16 people were in attendance.
Clubs in attendance: Va Beach Velo, JRVS, PDO, Richbrau, Team Richmond, MVC, East Coasters, BRBC, and VCU cycling team.
A long discussion of the problems that D42 is currently having with the lack of riders and races was held. A suggestion was made to try to combine D42 and D20 into one BAR. Ruth Stornetta suggested a system whereby you "roll-your-own" BAR races by choosing your top ten races. An alternate suggestion was made to try to get more triatheletes into cycling by holding more time trials. The suggestion was also made to get the Tidewater and the Roanoke/Blacksburg area riders to band together with the NC ridership.
It was eventually decided that the combined BAR would not improve ridership in District 42 since it was assumed that many D20 riders would not travel to the Tidewater area. It was finally decided that all clubs should begin to open discussion with other clubs in their nearest state.
Pam Zimmerman brought up an idea of a D42 calendar with pictures and ads. Clubs would purchase months and put pictures in it. Partnering with Blue Ridge outdoors was suggested. They have the distribution system. Pam will begin to work on this and see if the costs are feasible.
A suggestion was made to increase the number of pure cat 5 events. The combining of cat 4s with cat 5s needs to be discouraged. It was felt that this alone should increase the number of entry level riders.
A discussion of the omnium situation began. The proposal was made to make the omnium winners be a part of any D42 team. You do not have to reside within VA as long as you are members of a D42 team. Likewise, riders that live in VA and are members of non-D42 teams would not be eligible for the omnium, since the omnium is there to reward members of the District 42 association. The prize for the winner of the omnium would be free entry and a jersey which the winner must purchase.
The categories for the omnium would be:
Cat 2 Cat 3 Cat 4 Cat 5 Women Women 35+ Women 4 Masters 30/40/50+ Juniors 10-14 Juniors 15-16 Juniors 17-18
For Cat 4s and 5s, should they upgrade during the year, their category would be the category they raced at the state championship RR.
The BAR categories would be the same as the omnium categories above. The winner however would not be guaranteed free entry, this is up to each individual promoter. Rule changes to the BAR were discussed. The rule for upgrades will be amended to read that 50% of a persons points can be carried up to a max of 15.
A modification to the team BAR point system was suggested. A method of averaging points for each finishing teammate will be made. So if three riders receive a total of 30 BAR points between all three, the team would receive 30/3 = 10 team BAR points. This will allow smaller teams to have a chance in the team BAR.
The treasurers report was presented. The dollar amount was not good. The majority of the expense was for the district newsletter. Discussion was held on how to do the newsletter for cheaper money. A suggestion was made to solicit some advertising that would offset the D42 cost. The possiblity of increasing the District fee 50 cents was also raised. The possibility of just saying to D20 that we can afford only this amount was also raised. Ruth Stornetta will bring this up at the D20 association meeting.
The board was nominated and elected. The current board was nominated. Bill Collins was nominated as the PR rep. His function will be to send unbiased press releases and results to local newspapers and magazines. This will be done under the District 42 association name so that all teams will have great publicity as well as the sport of cycling. He requested the contact info for local papers from all teams. The current board was voted on and approved.
The officers are as follows:
President Ruth Stornetta Vice President Ed Hernandez Treasurer Dave Elliott Secretary Bill Henderson (and BAR coordinator) PR Rep Bill Collins