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 Houston Marathon 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 Houston Marathon 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 half Marathon 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 Galen Rupp 28:20 (1st) Stage #6: 7.195km Women Neely Spence 23:30 (3rd) Alternate for the women: Mattie Suver 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 London, 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.