European Triathlon Union (ETU) Minutes of the Congress 2004 05 December 2004, Vancouver

1. Call to order: ETU President Marisol Casado, called the meeting to order at 10:00 am. with the following National Federations present:

31 present: 29 full members and 2 provisional members.

1. Austria 17. The Helmut Kaufmann Alexander Maasdijk Julius Skamen Gera van Rootselaar Karin Melinz 18. 2. Belgium Kare J. Grotta Jef Konings 19. Poland Jan Daems Krzysztof Piatkowski 3. Bulgaria 20. Portugal Emil Stoynev Jose Luis Ferreira Rumyana Vasileva Vera Carvalho Vnivko Kovachev Ana Fonseca 4. Croatia Sergio Santos Neven Savora 21. Slovakia Goran Vrbanac Jozef Jurasek 5. Cyprus Daniela Juraskova Bambos Spanoudes 22. Andri Poyiatzi Andreu Alfonso 6. Enrique Quesada Vaclav Bunc 23. Vaclav Marek Ursula Blix Katerina Zapletalova Ola Silvdahl 7. Denmark Jan Nilsson Ole Hansen 24. 8. Andreas Mehr Bernard St. Jean Michael Machacka Jacques Laparade 9. Officials and Guests Klaus Muller-Ott Marisol Casado – ETU President Rolf Ebling Gergely Markus – ETU Secretary General 10. Great Britain Graeme Kempson – ETU Treasurer Peter Coulson Philippe Lescure – ETU EB member Jasmine Flatters Ria Damgren – ETU EB member Norman Brook Irena Chuckanova – ETU EB member Sarah Springman Dragana Kamenica – ETU EB member 11. Greece Kathleen Smet – ETU EB member Alexandros Stefas Kent Magelund – ETU EB member Andreas Arvanitis Thanos Nikopoulos – ETU Development 12. Committee Gabor Markus Clive Faine – ITU Duathlon Committee Peter Czencz Chris Kitchen – ITU LD Comission 13. Ireland Sergio Miliogniri – ETU Medical Committee Hugh McAtamney Ivan Ivezic – Croatia Edith Kearney Claude Meyer – France 14. Roely Graman – Almere, Netherlands Marco Sbernadori Ruud Graman - Almere, Netherlands Aldo Lucarini Ian Lyle – Lough Neagh, Ireland Gabriella Lorenzi John Lunt – Salford, Great Britain 15. Lichtenstein Emmanuel Feillard – ITU Technical Official Philip Schaedler Wesley Murphy - Ireland 16. Luxembourg Michel Knepper Eugene Kraus

2. Welcome and Introductions: Les McDonald, the Presidnt of the International Triathlon Union welcomed the delegates in Vancouver, .

3. Roll Call: Jasmine Flatters, confirmed that the above national federations were present and the Congress was within the requirements of a quorum.

4. Appointment of scrutineers: Srutineers were duly appointed for the term of the ETU Congress.

5. Minutes of the 2003 Congress: There were no request to make any change in the minutes of the 2003 ETU Congress.

6. President’s report: Close cooperation and good communication with the whole Executive Board resulted that ETU was moving ahead. The main event of the year was the Olympic Games, which was organised in Europe.

7. Secretary General’s report: Spent the year 2004 in Athens because of the Olympics. Opened a temporary office with the Tel/fax and the a Post Box Address for ETU. Attended several Events and meetings on behalf of ETU: Winter Triathlon in Wildhaus and Strebske Pleso, Elite Triathlon in Valencia, U23 Triathlon in Tiszaujvaros, Youth Triathlon in Marina di Montalto, Duathlon in Swansea, ETU Prestige in Erdek – Turkey. Prepared and attended ETU NF meetings in Valencia, ETU Executive Board meetings in Madeira and Vancouver. Attended ITU Executive Board meetings in Madeira and Vancouver as Regional representatives from Europe. Corresponded on a daily basis with NFs, Race Organizers, EB Members, Committees’ Members, athletes, ITU officials and ETU collaborative organizations and individuals about various questions, most of them devoted to regular ETU functions and operations. Managed the www.etu-triathlon.org (Official ETU website) and ETU Update. Worked closely with the ETU and ITU Committees and ITU Commissions.

Graeme Kempson requested to amend the order of the Agenda as follows: Audit report for discussion, Treasurer report for discussion and vote on the Audit and the Treasurer report. The Congress supported the amendment.

8. Audit report: The function of the committee was to review and express an opinion on the financial statements prepared by the ETU Treasurer for reporting to ETU EB and to the Congress. The review included examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. In May 2004 the documents were presented in copy to the Audit Committee’s members by Graeme Kempson. The documents were very well prepared and easily understandable. They give a clear picture of the financial situation of ETU. Later in August 2004 the Treasurer presented copies of the records for the previous 2 years 2001 and 2002. It is our opinion that Mr. Kempson has done a great job in deciphering those incomplete records in order to clarify and identify the debtors and creditors of ETU. There was an amount of EUR 6.822,35 in the postion “deferred income – other”. The treasurer explained that this amount is the balance remaining of some €30k introduced into ETU accounts at the behest of Veronica Vleck from a race promoter in Portugal, but stated as a personal loan to the ETU. Any payments from this amount are supposed to be under her authority, and not the authority of the Treasurer of the ETU. We can conceive of no reason why this money should be in the ETU's possession, especially when it only attracts further bank charges and work for ETU for no obvious benefit to the organisation The Audit Committee’s opinion ETU should avoid any kind of those activities. The Audit Committee’s opinion is that the 2003 papers present fairly in all material respects the balance sheet and the statements of operations for the audited period.

9. Treasurer’s report: The Treasurer report was presented in the same wording as it was sent to the National Federations 30 days prior to the Congress. Copies of Steven Downes and Veronicka claim were distributed and discussed. BTA objected that the treasurer verbal report was discussing "matter arising" from treasurer report. Treasurer said that his report would always include major items arising after the writing of a written report. Regarding the Steven Downes claim a Portugese delegate stated that a verbal contract was as good as a written one. The Congress objected and not accepted the claim without written reference. The congress asked EB to follow up and resolve both issues.

Both the Audit report and the Treasurer report were accepted by majority vote.

10. Report of the Sanding Committees: a. Technical Committee: Enrique Quesada reported Main objective in the season was the Olympic Games, since it has been hold in Europe. The performance of the technical officials can be considered as excellent as the athlete’s one. Olympic Games, World Championships, European Elite Championships (Valencia) and World Cup races (Tiszaujvaros, Salford, Hamburg and Madrid) for the group of 7 top races in Europe. 5 of these 7 were managed for ETU TC members or International officials. These facts have two main consequences: • European top races have a really good control, and the triathlon spirit, ETU and ITU policies, and rules and regulations has been follow from the top of the LOCs to the bottom. • European top races has been consider as a group, the best around the world. ETU has conducted a big number of ECs: Winter Triathlon, Duathlon, Elite Triathlon, Long distance Triathlon, U23, Junior and Youth. TC has provided these events with a TD and, at least another couple of officials. ETU has conducted an European Cup, with a ranking system and 12 events. TC has provided with, at least, a TD in every event. The final rankings includes 166 women and 280 men.

b. Medical Committee: Veronicka Vleck reported Apology for being unable to attend the Vancouver ETU Congress. Main aims of the ETU M_R committee for 2003-4, in line with section 6.3 of the ETU constitution, were: i. To produce peer-reviewed consensus and review statements, from experts in the field, on medical and scientific aspects of triathlon ii. b) To produce a set of original peer-reviewed articles, by experts in the field, relating to optimisation of performance in 'Elite' Olympic distance triathlon competition iii. To obtain grant money for inter-university research projects on triathlon. Progress on the above was as follows: a. Review Papers: Papers regarding the ‘nutritional considerations in triathlon’ and ‘medical considerations in triathlon’ were accepted for ‘Sports Medicine’. b. b. Original articles on ‘Elite’ triathlon: Not enough of the papers that were submitted to the ‘Journal of Sports Sciences’ c. Grant money for inter-university collaborative projects: This was obtained, at the university level, by the individual researchers representing said universities. Various projects are ongoing.

c. Development Committee: Thanos Nikopoulos reported With the help and the support of the Italian Federation the specific congress was realised successively, and gave ETU the leading role in the researches for the athletes of these ages. Representatives from most European Countries that deal with the growth of triathlon in these ages presented the way with which they face these athletes, as well as the methodology that they follow. It is legitimate that the work of the Development Committee will be supposed to increase itself and cover all the sectors of her competence, as subjects regarding coaches and women. There are a lot of thoughts and proposals for the next steps of the committee. All the ideas should be gathered and the function frame of the Committee should be described precisely. The main aim of the committee should be the growth of triathlon around Europe

11. Resolutions to Congress: a. Resolution 1: (Bulgarian Triathlon Federation) Whereas it is stipulated in Chapter 1 p.1 c/ in the ETU Constitution that object of ETU are to promote, organize and formulate general conditions for European Championships

And

Whereas ETU abides by ITU Competition Rules which stipulate in Chapter A Purpose p.1.1.e/ that the intention is to endorse the principle that Triathlon and Duathlon are individual sports and to encourage individual performance and initiative

Be it resolved that the format for the Youth Triathlon European Championships be changed from relay competition to an individual race. Resolution defeated.

b. Resolution 2 : (Bulgarian Triathlon Federation) Whereas ETU is the regional organization representing the International Triathlon Union in Europe and whereas ETU abides by ITU Constitution, Rules and Regulations

And

Whereas it is stipulated in Chapter 1 of the ITU Constitution that ITU supports the aims, ideals and principles of the Olympic movement and in the view to ensure the continued inclusion of triathlon on the Program of the Olympic Games

And

Whereas there are 95 members of ITU and the allocated by IOC quota for triathlon for the Olympic Games is 50 athletes per gender.

Be it resolved that ETU Congress proposes to ITU the quota for the Olympic Games to be maximum 2 /two/ athletes per country per gender. Resolution defeated.

12. Elections: The following elections were conducted: a. ETU Technical Committee: 1 to be elected i. Italo Botter (Italy) ii. Helmut Menger (Germany) – elected iii. Emil Stoynev (Bulgaria) b. Development Committee: 2 to be elected i. Andreu Alfonso (Spain) – elected ii. Helmut Kaufmann (Austria) iii. Claude Meyer (France) – elected iv. Aldo Zanetti (Italy) c. Audit Committee: 3 to be elected i. Gerd Fuchs (Luxembourg) – elected ii. Norman Brook (Great Britain) - elected iii. Bernard St. Jean (France) iv. Dimitris Galaktopoulos (Greece) – elected

13. Dates and venues of the 2005 European Championships: It was announced that there is no venue and the date for the 2005 Elite, Junior and Age-Group Triathlon European Championships. The Executive Board will work with the potentional event organisers and National Federations to secure the European Championships as soon as possible. The Executive Board decided before the ETU Congress on the following European Championships: - Duathlon – Debrecen, Hungary - U23 – Sofia, Bulgaria - Youth – Alexandroupouli, Greece

14. Date and Venue of the next Congress: The Executive Board has to know where the 2005 European Championships will be organised and will make a decision later where the Congress will be held according to that.

15. Adjourment: President Marisol Casado expressed her good will to everyone and the importance of having unity in the region.

Minutes recorded by Gergely Markus, ETU Secretary General.