Meeting Minutes, Sun, Sept. 13, 2015

The meeting was held at LMH Conference Room and called to order at 4:35 pm by President Bill Kinnersley. Shortly thereafter, Bill resigned from his position as President and Vice President Dan Kuhlman took over as acting President. Bill indicated he would still be an active member but resigned due to time constraints.

Attendees: Bill Kinnersley, Dee Boeck, Gene Wee, Dan Kuhlman, Lori and Don Cackler, Jason Holbert, John and Janet Hutchinson, Kendra Kuhlman, and Heidi Matsakis.

Jason gave the Treasurer’s report with $4,769.05 in the account.  Dee moved to approve the report with a second from Bill and it was approved unanimously.

The minutes from the July meeting were reviewed and a motion to approve the minutes was given by Don and seconded by Gene.  The minutes were approved unanimously.

Dan gave the group a brief update on the Middle School Cross Country Program, which started with 29 participants, currently has 27 runners.  It was suggested by Dan that we give a refund to the two participants who dropped out of the program.  It was approved unanimously.  Dan reported that the average attendance for practices is around 21 kids.  They are practicing four days a week, Monday through Thursday.  Dan also mentioned that Kyle and Maresa, the two volunteer coaches, will be attending the RRCA Running Coaches Certification class next weekend. Dan indicated the Mon-Thur format works well. Several of the runners competed at the Emporia Invitational on Sept 12th and did very well.

Heidi and Kendra spoke to the group about the upcoming Thanksgiving 5K Training Program that they and Becky McClure will be offering leading up to race day.  There will be an introductory meeting at the Lawrence Public Library Conference Room B on Tuesday, Sept 29th at 6:30 pm.  Heidi offered to promote the program some more through social media outlets.  It was very successful last year with many of the participants moving on to other race distances.  The program is free to all runLawrence members and the training will take place for 8 weeks (Oct. 6th- Nov. 24th).

The new manager for the Garry Gribble's Running Sports store is Kendra Kuhlman. She takes over after the previous manage, J. Jenkins, left to start a new running store in Lawrence. Dan encourages members to support both stores.

Gene and Dee updated the group on the Thanksgiving Day 5K progress.  Gene reported that the city approved the permit for the race.  There is a new course this year due to construction in the area that is set to begin any day now.  The city will not be providing barricades this year so they will be rented from Anderson Rentals.  Gene asked someone with a truck to volunteer to transport the barricades to and from Anderson Rental.  A person to sing the national anthem was secured as well.  Dee passed around a sample of the neck gaiter/cap that will be given to all of the 5K participants. All the usual food vendors have agreed to sponsorships.

Gene announced that the Oct 17th KC Marathon is still looking for volunteers.  If anyone is interested in helping out, please contact Heather Krase-Minnick (hkrase@douglas-county.com).

Bill was the winner of the door prize.

Next Meeting will be held on Sunday, Oct 4th at 4:30 pm in one of the LMH conference rooms.

Meeting adjourned at 5:35 pm.

Submitted by Heidi Matsakis, Secretary