April Minutes

Manitoba Mountain Bike Committee Minutes - DRAFT
March 14, 2009
Board Room, Sport Manitoba
7:00 – 9:00

Present: Dale Cramer (Junk Yard Dogs), Dorrie ? (Junk Yard Dogs), Kevin Braun (Tinker), Tim Loewen (KOM), Bill Algeo (Woodcock), Allan Robertson (Alter Ego), Shaw Zayac (Alter Ego) Hal Loewen (MTB Coordinator), Ron Brown (MCA Exec. Director) Karin McSherry (Chief MTB Commissaire

Regrets: (Olympia Rep), Greg Sherwin (Brandon Bike Club), Patrick Siemens (Body Driven), David Dorning (Woodcock), David Jonhston (Tread the Thunder)

Actions from February 10, 2009:

1. Hal L to email list of riders requested to move up to Dale C - not completed
   
2. Kevin B to make folding poster that can be distributed to shops - completed
3. Ron B to print 11X17 colour copies of the race poster to be distributed to bike shops and other appropriate venues. - completed
4. All to distribute and post posters at appropriate shops and venues. - completed
5. Hal L to make a link to the poster on the MCA Mountain Bike Committee blog so people can print their own posters - completed
6. Hal L to invite the chief commissaire to the next mountain bike committee meeting - completed
7. Shawn Z to forward marathon/enduro mountain bike race rules to be distributed electronically to the committee for adaptation - completed
8. Hal L to reformat that current Manitoba mountain bike organizers manual and distribute for discussion and adaptation if needed - completed

Discussions:

• The Committee invited Karin McSherry, Chief Mountain Bike Commissaire, to the committee meeting to discuss the upcoming season. Some items discussed included the need for all clubs to have a commissaire(s) in the club - this is something that should be phased in; the number of commissaires needed for a race (2 for most, 3 for over 100); commissaires should ideally review the course either riding or walking; start and finish areas need to careful attention, marking and clear indication of start, lap and finish directions; commissaires to submit results to the MCA and organizers for posting; it would be very helpful if organizer's to help with results (tracking riders and posting)
• Review of the Cup Series Document and Organizer's Manual. Majority of the discussion was about medics and emergency preparedness plans. This was seen as an essential compontent of the documents. A Manitoba EPP is to be developed based on the Alberta document. Discussion continued on taking the two documents and editing both to move appropriate sections to the appropiate documents to remove duplication in the two documents
• The marathon race structure was discussed. It was decided that the guidelines proposed by Shawn Z would be edited to remove the need for solo riders to provide a resume for 24 hour events, that a minimum age limit would looked at for longer races, again 24 hour events. The rules would be forwarded to the mountain bike commissaires to review, following that they would be added to the organizing manual as guidelines. Organizer's would then be responsible for going over the rules for their race with the commissaires prior to the race, if the commissaire was satisfied with the rules they would recommend the race for sanctioning.
• Discussion took place on the organizing of events and to try, at all costs, avoid conflicts on the schedule for events of the same discipline. It was suggested that all MCA committees, not just road and mountain bike, meet early in the year to identify important events so that cross-scheduling could be avoided.
  
• It was discussed that the Grand Beach race would probably be delayed due to snow still being on the course.
• The idea was forwarded to create a mechanism to stage riders on the start line for all Cup races and the Provincials. The staging would be based on points earned from the previous races (excluding the first race since no points have been earned).
• Another idea was forwarded to create post race surveys which would be handed out following each Cup race and the Provincials. The survey would be short and fairly general, and it would be provide feedback to the organizers and the committee about the event and mountain bike races in general. The commissaires were asked to provide a couple of questions on the commissaires and that this would be added to the survey.
• The request from a rider to move down from Comp to Sport for medical reasons was granted with the provision that if and when the rider's performance indicated that they should move back up to Comp they would be asked to do so.
  

Recommendations to the Board:

1. That clubs organizing events on behalf of the MCA have an emergency preparedness plan in place prior to the race
2. That all MCA committees meet early in the year to identify important events so that cross-scheduling could be avoided.

Actions:

1. Hal L to create a MCA Mountain Bike Emergency Preparedness Plan for organizers of the MCA mountain bike races and events.
2. Hal L to find someone to coordinate and format the Mountain Bike Racing Manual and Race Organizer's Manual - this is to include the marathon event rules
3. Ron B to check the Long Term Athlete Development documentation to see what distances and times were permitted younger riders.
4. Hal L to find someone to write rules and procedures for the placing of riders on the start line according to their current Cup points
5. Hal L to inform the rider who requested that they move down from Comp to Sport would be granted with the provision that they move back up when and if their times and performance indicated that they should be competing in the Comp class.
6. Hal L to create a post race survey and distribute it to the committee