Author: Deb

Meeting held @ 7pm on 8/3/09 at Whole Foods on Washington Street.

Present: Doug Smith, Bonnie Keefe, Ric Robinette, Mick Vollmar, Tim Gentry, Heather Reddy, David Rothenburger, Aurora Arlet, Ray Sibley, Deb Cunningham, Leslie Mitchell, Karen Voss, Stephanie Struble, Kevin Downing, Felix Lopez, Mike Quispe, Bob Basse.

Successes:

• 50th
• Felix posted race results day after June TS and July TS.
• July TS had 135 participants (38 non members).
• Bob Basse got our MTS some publicity with Boulder Marathon.

50th Debrief

• What went well:
  • Events: TS – 175, Reunion – 100+, Track – 50+, Relay – 50, Tues & Predict – 35-40,
  • Increased camaraderie
  • Stronger ties to sponsors
  • Higher awareness of club
  • Stronger ties to other clubs.
• What could be improved:
  • Fewer days
  • Better coordination w/ other clubs.
  • Idea: Next year track, run w/ one of the other groups once/summer.

Membership will be the next focus for board

• Why is membership down 50 people between March & May (531 to 475). 483 members, 325 families in July.
  • Need to identify lapsing members.  Deb will compare March list to May list.  The board couldn’t think of any reason we had a surge in memberships last March – AIR foundation was suggested.  Also suggested, members who don’t know membership has lapsed.
  • Agreed we’ll publish a list of recently expired & those expiring next month.
• How do we get non-members to join the club? 38 at June race.  We talked about collecting email addresses to offer $5 off, meeting & greeting, asking why they came out.   No new ideas.
• New member runs have not been well attended.  
• Process to use gift memberships – process finalized. (pay first, get cert app marked “paid”).  We agreed to revist this ideas at holidays.

Marketing and PR

General marketing

• RMRR yahoo group usage vs RMRR group on google.  This group started as a group of friends who ran together.  As late as last year, had 25 people running on Saturdays.  Now, no one shows.  Doug will survey of Yahoo group to see what they want to do.  Kevin will also survey RMRR group.
• Email management – bounce backs. Kevin send Deb a list of bounces. Deb will call to get new email addresses so we can stay connected.
• Take a bowflag to a race – David Rothenburger will take to Georgetown.  Someone should take to Park to Park.   Also, we can hand out apps at Park to Park – didn’t identify person to do this.
• Roost in Lakewood? Grand opening event? Karen ck w/ Sonya.
• BRC will have a new location down south – Arapahoe Road.
• Table in Wash Park periodically – Deb raised this, but wasn’t really fired up about sitting out there hanign out apps.
• Facebook page – Kevin has this out there.   Not a whole lot of activity.
• Running Times guy at Trail Running night.  Aurora said this fizzled a bit after the 50th.  She’ll see if he’s interested in profiling another of our activities.
• 50th article/pictures in Colorado Runner?  Yes, there is a new article on the Colorado Runner website with pictures from several of our events.  Nice work, Aurora!
• Craig’s List – ‘Activities’ – Mick suggest this advertising venue.  He found a Tuesday night group this way. Kevin will look into it.  We can post events 30 days in advance.

Requests to promote other races – Deb. No – refer to Colorado Runner,

Saturday morning runs – vary venue & responsibility?  We agreed these aren’t well attended and that board members can take the lead & organize a group where they are going to run.  To make it happen, email Doug by Tuesday for the next weekend.  Email the RMRR eNews group, too.

Sponsors

• Chiropractors – requests to do a booth at a race.
• Software – various requests
• The board agreed that  one must be a member to provide services at the races.  Can join for $30.

Requests to assist w/ races:  No,change in our policy.  We’ve got too much to do on our own.  Only do so if someone feels strongly abou the charity.

Logistics

• August TS
  • Vols – need a few more.  Stephanie will email.
  • Food – Stephanie and Brian will purchase food at Costco.  Board members bring tin foil, spatulas
  • Cooking – Ray will cook.  Need additional help.
  • Course map – Ric will use the course he wants to use.  Concern w/ Adam’s is that landmarks may no longer be there.
• Registration.  New member line is very long.  For August, we’ll try a separate table where people start to get their predict times.
• Scoring issues from last TS resolved.  Problem was that the heat made tags too sweaty to read.  Mistook times for some members.
• MTS on 8/2:
  • 66 people.  Successful. 
  • Lots of 10 milers.  Feeling is that it’s too early in the season for 20 miles for most training programs.  Issue was we had a conflict w/ the venue for a September date.
• MTS on 8/23:
  • May have 100 people.  Fast Forward + 60 some regular
• Van driver list- Leslie has a copy in the glove box of the van.  If you want to be on the list, email Leslie name, address, Driver’s license number.
• Officers: Jeff Olson replaces Bonnie Keefe as Secretary
• Cash box reconciliation.  We spent a lot of time discussing the cash box.  This has always been a problem for us because not all RDs balance the cash box.  After a lengthy discussion, Stephanie agreed to manage the cash at the races and to balance the box after each race.  We’ll try this for the next few months.
• Treasurer’s Report – Leslie reported business as ususal.  The club has $27,000 in savings.  This is down from $36,000 due to spending more on volunteer awards and the 50th.  The account balance is higher than it was 5-10 yrs ago.
• Consider raising membership fees.  Deb posed this as a question because we have not changed fees in forever.  There was some feeling that people would expect more if we charged more – free shirt when you join?  No changes to fees for now.
• Race committee recommendations
  • Revised results for Stone House.  Need to post online.
  • 8 miler @ Platte River Bar & Grill – Ric & Bonnie will mark course.  Need to update website.
  • Dec TS will be 4.5 miles, not 4.4.  Update website.
  • Westminster will be nine miles. Update website.
• Other Races: 
  • Linda Olson’s 5k is same day as our TS race in Sept. Had wanted help promoting.  We can pass out brochures, but practically out of time before the race.
  • Prairie View/Horizon CC race open to the public 9/29/09, 5k @ Addenbrooke Park.  Deb will add to website & bring flyers to TS.
• Volunteers
  • Vol of the month – David Rothenburger for first RD role on June race.  Also work on 50th.
  • Denver Marathon water stop.  We’re still on.   No news – too far out from race for communication.
• Sponsors
  • Karen & Peter’s tent/stretching after the race – Start again in September
  • December race – brunch @ Pub on Pearl? Craig Jones 303-868-9546, owner, asked about sponsoring us for an event.  Board agreed that the December TS would be a good event to bring down the hill to the Pub.

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