Some Thoughts on a Very Fine Running Club...and how to make it better
Your duly-elected
GRC officers met recently and spent an evening eating barbequed
chicken, deviled eggs, corn on the cob, salad, rum cake and some
suds... you know, all the necessary equipment for a serious session
of review and reflection on the overall course of the club. (It
was also a nice excuse to have a party!)
We started by celebrating what we have perceived as the club's successes:
*
The complete renovation of an old surplus trailer into
a
superb chariot capable of carrying all the gear needed
to
run a race (Special thanks to Gaynell Marsh for the
vision
and perseverence to start and complete this project.)
*
The launching of the Guamrunningclub.org website.
We
have seen over a thousand hits since it began late,
last
summer. We get the most hits when we post your
faces
following the races! (We need digital photographers,
hint,
hint....)
*
The Overal Friendly Character of the Club itself.
I have
always
personally appreciated this feature of the club. The
really
good runners and the others, like myself, all mix and
encourage
one another. This is very nice. Especially nice
are
all the folks who get together for breakfast after the
race
to while away the morning and savor the race just run.
* The Strong
Turn-out at the Races. We've notice that over
the
past several years the 5K's have taken off, drawing huge
numbers.
The Cross Island 10 Mile run, at 87 runners, was
an
unprecedented turn out.
We continued the evening
by taking a "fearless moral inventory" of our weakness
and areas of concern, as we moved through the 12 steps to a better
club. At this point, we took time to review the e-mails we received
from the website or from you directly. (Your feedback really
does matter!) This is what we considered:
* The Creation
of Two New Divisions. We were recently
informed
that the Clydesdale division, for heavier runners,
has
been nationally recognized. At least one of our members
expressed
a desire that such a division be adopted for our
races.
We're thinking of calling it the "Tonga" Division,
giving
it
a name more appropriate to the Pacific region. As you all
know,
in Tonga, people won't even take you seriously unless
you
are a person of substantial presence and girth. We'll find
out
the specifics and get this added to our future races.
The
second new division we would like to initiate is for the
runners
over 70. "Manamko" Division is the name we thought
would
be most appropriate. (Let us know what you think!)
*
Medical Personnel at All GRC Races. The recent
incident
involving
Gary Denton gave us all a wake-up call. While it was
fortunate
that Dr. Kim was running that day and was able to
rescussitate
Gary (saving his life!), we realized we have no plan
should
something similar happen.
Therefore,
we would like to be more deliberate about ensuring
adequate
medical support at all GRC races. We can do this in
several
ways:
1.
The GRC officers will undergo CPR training and maintain
certification
throughout their tenure.
2.
Survey you, the GRC membership, to find out who is
CPR
certified, a physician, a nurse, etc. From this list
we
would engage in some advance planning to make
certain
that a medically trained person was present at
each
race. Please e-mail us and let us know if you are
such
a person and whether you would be available to
be
a designate at our races (you still get to run).
*
Course Safety & Road Rulz. This one is very
important.
Please
read this carefully and take it to heart. The recent
Cross
Island 10 Mile was run under virtually perfect conditions
and
drew a record attendance. However, virtually everyone
ignored
the pre-race instructions and ran the course on the
right-hand
side of the road, going with traffic. On this race in
particular,
with all the blind, hairpin turns, we are heading for
a
real tragedy. We need your compliance with race instructions.
We
will return to using a bullhorn to help make sure everyone
can
hear the instructions. We are also seeking the services of
a
running-friendly attorney to interpret our Road Runners Club
of
America insurance policy to explain it to us so we can be sure
whether
headphones, pets, babyjoggers, etc. are permissible in
the
races or not. You can be sure, if using any of these results
in
invalidating
our insurance coverage we will need to enforce the
ban.
Having you and us fully covered in case of an accident is
far
more important than allowing items that are fine during your
personal
training to jeopardize the safety of the runners.
Take
note: no scooters will be allowed in GRC sponsored races.
Don't
let your children bring them, especially on the 5K's. We
will
pull people from the race who are using these...it doesn't
require
an attorney to understand how dangerous these devices
are
during a road race.
*
Course Distances & Accuracy. O-o-o-o-o-h! Our
ears are still
singed
from our feaux pax at the Sun Tees 5K. Wasn't that second
loop just devastating! (and unnecessary) The course
actually
stretched to about 3.4 miles...ugh! We promise, we
may still
mess up but we won't do that again.
Over
the rum cake we began selecting several races from the
calendar
which we will measure and have AIMS certified, e.g.
the Tsunami
5K, the Masters 10K, etc. And those, like the
Sun
Tees, whose start and finish lines have shifted from year-to-year,
will be standardized and carefully measured even
if
not certified.
*
Course Records in All Divisions. Your humble webmaster
acknowledges
that the Course Records link on the website
has
been inoperative for far too long. I have gotten the records
and
will be inputting them over the next few weeks. Who
knows?
it may go up this week. But I promise you'll see an
active
link post haste, pronto...in (pardon me) er uh,
record
time!
(P.S.
Once the records are up, please be quick to inform us
if
you spot any inaccuracies. We'll be even quicker to correct
them.)
* The Need to Recruit
& Train More Volunteers. And not only that,
but also to fully describe the logistics involved in running
each
race on our calendar so that newer folks could actually
follow
a checklist and direct a race. Of course, not everyone
will
be so capable, but we do need to find from among our
membership
those who are. This will take some time, but we'll
be
working on it.
That's it for now. The last crumb of rum cake became the object
of a deadly contest among the Club Officers and it was decided
that everyone should go home. We'll be adapting this page to
a printed letter to be mailed to all of our membership. A survey
response section will be added to get your further input.
Thanks for making the Guam Running Club a fine club and a club
that is getting better.
In it for the Long Run,
Neil Culbertson, GRC Prez 1-24-01