1 A. Snowrunning Mountain Ultra Trail council members have been meeting for the past two years with members of the US Snowshoe Association including President Mark Elmore. In addition, meetings – formal and informal – have also been conducted with LDR division leaders, USATF staff, and the MUT executive committee. Bolt and Hobbs attended this year’s USSSA National Championships in Vermont (March) and had time to meet with constituents (which number about 500+) and share news about snowrunning becoming another discipline within the MUT family. Since March, Dave Dunham has reviewed the USSSA rules and provided documentation to be included in the USATF rule book as it relates to this new addition to our “family.” The goal at our Annual Meeting this year is to formally include snowrunning (encompassing snowshoes and traction devices as well as simply “running on snowy terrain,” into the broader category) as part of our program. The 2015 USSSA National Championships have already been awarded to Eau Claire, WI (March 2015), and the 2016 venue is not yet decided, but it will be in the western region of USA. 2 Associations Committee Annual Report 2014 Leadership and Movement for 2014: We have committed to making our Associations better by what we can do for them and what they can do for themselves. 1. Association Workshop – Sacramento, California 2. Association Grants 3. Association Disputes 4. Communications through an Association Newsletter 5. Accreditation Standards and Review With each of the above came challenges and opportunities for our committee. Below you will find a summary of each of the projects that came to the committee in 2014. 2014 Association Workshop was a great success again this year meeting in Sacramento as we continue to use the idea of a real workshop. Our agenda was driven by communication and helpful topics on information coming at the annual meeting. They included Safe Sport and Branding/Marketing. We continued our practice of a session for our association officers to discuss like issues and the Presidents are continuing their conversation at the annual meeting. We have had a suggestion on the Association Workshop to move it from our August timeframe to right before the annual meeting. At the workshop in August the Association Executive Committee discussed this opportunity at great length. In the end we voted to have a 2-year pilot for the workshop to be at the front of the annual meeting. This will occur in 2015 at Houston and 2016 at Orlando. During the Houston annual meeting the AEC will again discuss the possibility of continuing at the front of the annual meeting or consideration of moving back to the August timeframe. A final decision will be made prior to the annual meeting in Orlando. Association Grants have been a hot topic for the last year or so. We continue to support our associations with grants and all of those who were not selected for a grant last year were re-submitted for this year to be reviewed. Again we have a good group of grants to review and offer out to our associations with a $20,000 pool of funds. The Association Chair has been added to the committee which is a great opportunity for additional input from the committee to those who award the grants. The AEC has also set up a review process to ensure that the associations who have been awarded grants follow through with their reports. It is important to the process that monies awarded be accounted for and that was used for the purpose intended. Association Disputes: Our Region Reps and our Dispute Coordinator has kept a watchful eye on association disputes during this past year. We are currently working with our Association VC of Regions, Region Reps and our Dispute Coordinator to put a process in place that outlines our steps in helping to resolve issues within our associations. We 3 have also encouraged our Region Reps to get out into the field and visit with their associations to ensure communication and visibility. Communications: The National Office in conjunction with Jim McKee our Communications Chair has been working hard this year to help associations make the jump to the easier more efficient communications. We have also put in place an Association Newsletter that will come out after each of the AEC conference calls. We hope to improve our communication to the associations not only with our meeting minutes but the newsletter as well. Accreditation Standards: This has been a challenging year for our associations as they deal with the new accreditation standards. Our President Stephanie Hightower asked that we review the standards again in 2015 as a check. That was agreed to and Organizational Services and the Association Committee will take that hard look at the beginning of 2015. We have already set up our committee groups to take a hard look at our standards the fairness for the small, medium and large associations. I appreciate all the input sent to me from the various associations on their view of the standards and how well they work. Although 2014 was another challenging year we continue to made strides in our technological opportunities but know that we still have a long way to go. I look forward to new opportunities that we are presented with and will seek out our own new projects. We want to continue our work with other committees to present cohesive relationships within USATF. Our Region Reps and the National Office look forward to working with our associations to continue to improve the process that we ask them to live with. We are looking to enhance the branding and marketing in 2015 by again offering a program to our associations with products and services that will enhance the USATF brand. As always I appreciate the confidence that the associations have in the Association’s Executive Committee and trust that we look out for their interests in all decisions made. Karen Krsak Chair, Associations Committee Gene Newman, RRTC Chairperson’s Report for 2014 Toni Youngman, RRTC’S “Education and Training Chair” did a workshop at the RRCA meeting this year in Washington. Toni used her Power Point Presentation on the ins and outs of measuring a course. This Power Point Presentation is posted this on the USATF web site for all to help understanding how to measuring a course. Mike Wickiser has produced 4 a Power Point Presentation problems that occur when a GPS used by runners gives false readings. This will be distributed to people that ask why a GPS isn’t a tool for measuring. Lyman Jordan and Ken Hardwick were appointed to be Regional certifiers for Maryland and Kansa respectfully. The RRTC appointed Mike Wickiser, Jim Gilmer and Jim Gerweck as Membership at Large. We are in the process of defining their roles with the Council. Since the State of Texas and Illinois have such a large amount of Certifier Courses every year, I appointed Logan Burgess a measurer from TX and Neyl Marquez a measurer from IL to be a Final Signatories. Logan and Neyl measures over 40 courses per year and are IAAF “B” measurer. Their position is not the same as a Regional Certifier as they will not review courses, but will issue Certificates for courses they measures. This will help ease the burden on the Regional Certifiers in TX and IL. I also appointed Doug Thurston and IAAF “A measurer to be a Final Signatory. He has done outstanding work over the years. He will help ease the burden in CA. Finally, Nathan Porch was appointed to be a Final Signatory as he has shown to be an outstanding measurer in several States. The number of Certified Courses continues to increase each year and this year appears to be on a record pace again, as it is going to be close to 3000 courses certified. The total number of courses certified since the late 70’s is around 47,000. About 90% of the East Certifier’s are sending their Certificates and maps electronically to both Justin and I. The West Certifier’s are working towards this, but we have a long way to go. All of this has made the posting of the Certificates online in a day or so after they are received. The following measurers: Dick Forbis and Paul Fritz are now IAAF “B” Measurers. Also, Mark Neal and Toni Youngman have been upgraded to IAAF “A” Measurers. Ken Hardwick has been recommended to be an IAAF “B” measurer. The following USATF Championship Courses were pre-verified: Houston’s Half Marathon(done by Gene Newman & Jane Parks), Gate River Run 15 km(done by Doug Loeffler & Toni Youngman). There needs to be a better understanding of what these type of race need to do so all goes smoothly. Here is what was decided at the USATF Meeting last year. All USATF Championship races will be pre-verified. What does this mean? Note #1: First, let’s assume the race was measured initially by an IAAF “A or B” measurer. Note IAAF Rule 260.28(a). The first step in arranging for any verification, the race must contact the RRTC Validation Chair or the RRTC Chairperson. Either of these two individuals will appoint a measurer to conduct the verification (the race cannot pick their own). The selected Person(s) will be an IAAF ‘”A” measurer, different from the original measurer. Note IAAF Rule 260.28(e). Note #2: If the course was originally measured by at least two “A” grade or one “A” and one “B” grade measurers, and least one of them is present at the race to validate the course as per Rule 260.28(d), no verification (re-measurement) under this Rule 260.28(e) will be required.