NEBRA Meeting Minutes – Feb 22 ‘ 04
Friday, March 12, 2004

North East Bicycle Racing Association

Meeting Minutes #2

Date: February 22, 2004

Location: Royal Plaza Hotel – Fitchburg, MA

Present: Liz Campbell
Diane Fortini
John Roche
Jonathan Lowenstein
Sandy Martin
Michael Norton
Aki Sato
Laura Summers

There was an open NEBRA meeting followed by a Board of Directors meeting. The following items were discussed:

Open NEBRA Meeting

1. There was an extensive discussion about women’s racing.
A. Liz Campbell stated there is a shrinking number of Women’s 1-2 races. There are more 3-4 races. Amanda Lawrence is putting together a Women’s 1-2 series this year to get more women 1-2 riders to the races.
B. Liz Campbell and Mike Norton discussed the pros and cons of hosting a Women’s 1-2 race. Mike noted that he has not been getting enough women to make it worth the expense. He can add another men’s race that will make money. Most women don’t pre-register; therefore, the promoters do not have a guarantied pot of money to pay for the race. Liz suggested that the promoter’s costs for hosting women’s races could be brought down by having the women bring their own support, moto officials, pace vehicles, etc.
2. Mike Norton explained all the points made on the letter sent out to everyone holding a USCF license in New England.
3. Diane Fortini warned that registration staff at races need to be careful this year, and check the expiration dates on the licenses. The new racing licenses have a similar color scheme from last year.
4. NEBRA is offering grants this year. Anyone interested should submit a written proposal to the Board of Directors. There are limited funds available. Proposals will be reviewed in the order in which they are received.
5. Some promoters have a love/hate relationship with BikeReg. There is no question that BikeReg performs their service well and makes registration easier. The only problem is that online registration usually closes only a few days prior to the race. The racers tend to check the weather prior to registering which affects the number of pre-entires the promoters have on race day. If rain is predicted, the number of pre-registered riders tends to be low. The promoters control when online registration ends. They can set it far enough out from race day that the weather should not be a factor.
6. Jeff Hamilton mentioned that Joe Anthony runs a kids’ race series. He typically does it on a field. If anyone crashes there is less chance of injury. The kids are five to twelve years old. Mr. Anthony seems to have a formula that draws a nice crowd. He is a good resource for others promoters to consult so they can host kids’ races too. Information about this race series is on the Essex County Velo Club website.
7. The NEBRA Board needs the state representatives to keep then informed about what people are concerned with in their states.
8. NEBRA will host an awards banquette after the end of the 2004 season.
9. Kinnen Payson suggested that only feeders that are easily identified be allowed in feed zones.

Board of Directors Meeting

1. All USCF clubs pay the USCF $125.00 for their annual license. NEBRA is supposed to get a percentage of license fees. If we can get $25.00 for each club license, we could consider that money the NEBRA membership fee for the clubs; therefore, all licensed clubs in New England will be NEBRA members. Diane will check with Tom Vinson to see if NEBRA will get something from the club, coaches, mechanics, and officials licenses issued in New England.
2. There was a discussion about purchasing numbers and pins. Sandy will get a quote from Rick Comshaw. The price needs to be low enough that promoters will not be turned off from buying the numbers and pins from NEBRA.
3. The board reviewed a proposal from a chiropractor. He was willing to offer his services at a discount in exchange for being the official chiropractor of NEBRA. It was a good offer, but the board felt that there could be possible liability issues and NEBRA is still defining itself, and having an official anything may be premature. The board decided to decline this offer.
4. Mike will make copies of the letter so we can distribute them at some early season races.
5. NEBRA will eventually need a marketing volunteer to help secure sponsorship.
6. There was a discussion about bringing USA Cycling here for things like coaches’, mechanics’, or officials’ clinics. There would need to be enough interest to cover the expense of getting the instructors and materials here from Colorado.
7. The Board of Directors decided to keep NEBRA running as is for now. We will see where we are in a year and make adjustments as needed.
8. The Board authorized $500.00 to be paid to Mark McCormick and Anna Milkowski to write riders’ diaries for the NEBRA website.
9. Liz Campbell was voted in as new Treasusrer. Kitty could no longer act as Treasurer.
10. Amanda’s Lawrence’s grant proposal was reviewed. She requested a grant to help finance an elite women’s race series. The Board approved $500 as a grant.
11. NEBRA will host an awards banquette on February 5, 2005 at the Royal Plaza in Fitchburg. Sandy Martin has reserved the room. We will try to develop this event into an Expo and Awards Dinner. Awards will be given to the top ten riders in various categories. The top three will receive medals; everyone else will receive certificates.



Recorded by: Jonathan Lowenstein

Copied to: Attendees
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photos by Jonathan McElvery, Jack Milton, and BikeReg.com