My Track Record

The College Club
Downtown Seattle

ATTENDANCE

Although the meeting was held on Valentine’s Day, a quorum was present in the form of board members Greg Crowther (secretary), Dan Hayes (membership chair), Saul Kinderis (president), Bill Roe (vice president), Liz Stahl (treasurer), and Clay Stenberg (plain old board member). Also present were club members Bill Cusworth, Steve “Hatz” Hatzenbeler (team manager), Ted Looney, Brian Oster (events manager), and Erik Probstfield.

QUOTES OF THE MONTH

“You’ve gotta do at least two years. Come on!”
–Bill Roe, goading Saul into serving another term as president

“Are you _really_ the president of this running club?”
–Greg, to Saul, after Saul made three mistakes in his first 10 seconds of inspecting Liz’s financial report

“We want to make sure Greenspan goes up another quarter-percent.”
–Clay, advising Club to hold off on reinvesting its money for the time being

“We still have lots of old crusty ones in mustard yellow. Maybe some old crusty people will buy them.”
–Hatz, on Club’s inventory of antique jerseys

STATISTIC OF THE MONTH

Number of kegs consumed by Bill Roe’s entourage while in New Zealand: 20.5

CORRECTIONS TO MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS

The November minutes listed Mark Davies as a board member; he isn’t. They also referred to the “Always Running Marathon (a.k.a. ‘Morathon’),” which, as Kristen Mora pointed out via e-mail, is technically called the “Olympic Marathon Trials Qualifier.”

Liz Stahl noted that, despite her facetious comment reported in the January minutes, Matt Messner’s December 98 marathon race was an outstanding individual effort.

With these amendments in place, the November, December, and January minutes were approved.

TREASURER’S REPORT

Liz distributed a four-page handout to the Board containing a summary of Club’s recent checking, savings, and CD account activity, as well as a summary of 1999 income and expenses. Saul commented that the expenses report on page 2 looked incomplete; he was told to turn to page 3. The handout showed that $30.931.34 of Club’s $38,675.56 income for the year came from _Northwest Runner_ and that the “bottom line” of income minus expenses was $10,063.12. Current account totals: $12,140.11 in checking, $666.20 in savings, and $5,493.43 in the form of a CD which matures on February 17th.

Erik Probstfield suggested that we transfer our CD funds into a money market account, which would earn a similar interest rate but would provide greater liquidity. Saul made a vague motion to “have Liz do something different next time,” presumably in support of Erik’s suggestion. After a bit more discussion, it was decided that Liz should cash the CD on the 17th (“…and _this_ year I actually _will_ cash it,” she promised) and put the money into our savings account until we decide how we should reinvest it.

The treasurer’s report was approved.

PNTF/USATF REPORT

Bill Roe reported that the PNTF’s Annual Meeting will take place on Friday, February 18th. He also mentioned that next year’s world cross country trials will take place in Portland, Oregon and that, while we might wind up at Blue Lake Park again, alternative venues are being checked out. Those who qualify for the 2001 world championships will be accompanied to Dublin by none other than Bill himself, who will serve as the senior team leader.

MEMBERSHIP REPORT

We will order 144 more orange t-shirts — gross! — to replace the ones Dan Hayes has been mailing out to Club members. Dan’s new-millennium resolutions as membership chair are to (a) plan one or more Club-wide social events for this year and (b) draw up a plan to hire a Club coach. He will try to have a draft of this plan ready for next month’s meeting. One option is to create two tiers of Club membership a “deluxe” (i.e., more expensive) membership for members who wish to train under the Club coach and a “basic” membership for everyone else.

Hatz said that Club’s voice-mail account, originally set up for team business, does not currently get many calls. Dan will start using this account for membership-related business in hopes of stemming the tide of calls to his apartment.

NORTHWEST RUNNER REPORT

_Northwest Runner_ editor Martin Rudow was in California judging the men’s Olympic 50K racewalk trials. Liz reported that Martin had given her a $3060 check for December; no profits were due to Club for January.

EVENTS REPORT

Brian termed the Frostbite meet a “whiz-bang success.” We made about $140 on it. Brian added that Club assistance at the St. Patrick’s Day Dash would be welcome.

Edmonds District Stadium will host the Spring Break Open Meet and Northwest Relays on March 25 and April 8, respectively. Bill Roe said that improvements have been made to the stadiums discus and shot areas but that further improvements are needed; for example, the pole vault area is frequently underwater, there is no electricity on the infield, the discus cage is not safe for hammer throwers (or, more to the point, for hammer throw spectators), and the track still lacks a steeplechase water jump and inside-lane “curb.”

Also on the topic of facility maintenance, Erik noted that the hammer throw circle at West Seattles stadium is cracked and therefore unusable. Erik asked the Board for permission to round up some funds to repair the circle, his idea being that the cost could perhaps be split among the city, the Seattle Masters, and Club. The Board was agreeable to this idea; a formal motion may be made and approved via e-mail prior to the next meeting.

TEAM REPORT

A few Club athletes competed at the world cross country trials on February 12-13. Chris Udovich placed 10th in the women’s 4K and was mentioned frequently by course announcer Mike Scott. Mindy Leffler had hoped to contend as well but lost a shoe in the mud and wound up 31st. Buck Jones finished 19th in the men’s 4K and returned the next day to take 48th in the 12K.

Hatz would like to rewrite our policy on cross country team selection and funding for National Development- and International Development-level athletes. The Board agreed that N.D. and I.D. athletes should be required to earn 10 volunteer points were year, as is the case for A-level athletes.

In response to a query about team singlets, Hatz said that we still have plenty available.

BOARD ELECTIONS

Board seats 4 (Greg), 5 (Clay), and 6 (vacant) were up for grabs this year; neither Greg nor Clay elected to run for another three-year term. In addition, new mom Sally Bergesen, citing the demands of parenthood, recently resigned from the Board, leaving seat 8 open. Shelley Williams was elected to position 4, Erik to position 5, and Bill Cusworth to position 6. Meanwhile, Clay was elected to fill position 8 for the next year; “I can handle that,” he said.

The new Board then elected officers for the 2000-01 year. Saul was cajoled into serving another term as Club president. Bill Roe will remain the vice president, and Liz will continue as treasurer. Thornton “T.P.” Perry is the new secretary.

Noting the low attendance, Bill Roe said that a notice of next year’s annual meeting should be sent out to each member and that the meeting should be held somewhere other than the College Club.

NEW BUSINESS

Bill Roe said that Saul should appoint a committee to come up with an annual budget.

NEXT MEETING

The next Board meeting will take place on Monday, March 13th at 7 p.m. at the College Club. All are welcome.

PARTING WORDS

Some final thoughts before I pass the secretarial pen on to T.P.:

First, I have new respect for my predecessor, Sally, who did this job for three and a half years. I only lasted a year and a half.

Second, I’d like to thank everyone for tolerating my unorthodox and sometimes libelous style with good humor. I hope that, in trying to liven up these reports with juicy quotes and sarcastic comments, I haven’t hurt anyone’s feelings; if I have, I sincerely apologize. Please know, my fellow board members, that I respect your intelligence, admire your character, and applaud your dedication to the sport of running. It has been a pleasure to serve you.

Respectfully submitted,
Greg Crowther
Ex-Secretary
Club Northwest

HANDOUTS

1. Summary of checking, savings, and CD account activity and of income and expenses for 1999 (Liz)

MODIFICATIONS OF CLUB POLICIES

None this meeting.