GULF WINDS TRACK CLUB Minutes

Hosted by Felton Wright

Present: Board members for quorum: Tony Guillen, Emma Spencer, Mike Burns, Felton Wright, David Yon, Eric Godin, Judy Alexander, Zach Scharlepp, Annie Bowman, Tom Perkins, Jane Skalski, Herb Wills, Ron Harrison.  Others: Bill Lott, Tracy Godin, Kristin Halley, Jim Halley, Ely Rosario.

The President called the meeting to order at 7:32 p.m. Quorum was established.

The Board reviewed the February minutes. Motion to approve was made, seconded and passed.

New Business:

Jim & Kristen Halley- Presented the budget for the Summer Trail Series. The series of races is now open to 175 runners, 25 more than last year, which will result in an increase in registrations. The budget is similar to the 2015 budget, with estimated revenues of $9,925 and estimated costs of $7025.25 and estimated net proceeds being $2889.75.  A motion to approve was made, seconded and approved. A budget for the Trailblazers food and supplies was also presented but had been approved previously.

Ely Rossario & Tony Guillen – Tallahassee marathon update. Ely Rossario has agreed to stay on as Race Director for the Tallahassee Marathon 2017 edition, the 2017 marathon has a tentative date of February 5th 2017. Approximately $14,250 are still outstanding from 2016 pledged sponsorships but Ely hopes to have all the monies in by the end of March.

Ely discussed a tentative conservative 2017 budget using lowest registration numbers (1400 people), registration raised by $5 and with no sponsorship.  Ely stated that the largest expense from 2016 was due to the renting and laying out of 3500 cones, which came to $20,000, and that was a good deal she got but doesn’t anticipate the same deal and the cost could be $40,000 for 2017. The cone laying job is a large expense due to the amount of time, effort and equipment (16 experienced people, 9 trucks, 30 pedestrian barriers, 6 lane closures, 4 message boards and a couple of flatbeds) needed to lay all of the cones out on the course, Ely will try her best to reduce the tender. The increase in cone costs may result in a $20,000 deficit for the 2017 marathon budget. Jim Halley said that he works for FDOT and stated that they may be willing to get involved and that could be an avenue to explore to reduce cone costs, he and Ely will discuss this. Additionally, FSU PD would like to increase their officers from 4 to 11, TPD will stay the same.  

The budget is not ready to be approved as many expressed discomfort with approving a budget with such a large deficit. Ely will try and get a new one by next meeting but wanted approval to open up registrations.  A motion was made to approve Ely $1000 to use for promotional materials and to open up registration (Mid-March to April 1st). This motion was seconded and approved.

Results from a satisfaction survey for the marathon was brought up by Eric Godin. They got 160 responses back, and the results include that, 80% thought the race fee was appropriate, 74% will run the race again and 75% would recommend the race. With regards to race course, results showed that 38% said the new course was good, 29% had no opinion, 10% liked both and the rest preferred the St Marks course over the downtown course.

Judy Alexander – Currently the Marzuq Mother’s Day 5K race is on the Grand Prix Schedule, however, it seems as though this race is not going to meet all of the requirements of the Grand Prix application form that was not actually submitted for this race.  Judy and Bill Lott have been approached by a new race director for the race and he seemed to not have any knowledge of what was required for being a Grand Prix race (proper course marking, chip timing, results in publishable format and age group awards).  Bill Lott is not able to be there for this race as he is committed to Tails and Trails which is on the same day. Judy is worried that because there is nothing in place for this race that it would be a disaster for Grand Prix point chasers.  Tony is going to follow up with the Grand Prix Committee and see what needs to be done and to see if this race is to be removed from the Grand Prix schedule for 2016, the decision will lie with the GP Committee but be reported back to the Board.  

David Yon –USATF Cross Country Meets will be discussed in the future, nothing to report this meeting.

Old Business:

No old business discussed.

Committee Reports:

Treasurer’s Report – Emma Spencer for Katie Sherron
As of Feburary 29th, 2016, the summary accounts are, $16,903.92 in the Operations account, $8802.14 for the Events 1 accounts, $10,511.53 for the Events 2 account, $8545.87 for the Triathlon account, $60,000 in the Invest and Reserve account and $12,790 in the Chenoweth Fund. There is a net operating revenue of -$35,874, and through March 2nd, the net operating revenue was -$20,201.89. There is currently not enough money in the Operations account to replace the money moved from the Investment and Reserve account as approved last month.

Felton points out that some of the $20,000 that was overspent needs to be collected from the outstanding marathon sponsorships. He anticipates that by June 30th after Palace and Springtime, that the accounts will all look better when monies for those races are collected. However, he did warn that the Club is spending more money than they are currently brining in and this needs to be addressed more carefully when reviewing and approving budgets.

Membership Report – Mike Burns for Mark Priddy
Memberships for GWTC were 1271, an increase of 68 from last month, and household memberships were 653. Membership for the Tri Club were 213, an increase of 8 from last month.

Race Director Coordinator Report – Charlie Yates 
No report. Tony Guillen mentioned that the owner of the Tap Room would welcome packet pickup and other events.

Newsletter Report –Fred Deckert 
No report.

Clothing Coordinator Report –Emma Spencer for Maggie Beshara
Maggie has ordered a new style of visor and hats with a new logo. Car seats were also reordered.

Equipment Report – Bill Lott & Vicky Droze
The chronomix battery was fixed at a cost of $21.45. Another chronomix has started to act up and doesn’t print very well, it has been sent for repairs at a cost of $106.86 that includes parts, labor and shipping. Approval was granted to have this fixed.

Website Committee Report – David Yon
Nothing new to report.

Chenoweth Fund Report – David Yon
Nothing new to report.

Triathlete Report – Ron Harrison 
Newsletter to go out to our members by Wednesday, March 16, 2016. Proposed articles are; (1) reminder of Swap Meet at March Meeting, (2) reminder of our March Meeting and speakers and (3) USAT National Club Challenge Wrap Up. Last month (February) was a run focused month for the competition. The club finished 17th overall out of all teams in the US, and 9th overall in our division. Gulf Winds Triathletes Team 1 finished 11th Overall, 6th in Division 1, and 1st in the Florida Region. Team 2 finished 92nd Overall, 18th in Division 1, and 8th in the Florida Region. Combined, the two teams finished with 17,340 Swim Miles, 32,024 Bike Miles, and 32,222 Run Miles for a whopping 81,586 Overall Miles!
Next Meeting: Monday, March 21, 2016 at Momo’s Pizza in Killearn, on Market St. Social at 6:30 pm and Speaker at 7:00 pm. Speaker: Marci Gray and Jon Nash.
Topic: “Ultraman Athlete Q&A: Lessons for EVERY Athlete.” 
Exploring coordinating the hosting of a local “Athlete Skills Camp / Coach Development Program” by Tri Endurance Solutions, here in Tallahassee.The 2-day camp would be conducted by Tri Endurance Solutions’ lead instructor, Shelly Winston, a USAT Level III coach. The camp is for both local coaches and athletes and affords 10 CEUs of coaching credits from USAT. The camp is unique in that it gives hands-on instruction to the coaches, who are then able to apply their new knowledge and skill to provide hands-on instruction to the athletes in attendance.

Ron wanted to know about being able to put waivers and other releases onto Eventbrite for events held for Gulf Winds Triathletes such as open water swims. The Triathletes are currently modifying a waiver provided by Capital City Cyclists to make sure the club is protected when putting on such events. David Yon, Mike Burns and Tracy Godin volunteered to help Ron modify and produce a waiver document that would cover only sanctioned events as currently under the insurance of GWTC, running events are only covered. Furthermore, GWTC waivers are also in need of revision so this would provide that opportunity.

Lecture Series Report –Emma Spencer for Paul Guyas 
The last event at Smash Burger was a success and Paul anticipates having more movie nights there, most likely on a Friday. Paul said for people to watch out for a release/opening of the GWTC Education facebook page and Twitter feed, coming soon.

Training Report – Tracy Godin 
Tracy is unable to find a long distance race to replace the Tails and Trails half marathon for the beginning long run group, so she may push this training group to fall or next year when they can do tails and trails. Generally 30-40 people sign up for this training group so she doesn’t want to direct them away from a Grand Prix event which is on the same day as Tails and Trails, however, if the Marzuq 5K does get cancelled from Grand Prix she may consider putting on this group to end with the Tails and Trails half marathon, which is nine weeks out.

Social Report –Zach Scharlepp 
Zach is taking the GWTC feather to Gate River Run in Jacksonville where everyone can gather and have pizza and free beer (provided by Gate River Run to all participants). On Saturday April 9th there will be a social event held to honor Rex Clevaland at the Kleman Plaza. A facebook invite is forthcoming. 

Trail Coordinator Report –Bobby York
Nothing new to report

At 8:26 p.m. a motion to adjourn was made, seconded and approved.