As always here is an unofficial report about what happened at the Aug NCNCA meeting.
NCNCA President Tom Simpson wants to look into establishing a PR office for NCNCA. Feels that the prestige or Nor Cal racing and the accomplishments of our riders is being diminished because we are not getting media coverage. We need to be more aggressive in sending out race results and reports to the major cycling news web sites and also local and regional media. We will try and find person(s) who are interested in producing and sending out race reports and results to selected web sites and media. We will try and figure out how much this will cost and can we afford it.
Tom Simpson talked to Gerard Bisceglia CEO of USAC about his concerns with the Cross series that will be used for the selection of the automatic qualifier for Cross worlds this year. Gerard is concerned about what happened this year and wants to improve the situation so that other top Cross promoters have a chance to be part of the selection series next year.
Current USCF membership in the region stands at 2898 about 4.5% ahead of last year at this same time.
Promoter who have to cancel their race should contact the Chief Ref assigned to their race and the NCNCA equipment manager to let them know about the cancelation.
Fred Proudman reported that there is a problem with one of the NCNCA Video Cameras. The latch that holds the battery pack in the camera is broken. Robert Leibold reminds officials and promoters that they should email or call him if there is a problem with any of the equipment because it may be several months later before he finds notes left in equipment cases. Equipment often goes from 1 race to another without being looked at. This leads to broken equipment not being fixed for a long time if people don't call Robert and alert him to problems.
FiishLynx discussion. - The Texas Association is going through the learning process of how to use their FinishLynx system. It has only been used for 1 weekend race in TX so far. They are still dealing with issues of road width. We talked about the advantages of a FinishLynx system if we had one.
1) faster posting of results at the race site.
2) The system will produce results in an electronic format that could be posted to the internet right from the race site (if internet access is available). Likewise results could be sent to local media and this will hopefully generate greater awareness of racing in general.
3) Timing information can be included in the published results so for road races we could publish finishing times for all riders ( something many riders have expressed interest in in the past)
The main questions we need answered before going forward with a possible purchase are.
1) Do promoters feel the benefits of the FinishLnx system are worth an extra cost. If NCNCA would buy the system there would probably be a small extra fee charges to promoters who wanted to have the system used at their race. If a private group was to buy the system then they would probably hire their services out to interested races at a higher cost than if the system was owned by NCNCA. We will poll the promoters at the Oct scheduling meeting and see how much interest there is from promoters.
2) How to pay for the system if we decide to buy it. NCNCA might have to borrow part of the amount needed to buy the system if NCNCA is to buy. Maybe we can find private parties to purchase the system and hire out the system to interested races.
We talked about the specifics we are looking for in a race information pamphlet. NCNCA will pay $500 for an acceptable pamphlet design. Anyone interested in designing a pamphlet can contact Casey for the design details we are looking for. if more than one person submits a pamphlet design then the $500 will go to the design we finally choose. WE would like initial designs submitted to NCNCA in time for the Sept. meeting.
Tom Simonson is working to try and get an officials upgrade clinic together for officials who want to move from Cat C to Cat B.
We discussed the proposal to require a performance bond for races to be listed on the NCNCA calendar for next year. We discussed the idea that new races ( we haven't fully defined new events yet) wold have to put up $100 to be listed on the calendar. The $100 would be returned to the club if the race is held as scheduled and results are provided in the required format in the requested time period. If the race is held but results aren't properly published then the club would only get $50 back. Established races would pay a $50 bond.
Next year the mentors for the Winner within program will be paid $30 per race. This should not affect the budget amount for next year. Shawn will step down from running the program at the end of the year and Linelle Ross will take over for him.
It is the NCNCA policy to discourage primes from being offered during the last 5 laps of a race. Primes held late in a race can cause confusion about when the finish of the race is.
Rider Call Ups - The NCNCA voted to establish a policy that no more than 3 riders from any club/team should be included in any call-up. Clubs ( especially riders from the promoting club) should not be given an advantage by having all their riders called up to the front in a Crit. Promoters should clear their call-up plans with the Chief Ref before the race and the Chief Ref should make sure that no club/team receives an advantage by having to many of their riders called p to the front at the start.
Cross Calendar - NCNCA voted to allow cross events that are not USAC sanctioned events held by non NCNCA members to appear on the NCNCA Cross Calendar. if there is a conflict between a USAC sanctioned event promoted by an NCNCA member club and an event that isn't USAC sanctioned then only the USAC Sanctioned event will appear on the Cross Calendar. Cross races that are not USAC sanctioned will not be included in the NCNCA Cross rankings.