Friday, November 30, 2012 General Session #1 8am WLDR

The session was called to order at 8:05am.

Chair Virginia Brophy Achman welcomed those in attendance and invited everyone to introduce the association or organization that they were representing.

Secretary Mickey Piscitelli made a motion to accept the minutes of the 2011 Annual Meeting which had been posted in the USATF online document library. Kathy Nary seconded. Unanimously accepted.

WLDR Awards

Mickey named the recipients of the two WLDR bestowed annually. By virtual of being the top point earner in our USA Running Circuit, Janet Cherobon-Bawcom was named the 2012 WLDR Runner of the Year. She was our national champion for the 15K, 25K, and 10 mile distances. This is Janet’s second consecutive year winning our WLDR award. The Committee was selected as the collective winner of our Marja Bakker Contributor of the Year Award. Virginia reviewed all of the detailed planning and careful execution of duties which contributed to the success of the USA Olympic Team Trials – Women’s Marathon last January by their committee members and numerous volunteers. Maddie Bunch, a Committee Executive Board member, will be accepting the award on behalf of the HMC.

Nominations Process

Secretary Mickey Piscitelli reminded the group that the 4 years of Virginia’s term as WLDR chair had come to a close and that any nominations from the floor would be made during the second WLDR session at 3pm that afternoon. Virginia had already made her intentions known that she was interested in serving as chair for another 4 year term. If no one else was nominated from the floor during the afternoon session and she thereby was the only candidate, she could be declared chair by acclimation.

Mickey reminded all of those present that the attendance document circulating among them listed the name of the voting member for each association and that if they were the one planning to vote and were not the name listed, they needed to get a note from their association president (or if not onsite, their designee) that names them as well as the name of the person they would be replacing as the voting member. One party immediately handed the secretary a note as described.

The actual voting, if needed, would take place on the following morning, Saturday, from 7-11am at the same location as the general elections.

International Competitions

Kathy Nary reported on our two international competitions.

The first was the IAAF World in Kavarna, Bulgaria on October 6. The team leader was Julie McKinney. The athletes were:

Maegan Krifchin 13th 1:12:29

Adriana Nelson 18th 1:13:30

Shalane Flanagan 25th 1:14:41 Michelle Frey 32nd 1:16:55

Alvina Begay 33rd 1:16:58

Team USA finished 5th out of 9 teams

The second was the Chiba Ekiden in Chiba, Japan on November 23. The team leader was Magdalena Lewy Boulet. There was a mixed men’s and women’s team. The athletes were:

Stage #1: 5km Men James Strang 14:06 (9th)

Stage #2: 5km Women Chelsea Reilly 15:29 (3rd)

Stage #3: 10km Men Jacob Riley 28:46 (2nd)

Stage #4: 5km Women Emma Kertesz 16:25 (3rd)

Stage #5: 10km Men 28:20 (1st)

Stage #6: 7.195km Women Neely Spence 23:30 (3rd)

Alternate for the women:

The question was raised about how an athlete might earn their way onto Team USA. Kathy responded that the criteria for competing at an international competition is on the USATF website and those athletes are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the criteria for specific competitions in which they have an interest.

Julie McKinney, our team leader for the World Half Marathon, was present to share some of the details of her experience. The athletes traveled to the race site just a few days before the competition. Race day was a warm day in the 70s and some athletes did suffer from the heat and humidity. The question was raised as to whether or not the athletes could arrive to the competition site earlier so as to be better rested and recovered from the long travel. It was stated that those decisions are made by personnel at the National Office.

IAAF Update

Bob Hersh, IAAF Senior Vice President, informed the group that the next World Half Marathon will be contested in Copenhagen in the spring of 2014. In the future, organizers hope to tie the World Half Marathon into an already existing big city event. Organizers have been taking part in preliminary discussions with potential hosts. Currently the World Half Marathon is contested every two years in an even numbered year. Bob posed the question, “Can we go back to making it an annual event?” His response to his own question was “Maybe, we’ll see.”

Bob also reported that there have been changes made to the regulations regarding the gold, silver & bronze label series. The attempt is being made for more interaction with AIMS to establish a mutually beneficial relationship between IAAF and road running community. AIMS is a 320 member based organization of more than 95 of the world’s leading distance races, from over countries & territories. Their objectives are to foster and promote distance running throughout the world and to exchange information, knowledge, and expertise among members of the association.

In addition, the question “Will the drug suspension time-frame change from 2 years to 4 years for the first offense?” It was his view that the World Anti-Doping Code may be amended for serious first offenses and in that case the proposal has a very good chance of being passed.

As expected, there was some criticism from the athletes regarding the Olympic marathon course in , but Bob reiterated that the course was indeed designed to showcase the city of London and it did succeed on that level.

L&L: Operating Procedures

Nina Kuscsuk had worked on reviewing the current Operating Procedures for the WLDR Committee and asked for a consensus regarding her suggestions for amending/modifying. There was consensus. Kelly Flathers offered to organize a committee to study some of the “language”. She planned to do that before the end of the annual meeting.

Athlete Development Program

Linda Barnhart gave a quick description of the ADP and its mission. The goal of the Athlete Development Program is to assist in the development of GREAT American distance runners. The ADP has been a vital part of USATF since 1993. It is a program which enables Men’s and Women’s LDR Committees to work collaboratively to provide emerging elite athletes the ability to experience competition at the national level. The ADP provides the athletes with $150 travel stipend, shared room for two nights, ground transportation, meals, and a waived entry to selected USA Championship races. USATF associations are encouraged, whenever possible, to match ADP stipends awarded to their athletes.

In order for a female athlete to be eligible, they must:

(1) Be a USATF member for the current year (2) Be a US citizen between the ages of 18-29 post scholastic (3) Have met one of the times standards on a certified course:

1 mile 4:48.50 or better

5K 16:50

10K 35:15

15K 54:27

10 mile 58:45

Half M 1:18:30

Marathon 2:51:00 Athletes are encouraged to visit: http://www.usatf.org/groups/RoadRunning/elite/ADP.asp for a listing of the year’s championship events and an ADP application.

Linda can be reached at lindabarnhart@coxnet if further clarification is needed.

Some athletes in their 30s questioned the upper age parameter established for the ADP. Linda explained that the ADP is specifically for those younger post-collegiate runners. Scott Keenan, Race Director of Grandma’s Marathon and Half Marathon, and other race directors in the room countered that older athletes do have many opportunities to be awarded monetary assistance to a certain race by searching that race website. Many race directors have funds allocated to elite athletes based on that athletes PR at their race distance. There was a lot of good discussion generated by Linda’s report.

Associations

Irene Herman, our liaison to Associations, reported on the 2012 Association workshop which was held on August 19th in Pittsburgh. There were 142 participants representing 52 associations. Irene described that the focus of the workshop was on “Communications” and a “branding” plan which would ensure uniformity throughout the 57 associations in terms of logo identification, clothing, and events. Via the company, Delivera, USATF has a free e-mail marketing system. One would be able to download specific membership files (maybe LDR) and import it to a .csv file to upload the e-mail address. This will enable you to then create, send, and track the outgoing mail. Headers will be created by USATF.

Questionnaires were distributed to a representative from each association regarding the accreditation process. The accreditation committee is seeking feedback regarding the current 19 points for Full Accreditation is too many, too few, etc.

USATF, in an effort to achieve more transparency, is encouraging race directors to complete sanctions forms online via their association.

Mountain, Ultra, Trail Council

Nancy Hobbs, chair of the MUT council, reported that they had great success during 2012.

Team and Individual medals for the women were earned as follows:

100K Team Gold-Women Overall Women Individual Gold

24 Hour Team Gold-Women Overall Women Individual Silver

Mountain Running Team (NACAC) Team Gold-Women Overall Women Individual Gold/Silver/Bronze

Mt. Running Team (World Champs) Team Gold-Women Overall Women Individual Bronze

World Team Gold across the board for the women!!

Nancy is very pleased with the way the MUT council has expanded the use of social media to widen the reach of the USATF brand. Through the use of Google+, Twitter, and Facebook the number of online followers has exploded. They are also doing Google "On Air Hangouts" which allow the broadcast of live interviews with team staff and team members. This has been an important means of not only introducing an entirely new audience to the selected team for a certain competition, but has become an important tool for athlete recruitment as well.

Road Running Technical Council

Gene Newman, chair of the Road Running Technical Council, was delighted to report that the process by which one can discover whether or not a certain race course is USATF certified is easier than ever before. One of the quickest ways to determine this is go visit www.rrtc.net and click on “search for certified courses.” As well as maintaining the list of all USAFT-certified courses, the RRTC supervises the measurement and certification of road racing courses in the . Throughout the year the Council conducts measurement seminars to educate groups about course certification procedures.

IAAF Women’s Committee Report

Anne Timmons addressed those assembled and thanked everyone for giving her the opportunity to represent our National Governing Body at the IAAF Women’s Committee Meeting which had been held over a two- day period in February in . Key topics discussed included the importance of investing in women’s athletic participation. This would, in turn, increase the number of female spectators and, by enlarging the audience as a whole, would improve the overall marketing value of the sport. The Women’s Committee discussed and supported the inclusion of a mixed relay event in Youth competitions. The Committee also agreed upon the criteria to determine the recipient of the Women’s Award which is presented during the Centenary Celebrations.

In addition, several recommendations were put forth to the Council. They include the Mission Statement of the IAAF Women’s Committee, “The mission of the modern Women’s Committee is to encourage and promote the opportunities for inclusive leadership and diversity at all levels of administration, coaching, and officiating that currently exist within the membership of athletics, with the goal of reaching gender equality.” Another recommendation was to have the Women’s Committee’s name changed to the “Equality and Diversity Committee.” Another recommendation was to organize leadership seminars within the time frame of the existing World Youth Championships. The seminars should include girls, boys, and coaches, and should focus on embracing diversity and the goal of shared responsibility. Another important recommendation followed on the heels of a detected oversight in the draft calendar of RDC’s for 2012 and 2013. Apparently, the previously agreed upon minimum number of courses (one) which was to be conducted for women had not been listed/scheduled in all RDC’s. These courses need to be on the schedule and need to be conducted and should be topic-specific. Those topics are: leadership, coaching, and officiating.

WLDR National Championships

National Championships Chair, Darren DeReuck submitted a very detailed report of the 2012 series of championship races.

2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Marathon - Jan 14th in Houston, TX

Shalane Flanagan (Portland, Ore.) bettered the Women’s Olympic Trials Marathon record by two minutes and forty-seven seconds in her Olympic Trials marathon debut. Flanagan was in the lead pack throughout the race, but did not step forward as the clear leader until the 21st mile once the lead group of three was clearly set. Flanagan exchanged the lead with Desiree Davila (Rochester Hills, Mich.) several times before surging ahead at mile 24 to run away with the lead. Her winning time was a personal best by nearly 3 minutes. Desiree Davila added the word Olympian to her growing resume. Davila led portions of the race from five miles on before dueling with Flanagan in miles 22 through 24. Once Flanagan took the lead for good, Davila held on to finish in 2:25:55, only 18 seconds back. The 2007 World Championships bronze medalist at 10,000 meters, (Portland, Ore.) claimed her first spot on the Olympic Marathon squad by finishing third in 2:26:06 After not competing in 2010 due to maternity, this is Goucher’s second marathon in nine months after her 2:24:26 showing at the 2011 Marathon. Amy Hastings (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.) appeared to be the last runner dropped by the top three as she fell back around 16 miles, but moments later she charged ahead to take the lead. However, by mile 20 she could no longer hold her position and fell back for good to finish in fourth in 2:27:17. Janet Cherobon-Bawcom finished fifth in 2:29:45, a nearly eight minute PR.

X-C Nationals – Feb 11th in Forest Park, Saint Louis, MO

Pre-race favorite (Providence, R.I.) took command of the lead pack that included Hall, five- time USA Cross Country team member Renee Metivier Baillie (Bend, Ore.), Liz Costello (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Laura Thweatt (Boulder, Colo.). After 3 km Huddle held a one-step advantage over Hall, with Costello close behind. Over the final 2 km loop, Huddle looked to be in charge but could never pull completely clear of Hall. Charging down the home straight, Hall made one final rally to edge Huddle at the line in a photo finish. Hall and Huddle were both timed in 26:51. Costello held on to finish third in 27:18. In addition to the national titles on the line in St. Louis, open and junior women qualified to represent Team USA at the North American, Central American, and Caribbean (NACAC) Cross Country Championships March 17 in Port of Spain, Trinidad.

15 km – March 10th in Jacksonville, FL

Janet Cherbon-Bawcom was the big winner at the USA 15-K Championships, hosted by the in Jacksonville, Fla. Not only did she win her fourth USA road running title in six months, but she also held of men's champion Mo Trafeh...the elite women were given a seven-minute head start. Cherobon-Bawcom was timed in 49:41, but owed some of her success to a resurgent Lindsey Scherf who led a pack of four --including Cherobon-Bawcom, Maegan Krifchin and Molly Huddle-- through 8 km in 26:51. The taller Scherf helped shelter Cherobon-Bawcom from the strong winds. Just before 10 km, Cherobon-Bawcom and Huddle left Scherf and Krifchin, then the former NCAA Division II 10,000m champion surged away from Huddle. She picked up her pace to make sure that Trafeh would not catch her on the descent of Hart Bridge before the finish. By winning the race, Cherobon-Bawcom collected the $12,000 winner's check plus the $5,000 "equalizer" bonus for beating all of the men, a task made easier this year because the women's head start had been increased by two minutes. Huddle finished second in 49:57, Krifchin third in 50:43, and Scherf fourth in 51:08.

25 km – May 12th in Grand Rapids, MI

Janet Cherobon-Bawcom (Rome, Ga.) ran a pending American Record of 1:24:37 in winning the women’s crown Saturday. 2012 marked the 19th year that the championships were hosted by the Fifth Third River Bank Run in Grand Rapids. Overcast skies and cool temperatures provided the stage for the 35th annual event. The women’s race also saw a strong start with Bawcom and Lindsey Scherf (Fayetteville, N.C.) quickly establishing themselves as the main contenders for the women’s title. After passing the first mile in about 5:20, the pair dueled for much of the race with Scherf setting the pace and trying several times to break away but Bawcom always maintained contact and made her move in the final miles as she charged to the finish for her fifth USA title and first American Record. Scherf finished a strong second in 1:25:13

1 Mile – May 17th in Minneapolis, MN

Heather Kampf (Minneapolis, Minn.) took the women’s titles at the USA 1 Mile Road Championships Thursday evening in Minneapolis. Warm, windy conditions met the competitors for the fourth annual championships, causing both fields to take a conservative approach to the early stages of the race. Kampf used a late burst to outrun the field in the last 400 meters, propelling herself to a decisive win over Alisha Williams ( Springs, Colo.). Kampf was timed in 4:36.9 with Williams following in 4:39.6. Danielle Tauro (Manahawkin, NJ) took third in 4:40.0.

Half Marathon - June 16 in Duluth, MN

1. Kara Goucher - Portland 1:09:46

2. Maegan Krifchin - Dewitt 1:10:56

3. Michelle Frey – Minneapolis 1:11:45

4. Melissa Johnson-White - Orion Township 1:12:05

5. Alvina Begay - Flagstaff 1:12.25

20 km – Sept 3rd in New Haven, CT

Renee Metivier Baillie (Bend, Ore.) won the women’s title at the USA 20 km Championships as part of the Stratton Faxon New Haven Road Race in New Haven, Conn. The women's race started out at 5:23 per mile pace with a pack of about eight women. The pack stayed tight reaching the two-mile mark in 10:47. After clicking of a 5:16 third mile on the downhill section of the course, a pack of five emerged with Molly Pritz (Boulder, Colo.) leading Serena Burla (Falls Church, Va.), Stephanie Rothstein (Flagstaff, Ariz.), Alisha Williams (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and Metivier Baillie. As the sun broke through the trees around mile four and five, the lead pack dwindled to four as Williams dropped off the back of the 5:20 pace that the leaders were pushing. Just past mile five, Baillie started to make a move but settled back into the rhythm of the foursome. Passing through 10 km at 33:00, the athletes looked strong with Burla slightly off the pack. Shortly after the eight-mile mark, her patience paid off and Baillie increased her lead through the rolling hills of East Rock Park. Baillie then cruised to the victory in 1:07:08, with Pritz holding on for second at 1:07:21 and Rothstein rounding out the medals in 1:07:59.

5 km – Sept 16th in Providence, RI

Molly Huddle (Providence R.I.) picked up her second career win at the USA 5 km Championships hosted by the CVS Caremark Downtown 5 km crossing the finish line in 15:29.9. The women’s race was dominated by hometown favorite Huddle as she ran at the front of the race from the start and distanced herself by nearly four seconds over her closest competitor to win. Throughout the race Huddle ran in the lead pack with Neely Spence (Lake Orion, Mich.) and Elizabeth Maloy (Washington, D.C.) who finished second (15:33.7) and third (15:36.7.) respectively. This was the second U.S. road title for Huddle after winning the USA 5 km Champs back in 2010.

10 mile – Oct 7th in Minneapolis, MN

Facing chilly early morning temperatures in Minneapolis, Minn., Janet Cherobon-Bawcom defended her title in the USA 10 Mile Championships, which was run as part of the TC Medtronic 10 Mile. Cherobon-Bawcom cruised to the win in a time of 53 minutes, 43 seconds to finish ahead of runner-up Kara Goucher (53:56) and third place Alisha Williams (54:08). It was the third USA title on the roads in 2012 for Cherobon-Bawcom as she also won national titles in the 15 km and 25 km earlier in the year. A 2012 Olympian in the 10,000m, it is the sixth USA title for Cherobon-Bawcom in the last two seasons (10 km, 10 Mile and 20 km in 2011).

10 km – Oct 8th Boston, MA

Chelsea Reilly made her 10-K debut a memorable one winning the national title on a crisp fall day at the 36th Tufts Health Plan 10-K for Women in 32:41. Reilly, 23, won a long sprint to the line over Tara Erdmann (32:46), while another 10 km debutante, Neely Spence finished third (32:51). In the final mile of the 6.2 mile race, Erdmann pushed to the front on Commonwealth Avenue. Reilly followed, and then saved her final burst for the finish straight on Charles Street. Reilly was confident that she could win because she recently finished 8th at the Fifth Avenue Mile in where she ran 4:29.0.

Top Three Overall Standings:

1) Janet Cherobon-Bawcom - 57 points 2) Kara Goucher - 47 points 3) Molly Huddle - 39 points

Darren reported that the women had a total of 10 national championship races in 2012. He reviewed the already awarded bids for 2013. The confirmed national championships races for 2013 are:

July 4 10K Peachtree , Georgia

June 16 Half Marathon Grandma’s Duluth, Minnesota

October 14 Team 10K Tufts Boston, Massachusetts

He concluded by saying that here were additional bids submitted and in at least two cases he had received multiple bids for the same race distance. A meeting has been scheduled during the remaining time at the Annual Meeting for a review of all of the bids by Darren, the members of the National Championships Sub- committee, and Jim Estes.

Running USA CEO Susan Weeks stated that Running USA is a non-profit industry organization with the mission of advancing, serving, and promoting the sport of running. Established USA training groups are encouraged to apply for an annual monetary grant from Running USA. Donors account for 60% of the money distributed. Running USA is experiencing grow with more members than ever and they hope that in 2014 they will be able to will increase the amount of that annual grant.

Athlete and WLDR Executive Board member mentioned that her training NJ-NY Track Club has struggled for funding because their group is considered more of an enclave of middle-distance runners.

Meeting was recessed at 9:47am.