Club Meeting Minutes
Sun, May 6, 2018

(approved June 10, 2018)

4:40 pm. Lawrence Public Library

Present, Brenda Groskinsky, Gene Wee, Dee Boeck, Celeste Leonardi, John and Janet Huchingson, Denise Johnson, and Karen Hyde.

Brenda called the meeting to order.

We reviewed and approved the minutes from the March meeting.  (No meeting was held in April).

Gene gave the treasurer’s report.  As of May 1 the club has a balance of $15,682.24.  Gene and Dee submitted their expenses for attending the RRCA convention which totaled $2019.19.  This amount has not yet been withdrawn from the club account.  Brenda’s expenses will be covered by RRCA since she was attending as the Kansas State Representative and presented at the convention.

Brenda asked whether the monthly runs in north Lawrence that are organized by Ad Astra have caused any complaints from the neighborhood residents.  Gene said that there have been few if any complaints because no roads are blocked off for the runs.

Denise Johnson talked about the May 15th celebration for the Lawrence Public Schools Marathon Clubs which will be held in conjunction with a wellness fair at South Middle School.  The wellness fair opens at 4:30; the ceremony to honor runLawrence and other community partners (Lawrence Memorial Hospital, HyVee, and Farm 2 School) will be at 5:00.  The one mile run will begin at approximately 5:15, and families can join in the run whenever they arrive.  The event will conclude at 6:30.  All of the USD497 Marathon Clubs have been invited.  Denise thanked the club for our continued support of the program and reiterated that twelve of the participating schools would have difficulty sustaining their clubs without our donations.  She also stated that our providing one single check to USD497 made it much easier for the marathon club leaders to request and receive funds for their operational costs.  She also mentioned that there is a need for more volunteers to help run the clubs, particularly at Kennedy, Prairie Park and New York Schools.  In addition, she mentioned that Liberty Memorial Central Middle School participated this year and that she hopes that the other middle schools will participate in the future.

Gene, Dee and Brenda reported on the RRCA convention that they attended in March.  Dee was very impressed by what she learned about the Healthy Kids Running Series which was designed to combat childhood obesity and to give children from age two through middle school a chance to compete in competitive races of a length appropriate to their age group.  See the attached document for Dee’s detailed description of this program.

Dee also attended a workshop on how to attract runners from diverse backgrounds to our club.  The presenter suggested that the way to attract members from diverse populations is to approach their churches.  See more of Dee’s comments on the attached document.

Both Dee and Brenda attended workshops on RRCA’s insurance coverage for races.  They learned that RRCA wants clubs to actively discourage race participants from pushing strollers and racing with their dogs.  This year our entry form will state that we will not allow dogs or strollers in the race.

At the convention, Brenda was recognized as the outstanding RRCA club president for 2017.  Congrats, Brenda!  Brenda also presented a workshop on strategic planning which was very well attended.

Dee and Gene gave the T-day run update.  VanGo will do the awards again this year. We will have Brooks running gloves in four sizes for participants.  Happy Shirts will print ‘runLawrence Thanksgiving Day Run’ on the gloves.  Due to the slightly higher cost for the gloves as compared to last year’s shirts, and to the increased cost for a race permit, we will increase the fee for individual participants to $30 and for families of 3 or more to $27 per person.  Late entries will pay $35.  Gene stated that there will be changes to the course this year that will allow course marshals to more easily steer vehicle drivers around the course.  Part of the change will involve a portion of the course being on the levee.

Gene talked about plans for the 2019 runLawrence wall calendar.  The committee of Gene, Brenda and Becky will meet soon to determine how many calendars to order and how exactly club members and other interested people might order a calendar.

Gene stated that our equipment was rented on May 6 for the Skyline Shuffle and will be rented on May 26th for the Cappuccino Gravel Ride.

Brenda mentioned that she went to Wichita to represent RRCA at the Prairie Fire Half Marathon Expo since it was designated as the RRCA state championship race. 

The next club meeting will be June 10th at 4:30 at the Lawrence Public Library.

Janet moved to adjourn the meeting; Gene seconded, and all agreed.

Submitted by Karen Hyde