September 17, 2018 Board Meeting

MINUTES OF A MEETING

OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF

RANDONNEURS USA, INC.

Held September 17, 2018

 

A meeting of the RUSA Board of Directors was convened by telephone conference and called to order at 1709 PDT by the President. 

The following Directors were in attendance:

• Debra Banks

• John Lee Ellis

• John Capn Ende

• Nigel Greene

• Jake Kassen

• Lois Springsteen

• Dave Thompson

The Secretary reported that nominations for the upcoming election are coming in. Candidate statements are due on the 25th and the election will run from October 1st to November 15th. The secretary will prepare and distribute election information and ballots and then tally the votes.

The ACP event calendar for 2019 was discussed. ACTIONS: The President will confirm with the Brevet Coordinator for schedule preparation and submission to ACP. The RBA Liaison will send a reminder to the RBAs about the deadlines. The board will convene a special meeting on the 3rd to discuss and approve the calendar for 2019.

An RBA application for a new region in Chicago was denied with the recommendation that the volunteer work with the existing Chicago RBA and help put on more events nearer to Chicago.

A board member provided a white paper and led a discussion of overall time limits, intermediate controls and overtime finishes. The discussion began with a MOTION: There are no circumstances where an HD finish would receive credit. FAILED. There was also a MOTION made earlier in email: To establish and publicize standards and guidelines to be used to determine if a rider can be credited for a ride when the rider arrives at the finish after the official deadline. That motion PASSED. Discussion was held on the following points:

  1. Circumstances beyond control might allow consideration for an individual rider – Good Samaritan, e.g. – could be an acceptable basis for appeal
  2. Significant course changes during a ride (fire, road closures, etc. – could provide acceptable basis for appeal.
  3. There was a consensus that there are should be no “unspecified other reasons” for appeal.
  4. The importance of timeliness of appeals was discussed and noted that this is covered in Article 16 of the Rules for Riders which allows for 72 hours.
  5. Does the RBA or RUSA Board of Directors give credit for an HD finish? Using RUSA’s Board reinforces the idea that these are very rare and infrequent and enforces consistency. While the board or committee might make this fairer, RBA autonomy is an important consideration.
  6. Rules for Riders, Article 10, does not leave room for an HD finish for credit. More discussion of these concepts is needed with our counterparts at Les Randonneurs Mondiaux, Audax Club Parisien, and our own rules committee before a formal policy can be adopted.

RBA Procedures were discussed in the context of similar distance brevets on the same date. It was agreed that this should be allowed which requires an RBA procedure update. ACTION: The President will update the RBA procedures to allow brevets of similar distance on the same date.

Hurricane Florence caused problems for the scheduling of Taste of Carolina. After consultation with Les Randonneurs Mondiaux, it was agreed that the organizer has the authority in this case to reschedule for later this year or cancel as he sees fit.

The meeting was adjourned at 19:56 PDT