Minutes from the General Meeting (September 2020)

General Meeting Minutes

Date: September 10, 2020

Time: 7 p.m.

Location: Mike Whalen’s house and via Zoom

Treasury Report – Shaun Luther—117% of target. Some larger amount checks written for Nolde Forest and the Berks County Coaches Association. Received refunds for music licenses we didn’t use. One large expense coming up: we were never charged for the food for the 2019 Christmas Party, but the club never received an invoice . . . so, this is the only outstanding expenditure.

Races:

• Charlie Horse Half Marathon—Shaun Luther—Typically, registration for the event is open on Oct 1^st. The plan is to still do this, and then adjust plans accordingly.
• Run for the Ages 10K Trail Race—Donna Hey—The club’s donation check was presented to Nolde, and they were very appreciative of the gift. Donna is keeping her eye on things for next year. The construction at the mansion and education center has been put on hold for the current time. 
• Grings Mill 5K and 10K Run—Laura Yoder—no news as yet.
• Blues Cruise 50K (for 2021)—Mike Yoder—Nothing planned yet.
• Oley Valley Country Classic—Lenny Burton—details to follow about the course he has created for people to run, which will be loaded onto Strava, and can be tracked via that application. Swag—thinking about masks with a hex printed on it. Details to follow.
• Kris Kringle 5K (distance change for 2020)—Polly Corvaia—race is still scheduled for about 200 runners with limited spectators. New location is the Berks County Fairgrounds, which has a large outdoor, covered pavilion. She is using a new artist for the hoodies—Audrey Kohl. Awards will be 2-deep, due to fewer runners, and based on the 5K results. Large gnomes for the overall winners, and smaller gnomes for the age-groupers. Polly has a 5K course to measure, and will be on the grass/turf the whole time. (Adding a road piece is an additional $300 for fire/police.) If the course is snowy, potential volunteers needed to pack snow—runners, snow mobile, etc. Awards are based on 5K, but runners are encouraged to do an extra loop and make it a 10K. More information will be made available via email and the discussion page on Facebook.
• Shiver by the River Series—Sue Jackson—all races are still a go. Probably will do a staggered start with the 10K first. Limited at this point to 200 runners, and encouraged to not bring spectators unless the runner is a minor. Talking about a goody bag with the race items enclosed. Still no day-of registration planned, no paper applications, and each race will be registered for individually (i.e., no series registration). Registration is online only through Pretzel City Sports. Awards will be very limited. Water and wrapped snack only at the finish, with the intent for runners to leave immediately from the race at the end. No congregating on the inside of the farmhouse. Considering opening the online registration first for people who ran last year. More information will be made available via email and the discussion page on Facebook.
• Jr. High Cross Country Fall Invitational—no update.
• Race director comments—Donna Hey—mentioned that she can get single-serving bags of Dieffenbach potatoes chips as wrapped items to give out at races.

Committee Reports

Social Committee: Caroline Hill is working on a bike ride on a weekend soon. Details to follow.

Communications Committee—Jon Durand—nothing to add (he’s trying to do IT support for 5,000 students in Exeter). Anything: send to Jane who has been posting on the discussion page.

Community Service

• Weekly runs—have been well attended, and Matt is doing a good job of collecting names and signatures. Thanks to Phil for scheduling these runs. 

Charity Committee: no update

Membership committee: Deferring membership dues for 2021 is under consideration due to the savings of not holding meetings and other events. (Annual dues raise about $2200/year.) Still trying to attract new members.

Old business: Restaurants are moving to 50% capacity, so this may be an option to have a few people attend in person. Venue suggestions are welcome—perhaps a hotel, Canal Street, Mimmo’s, a fire company, etc. Contact Steve with any ideas about this.

New business: 

• Discussion of membership dues, as noted above. Further discussion needed about this.
• Worlds End Ultramarathon (100K) is 9/26. Mike Yoder—the Pacer station will be there, and it’s business as usual. He wants to make sure there isn’t an issue with doing this. No issues noted. He is looking for about 10 people, if anyone is interested. There will be some Pacer women running the ultra, and results to follow.
• Nominations for executive positions—Seeking nominations for a few executive board positions (3 or 4), and the president’s position is open. Contact Beth with any names for consideration. Candidates will be announced at the October meeting, with voting done at the November meeting.