30/03/2004 - Regional Committee Meeting
Minutes of BTA Committee Meeting held at Newcastle Road Swimming Pool, Sunderland - Tuesday 30th March 2004Present.
Jem Lawson, Pete Craggs, Jen Milsom, Nigel Ellam, Paul Jones, Sue Richmond, Damien Smith (RSDO)
Apologies.
Frank Whitelock, John Howells, Laura Davies, Janette Thomas
1. Chairman’s Greeting was brief.
2. Previous Minutes
a) One Stop Plan – to be discussed further.
b) Website – All ok.
c) Sanctioning Officer – Is now Regional Sanctioning Advisor.
Coaching Courses/Officials Courses: -
We have a lottery fund application in and are now waiting to see if this is approved. (We have subsequently learned that this application has been turned down). The BTA do not have a problem with putting the required courses on locally, subject to numbers, which we believe to be 6 per course.
Level One
This course is now aimed at the practical side of coaching. The candidate would leave the course weekend able to run supervised coaching sessions, which would be followed by a further weekend where the assessment would take place and would achieve this qualification at that point.
Level Two
This course is to be over 4/5 days and would be instructed by a British Cycling Coach and ASA Swimming Coach.
Level Three
No courses yet but plans in place to resolve.
Level Three/Four
Senior Coach level.
Level Five
This is an Elite/Academy Coach and now fits in with the National Coaching Certificate which Triathlon now is part of.
The BTA have a full time coach education administrator employed to make sure course arrangements run smoothly.
For interested parties, it may be possible to get some funding from the Northern Region or from the grant if approved, say in the form of financial support given in exchange for a number of hours of coaching given back to the region.
So far for Level Two, we have Jen Milsom, Ian Walker, Sue Richmond
The Grand Prix is sorted as per the website: Best of 4 events, which do not include Weardale or Prince Bishops. The first event is Meadowfield Duathlon on 18th April.
Children’s Events are organised and in place.
3. One Stop Plan
There has been a further meeting on this subject. The One Stop Plan is so named because the Government intend to put all information for the 10 sports selected together. The 10 sports are Athletics, Canoeing, Cycling, Equestrianism, Gymnastics, Judo, Rowing, Sailing, Swimming/Diving and TRIATHLON.
The object is to get people into the sport and keep them in – “Start – Stay – Succeed”.
Jem has been at these forums representing England. There is money around and Norman Brook has been putting together draft plans reflecting two sides of a plan from 2005 - 2009: -
a) Performance – This had to be done fairly quickly and specifically and is the high performance side of triathlon.
b) Participation – The goal is to be the Worlds’ Leading Triathlon Nation.
The introduction of a Development Officer solely working for the Northern Region will help. Of late, Damien Smith has been our representative but has covered two regions and has been spread too thinly.
We attach a copy of this Draft Plan, which Club Secretaries may wish to discuss at meetings of individual clubs in the region. Feedback would be very welcome prior to the next forum in June. Please direct feedback to Jem on jemorelse@aol.com
4. 2004 RACES
Entry forms have just become available for Weardale and Prince Bishops events. Please check the Regional website on www.northernpulse.org.uk
The North of Tyne Triathlon
This event will be held this year at Alnwick for the first time. This will be a 600m-pool swim; 22km undulating bike followed by a 5k almost totally off road run.
Event Organisers
Could all event organisers who haven’t yet arranged a referee, please contact Pete Craggs. Risk Assessments for any events must now go directly to The BTA for sanctioning. This will be returned to the organiser who should pass on to his referee for his/her appraisal.
5. OFFICER’S REPORTS
Treasurer
To date the region has only received £1000 from the BTA. £500 of this is for Adults with £500 ring-fenced for Children. There is still £500 to come, which Damien is chasing now.
We have put in a Talent I.D. bid to cover costs
Frank Whitelock wishes to resign as treasurer at the end of this term. Ian Maddison of Ryton Tri Club is prepared to put his name forward for nomination.
Chairman/Secretary
No specific things to report other than we are still seeking replacements for both of these positions.
NECT Officer
Nigel Ellam confirmed that 18 children attended the Washington Training Day, 13 attended Acklam and to date we have around 20 for the Ryton/Dunston Session.
We have 30+ entries for the Westgate Aquathlon.
A new Regional Development Officer will be appointed shortly. Damien would hope to have at least 2 days with the new appointee to hand over and would hope to introduce him/her to local triathletes, perhaps at the AGM on 2nd May at Cleveland. (Since the meeting, Paul Jones of Tyne Tri has been appointed to this post – our congratulations to Paul)
6. ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Great North Sports & Fitness Show
Last September, the Great North Sports & Fitness Show was held at Newcastle Arena over 2 days and was a success. This year, the event clashes with a number of things, one of which is the European Duathlon Competition in Swansea therefore BTA Staff will be unable to attend. The BTA is therefore asking the Region if anyone can give some commitment to manning the BTA Stand and give out information. This is on Friday and Saturday 24th/25th September. We need approx 5 people per day for 2 days. The stand cannot be closed before the finish time each day. There were over 7 ½ thousand people at the show last year. This is something the BTA really want to do as a region so volunteers are desperately required. If you feel you can help, please contact Jem Lawson..
Refund Policy
Due to previous years where events have been over subscribed, there seems to be a trend now to enter events early to secure places. A person may be injured but still enter in the hope of being fit by the day but are often unable to compete. We discussed the possibility of a ‘Refund Policy’, which we would request, but cannot enforce, that Event Organisers use so that the situation for all events is equal. This follows recommendation from the BTA. Our suggestion would be that entries cancelled 8 weeks before the event date be refunded in full, 4 weeks before would receive a 50% refund and thereafter no refund would be given.
We would stress that this is a suggestion and we cannot obligate Race Organisers to adopt this policy.
Thanks from the Chairman
Meeting Declared Closed