USATF New England Annual Meeting
Marriott Hotel, Newton MA
September 15, 2003

The meeting was called to order by President Gary Snyder at 7:15pm

Gary gave a brief welcome and explained how he became President. He also thanked a couple of individuals for their great help in getting him on track in the workings of the organization, those individuals being Marja Baker, Phil Byrne, and Steve Vaitones.

All Board of Governors Members stood up and introduced themselves to those in attendance.

Gary gave a quick overview of the letter he sent to all members regarding the purpose of the Annual meeting and introduced Bob Teschek of Granite State Race Services who will give an overview of chip timing later in the meeting.

Ways of contacting members was discussed, with some pros and cons give on the different ways of making contact, including through various clubs' own email distribution lists. Email is the preferred method and all members were asked to leave their email addresses at the table by the door.

Increasing opportunities for track and field and cross country meets in the area were discussed. There have been two meetings so far between the larger clubs within the 128 belt area, looking for ways to combine efforts and benefit all.

Managing Director Steve Vaitones addressed the group. He noted the turnover in board positions last year presented a minimal amount of disruption. He stated that our association is among the top three associations in US in most categories used for evaluation.

Steve also covered the many meets held within our association during the past year. They included the Region 1 meets in Junior Cross Country, and Region 1 Junior Track and Field meets. Both are large events with close to a thousand athletes in each. We also had a significant role in the USATF National Indoors meet at Reggie Lewis Center. For the USA Championships, the Reggie Lewis Center was facility director, USATF National the meet director, with our association handling just about everything else. We will have the meet again this year on the last three days of February.

We are looking for volunteers for all events, even if just for a day.

Treasurer's report was presented by Jim O'Brien.. A report was distributed with Jim giving a broad view breakdown on the figures. He then opened discussion to questions. 1. Money rates of CD vs. Money Market - decision made based on historic low rates and the possible problems with long term investment versus the freedom given with the market funds.

Reports for all committees were given in a handout package. Terry did not submit his on time so he gave a quick review of his past year activities as Track and Field rep.

Kathy Nary announced her resignation as vice president due other commitments to groups associated with the running/track community.

Elections

Sports Chairs and athlete representatives were up for election. Nominees were as follows.

Postions and Nominees (uncontested positions were elected by the secretary casting one vote for them).

LDR Change Proposals

Proposals on changes to the Grand Prix, developed by the LDR chairs, were presented with the concern being a way to rekindle interest in the Grand Prix. The proposal was to have only 2 required events in the range from 12K to 30K and to have the seventh race be a "wild card" which could be another mid-range event, an additional event at a distance already voted in, or a unique distance or type of event.

Discussion was held with Peter Stasz presenting many opposing arguments. Many members wanting to keep it the way it has been. A vote was held and the motion carried.. See the LDR report for specifics.

The National USATF Annual Meeting will be held in Greensboro, NC December 3-7, 2003.

A vote was held to determine who would be the "delegates" this year from New England.

A total of 18 people were interested in becoming delegates and 15 were chosen (15 is our allocation)

The top 15 votegetters elected to represent New England were:

Alternates in order are Jeff Robbins, John Mortimer, and Tom Derderian.

Bob Teschek from Granite State Race Services gave a brief history and overview of chip timing on races and the why's and how's of chip timing. Several individual local races were used for explanation purposes which made his presentation both relevant and enjoyable.

A quick polling of whether people liked the Marriott versus a college environment. The hotel setting preferred by most in attendance.

Meeting closed approximately 10:10PM

Submitted by Lance Turley, Secretary

Members in attendance at the meeting: