My Track Record

The College Club, Downtown Seattle

President Bill Roe called the unruly mob to order at 7:08 p.m. Board members Greg Crowther (secretary), Mark Davies, Thornton “T.P.” Perry, Liz Stahl (treasurer), and Clay Stenberg were on hand to witness the spectacle, as were Tom Cotner, Steve “Hatz” Hatzenbeler (team manager), Dan Hayes (membership committee), Kathy Kanes, Chris Ledford, Brian Oster, and Martin Rudow (_Northwest Runner_ editor).

The minutes of the previous meeting were deemed acceptable and were approved as written.

FINANCIAL REPORT

Current assets according to Treasurer Liz: $5,948.80 in our checking account, $652.66 in our savings account, and three CDs which will collectively be worth $15,805.45 by the time they mature in November, December, and February, respectively. Bill suggested that we roll over the CD maturing this month, to which Liz responded, “We can’t, because there’s like $7,000 on my credit card.” The Board voted to cash this CD so that Liz could start reimbursing herself for expenses incurred on behalf of the Club.

A seat-of-the-pants calculation performed by Bill revealed that the Club will spend approximately $8,900 on its December trip to Disney World (i.e., cross country nationals in Orlando).

NORTHWEST RUNNER

Former _NWR_ editor Jim Whiting and the Club have now finished paying off their respective debts to each other.

Current editor Martin Rudow summarized the projected financial status of the magazine as detailed in a spreadsheet e-mailed to board members earlier in the month. He expects that the magazine will be “in the black” for November and expects _NWR_ to contribute substantially to the Club coffers starting in January of 1999.

Martin has re-established the Club’s non-profit status with the U.S. Postal Service so that the Club will be charged the special non-profit rate for its bulk mailings. He mentioned that, for us to receive the non-profit discount, our mailings must be labeled “RRCA: Club Northwest,” since the Club’s non-profit status is maintained through its association with the Road Runners Club of America.

Martin passed out a proposal requesting that the Club guarantee $1,000 towards the cost of producing and distributing a program for the USATF winter national cross country meet, which will be held in Spanaway, Washington on February 13 and 14. The proposal states that revenue from program sales and advertising will be used in part to reimburse the Club. Saul’s motion to accept the proposal was approved by the Board.

TEAM

Hatz has been impressed with the Club cross country performances thus far. The men won the Western Washington Invitational with a perfect score of 15 points, while the women tied for first. The Portland-based Team Red Lizards narrowly defeated the Club men at the PNTF meet, and Hatz expects this rivalry to be renewed at the northwest regional and national meets.

Hatz announced that the team managers’ salary has been set at $800 per month, to be split among the three team managers (himself, Emily Andersen, and Sally Bergesen).

Tom Cotner said that he would cajole, beg, and negotiate with the Club’s over-40 athletes in order to assemble a strong masters cross country team for the December trip to Disney World.

Bill reported that JogMate, a manufacturer of dietary supplements, would like to be a sponsor of the Club teams but has yet to comply with the Club’s requests for information. For example, JogMate has not yet disclosed the ingredients of its food-like products.

In the “team gossip” department, Buck Jones is rumored to be living in Columbus, Ohio for undisclosed reasons. More next month.

EVENTS

PNTF Championships: The meet will break even. It was suggested that with better advertising and increased corporate participation, the meet could actually turn a profit next year. The course was set up, revised, and measured (9.78K for men, 5.89K for women) rather hurriedly, but there was a surplus of volunteers this year, probably because Club athletes were able to earn volunteer points by bringing extra volunteers to the race.

Winter Two-Mile Series: The 1998-99 series will consist of a cross country race at Lower Woodland Park on December 12, a road race at Magnuson Park on December 19, a cross country race at Lower Woodland Park on January 9, a road race in Celebration Park (Federal Way) on January 23, a track race at the Frostbite meet in Edmonds District Stadium on February 6, and a handicap road race at Magnuson Park on February 20. All races will begin at 9:30 a.m. (with the possible exception of the track race) and, as the series name suggests, will be two miles in length.

Resolution Run: Brian Oster distributed a draft of a budget for the event. Sponsors include NexTel, Great Harvest, QFC, Millstone, and Talking Rain. An energy bar and a shoe company may join the party as well. Tom Cotner will certify the course to be exactly 5.00 miles in length. The race will be contested Thursday, December 31 at 3 p.m. in Seward Park in Seattle.

Spring Break Open and All-Comers track meets: Bill will check on the availability of Edmonds District Stadium.

Emerald Relays: Bill will talk to Dave Shogren about the possibility of setting up a corporate relay event for June.

MEMBERSHIP

Dan Hayes has sent a how-to-join membership form to Rob Cook, who has put it on the Club website (www.cnw.org) so that prospective members can print it out and mail it to Martin. It was decided that the current form should be amended to include a line for donations beyond the cost of membership, as well as a line allowing people to become lifetime members. The cost of a lifetime membership is now $750, of which the Northwest Runner editor gets $300.

Dan has also written a letter to current members which Hatz will include in his next newsletter. The JFK-esque letter asks members what their club can do for them and what they can do for their club.

Dan added that the Club group runs organized by himself and Hatz were not particularly well-attended but that they would try advertising them more extensively in the spring.

Next on Dan’s to-do list is the composition of a welcome letter to be sent to all new members.

Finally, Bill announced that Howard from Messagewear will print up Club t-shirts for $4.97 apiece including tax.

NEXT MEETING

The next Board meeting will be Monday, December 7 at 7 p.m. at the College Club in downtown Seattle.

HANDOUTS

1. summary of Club checking account activity (Liz Stahl)
2. request for support for USATF Winter National Cross-Country Championship program (Martin Rudow)
3. draft of 1998 Resolution Run budget (Brian Oster)

Retrospectively submitted,

Greg Crowther
Secretary
Club Northwest