsor support to cover the race). Ms. Meyer mailed Sean Quigley a copy of the newspaper clipping with his picture. She mentioned the athletes are housed in dorms that are like townhouses. Ms. Keenan-Kirkpatrick gave the lowdown about her experience as a liaison at the .US 12K Championship. She said the event has grown tremendously in its second year. The field size was around 25. She said we want to look at trying to grow the field. At the present, the top 10 from each Championship qualify for the 12K- the top 5 get their trip paid for, while those who finish 6- 10 get an entry into the Championship. We want to expand the qualifying to include automatic qualifying for those who finished in the top 10 at the .US 12K Championship the previous year. There’s been discussion to expand the qualifying to 15 deep at the National Championships.