USAT-MA Board of Directors
Meeting
USA
Triathlon Mid-Atlantic Annual Meeting
February 4th, 2006
Columbia, Md.
Attendance: General members,
USAT Mid-Atlantic, board of directors, USAT
President Brad Davison
I.
Call to Order: Vigorito called the meeting
to order at 9:45 a.m..
II.
Reading of
previous minutes: Wendling moved,
Southerling seconded approval of the
previous minutes.
III.
Introduction of 2006 Board of Directors -
Alan Morrison, Melanie Fink, Nic Jafierieh,
Bob Wendling, Melissa Merson, Andrew
Southerling, Neil Semmel, Bill Scott
IV.
Financial
Report – We received about $21,000 and spent
$20,600. We have about $32,000 going forward
including about $13,000 in a certificate of
deposit.
V.
Regional
Committee Reports -
Regional newsletter committee
- Bill Hauser reported on how to sign up for
the enewsletter. Bill said he always seeks
content for the site. Currently have 2,800
subscribers not all from our region. We also
email it via USAT to everyone in our region.
Regional Championships & National
Championships
– Wendling reported on USAT’s effort to
bring regional and national championships in
house. It will take two years to transition
to the new system. We nominated races for
the national Grand Prix series many of which
are also our regional championships. This
year, they are: Breezey Point, Columbia,
Delaware Diamondman, Dheseapeakeman ultra.
The duathlons are Brandywine Valley and
Powerman north Carolina. The youth
championship is Escape from School triathlon
and the club championship triathlon is
Pittsburgh. The collegiate championships are
at Naylor’s Beach Tri.
Because the USAT national age group
championships are July 9th in
Kansas City, they asked regions to choose
two more events that occur before July 9th
to qualify folks for nationals. Last night,
the regional board selected the New Jersey
Devilman on May 7th and the Over
the Mountain triathlon on June 17, in N.C.
Club Committee
– Andrew reported on club activities and
growth within the region. There are about 35
clubs throughout the region. It is important
to design ways to reach out to get diverse
clubs.
Regional website
–
www.usat-ma.org Wendling reported on web
activities. The website is an enormous
success and often noted as being amongst the
best in the country. The biggest complaint
is that members aren’t ranked before they
are members and they want us to reconstruct
history. There were 17,000 visits to the
regional rankings last year and 21,000 page
view.
On our homepage, visits totaled 53,000 or a
33 percent increase from last year. Page
views were up to 72,000, a 22 percent
increase.
Regional Grand Prix triathlon
series
– In 2005, the region followed in the
footsteps of duathlon series to develop tri
series. There were 11 races in the series
and a championship event. There is some
confusion with the national series because
they chose the grand prix name so we’re
changing ours. We’re going to increase the
number of races so more people will get
ranked. You need to participate in 3 races
to get ranked…in the next week the region
will announced the 2006 events in the
series.
Duathlon
– Vigorito gave report for
Judi Carbary the duathlon committee chair,
who was unable to attend.
Regional
Officials – Ann Snooenbous was not at
the meeting. Wendling reported to the
membership that we have 21 active officials;
they worked 58 events this year a 38 percent
increase. Officials are going paperless;
race reports, sanctioning materials, etc.
all are being delivered electronic all.
National average penalty rate has been
decreasing. In the 1990’s the penalty rate
was as high as 10 percent; in 2000 it was 5
percent, last year it was at 2.2 percent.
Member questioned how many officials are
assigned to races; USAT President Brad
Davison explained how difficult it is to
cover the region with so few events.
VI. USAT
President’s report – Brad Davison updated
the region on national USAT affairs. The
most noteworthy point was that the
Mid–Atlantic Region had the largest growth
of any region in the country at 14 percent.
Davison said there were a
few deaths and serious injuries last year
during events; there were not many
incidental claims. We purchase our insurance
from the same companies that are insuring
hurricanes and natural disasters. It’s not
the number of incidents but the seriousness
of the incidents that effects our policy
premiums. Explosive growth in the sport also
has increased our costs. Some sports, such
as baseball, basketball, soccer, etc. have
controlled environments. There are very few
sports that stretch 112 miles on an open
road, 26 miles on an open road, miles down
open lakes –down town in cities, boats on
the water – we have the largest field of
play of any sport. As our numbers grow – 179
percent growth in USAT, 60 percent growth in
sanctioned races -- that scares
underwriters.
Sadj asked about insurance.
Rob Falk, DC Tri Club board
member, asked about capacity building. We
have lost events. As races come on line,
they fill up quickly. DC Tri Club is about
to launch a new triathletes program that
will be 70 to 80 members. Most major races
are closed down We need more races. He also
expressed concern about cost containment. He
said that $185 for a half Ironman is
expensive. USAT could help us obtain better
pricing on things through sponsors. It is
difficult for us to take advantage to $3
dollar discount for USAT membership. Brad
said the $3 membership discount has been
eliminated and that instead USAT is going to
provide high profile athletes, resources
such as DVDs, etc. to help clubs.
Davison said that it costs
tens of thousands of dollars to shut down
roads, to pay police for a triathlon, not
including the cost of park usage,
registration center, etc. As we grow, others
find they can profit from the explosive
growth in our sport. It is harder for race
directors to get free services. Gel wrappers
on the ground can ruin the best venue in the
country for future races. We try to limit
the cost of the races but the costs aren’t
going into the race directors pockets but to
the expenses of the event.
Davison explained the new
USAT age group aging up rule. He said that,
as part of the new grand prix series, there
is a point system, this prevents people from
moving into a new age group and screwing up
the rankings of the points. We are going to
the pacesetter ranking system on the
national level; this is a popular ranking
system.
Krista Mylott of the Mid
Maryland Triathlon Club, said that clubs
here have great mentor programs. She asked
if there will be increased coaching clinics.
Olwen Huxley, DC Tri Club
asked about traveling expenses. She said
that airlines treat packaged content
differently. “If you put presentation
equipment in the boxes it is free; if it’s a
bicycle it’s costly.” Davison said USAT’s
Tim Yount regularly attempts to negotiate
with the airlines over content vs. bike
passes and that he would pass Olwen’s
suggestion along.
Vigorito said that it costs
$75 dollars or $150 round trip to fly your
bike to an event domestically. The best way
to do it is to ship bicycles FedEx to the
hotel.
Daniel Branf, a local USAT
coach, said that Alan Ley, USAT coaching
certification director, sets a very high
standard for certifying coaches. USAT needs
to promote the quality of its coaches.
Harriet Foster, DC Tri Club,
asked about alternative packaging for
nutritional products. Davison said trying to
strike balance and work with manufacturers
on alternative packaging. He also said that
USAT is involved with test sampling and
working from a research perspective with
sponsors.
Steve Smith, Reston Area
Triathletes, said that club competitions are
essentially a regional entity. Eventually
there could be more nationally. We really
need club attachments in the scoring system
similar to Masters Swimming.
VII. Vigorito
and Davison presented awards to ITU world
champion Margie Shapiro of Virginia who
thanked Vigorito and said her first
triathlon was Columbia and still her
favorite. Steve Duplinsky, the the under 23
world champion, from Kensington, Md. Also
was recognized. Both Shapiro and Duplinsky
were given flowers and honored by the
region.
VIII.
Vigorito
acknowledged Adventures for the Cure, a
fundraising effort by Mid-Maryland Tri Club
members Patrick Blair and Adam Driscoll, who
are raising money for childhood diabestes
and cancers, AIDs in Africa. They will be
riding across country this year. More
information about their efforts can be found
at: http://adventuresforthecure.squarespace.com/
IX. Annual
Meeting Club Challenge – Vigorito called for
a tally of club members present at the
meeting. Each club member was given a
colored wrist band when they registered at
the door. Each club was asked to stand and
raise their arms so their armbands could be
counted. The count was close with the DC Tri
Club narrowly edging out the Mid-Maryland
Tri Club for the challenge prize. DC Tri was
awarded $500 plus five complimentary entries
to regional triathlon events.
X. New
Business – There was no other new business
brought before the members.
XI. Adjournment
– Vigorito adjourned the meeting and invited
everyone to lunch downstairs.
Submitted,
Melissa
Merson
Mid-Atlantic Region Board Secretary
USA Triathlon
Mid-Atlantic
See National USAT