By David Meroney - Last updated: Friday, February 12, 2016 - - Hello, Arkansas runners! Are you ready for the Valentine’s Day 5K? Don’t forget: it’s a new location, new course, and new schedule this year. The Bona Dea park is NOT available due two things: a bridge is out from flood damage () and also the Corp of Engineers is no longer allowing races in Bona Dea. If anyone has some pull with the Army Corps of Engineers, please contact me. I’d love the opportunity to work out an agreement that puts controls in place while allowing some races.

Valentine’s Day 5K Start: Tucker Coliseum, Arkansas Tech campus Packet pickup will be inside the Coliseum starting at 7:30 am — due to liability concerns, much of the interior will be roped off. Race starts at 9:00 am for all participants The race is two loops around the Arkansas Tech campus. Valentine’s Day 5K route – two loops Race awards will be held outside at the finish line. Showers will be available at another building across campus. Check with Tom Aspel, the race director, if you want to shower.

Arkansas RRCA news Following the 2015 Grand Prix awards on Saturday, Feb. 6, the met and made a few decisions.

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First of all, the Arkansas RRCA still start polling Grand Prix runners after each race. We will use SurveyMonkey which is one of the more popular survey tools. So, after each race, be sure to look for an email from SurveyMonkey and reply as soon as you can.

The purpose of the surveys is to identify how races do well and in what areas improvements are needed. Much of this will be judged against the as well as runner expectations and impressions of the race; if you haven’t done so, I suggest you take a moment to read through the Standards. This information will be relayed back to the races and it will be used by the LDRC in the selection process for the 2017 Grand Prix and beyond. In years past there was an evaluation process made up of a select committee.

We have decided to tap the vast experience of all the Grand Prix runners to get a real sense of how the races are doing. The ultimate goal here is to maintain the quality of a Grand Prix race. Secondly, we decided that youth runners may not earn Grand Prix points if they run a race representing a school. This specifically came up in response to a question about the Minuteman Cross Country 5K which will be on September 10. In the past, this question has arisen for the Chile Pepper and could possibly apply to other races where youth runners are participating in the race to represent their school. The LDRC had considered the question but decided not to allow Grand Prix points since there are rules in place by AAU and AAA the forbid this very issue.

Lastly and most importantly, we decided to hold the 2016 Arkansas RRCA Meeting and Awards in Hot Springs following the Spa 10K. The exact time and location has not been set but it will not be in Arlington; we will likely be in the Hot Springs Convention Center but that has yet to be determined. I will make announcements closer to the date. Keep in mind that nominations for Arkansas RRCA awards are open all year long.

I will specifically call for nominations on September 1 but you can submit a nomination at any time. A complete list of all previous Arkansas RRCA awards is. River Trail 15K team scoring There was one tie, the men of both ARK and WAR tied with 192 points.

WAR won the tie-breaker with Ron Smith as the 5th place finisher with 80 points compared to Joe Milligan of ARK with 86 points. Christine and David Meroney with Jon Dunham (center) The convention is a great personal experience; more importantly, it’s full of information that you can take back to your club to help grow and refine your club and the races you support. Runner Friendly Community I have spoken to a few clubs about the Runner Friendly Community designation for cities. The program information and requirements is. At this point, there are no designated Runner Friendly Communities in Arkansas and I want 2016 to be the year that changes. I offer myself to help guide the application process. In no particular order, some of the cities I think should take this on are Searcy, Cabot, North Little Rock, Russellville, Hot Springs, Little Rock, and Benton.

There are probably more that I don’t know as well such as Fort Smith, Jonesboro, and any and all of the Northwest Arkansas cities. Adobe Calendar Template. David Meroney Arkansas RRCA State Rep 501-291-5642 @ArkansasRRCA #ArkGrandPrix #ARKrun. Copyright © 2016 Arkansas RRCA State Rep Blog Credits: .

Customary magnet that all convention attendees receive. In March, I had the pleasure to represent Arkansas at the Road Runners Club of American national convention in Dallas. It was the 58th national convention and the 5th I have attended; the others have been in Memphis, TN, Albuquerque, NW, Spokane, WA, and Des Moines, IA. The RRCA posted a very short about how well the convention went.

The RRCA convention is a great way for clubs to exchange information, learn about RRCA programs, meet people in the industry and the community from all over, get inspired from speakers and individuals, and just have a great time. In addition, attendees get some great material from the RRCA Annual Report to great gear from Leslie Jordan and swag from Ashworth Awards. It’s been my hope to get more Arkansans to the conventions.

It’s a financial commitment but it’s well worth it in my view. I hope a club or two will plan to send their president or incoming president to the. And the 60th convention will be in Washington, D.C.

Dallas is one of the biggest nearby cities for Arkansans and I’m very familiar with it. In fact, Christine’s parents live in a Dallas suburb and we are down there about once a month. But it was still a new experience to spend a few days in downtown Dallas.

We got to ride the light rail DART train from the hotel to the convention, had morning runs throughout downtown, got to try some new-to-us restaurants, and even got to be tour guide for a few people looking for and other landmarks. There is always plenty going on at the convention. I even filmed a short video for Lisa Luyet’s west Little Rock Women Run Arkansas clinic while at the convention. The video is at and it’s about what the clinic participants can do after they complete the graduation 5K. RRCA Board of Directors and State Reps State Rep training For State Reps, the convention starts at Noon on Thursday with an training session. We go over basic information for the new reps but also highlight important or new programs. Here are a few that I want to relay to you: • Emphasis on RRCA Championship events.

There are now medals for all events: state, regional, and national. The custom race bibs have been redesigned. New finish line tape for regional and national events and vinyl banners for national championships. For races that are awarded RRCA championship status, the state reps are asked to help the races conform to the. And you all know that I try to fill the slate of championships at the state level in Arkansas as well as regional and national when possible.

ROADIE program singlet • Introduction of the ROADIE Program. This stands for: • Runners • Outreach • Ambassador • Dedicated • Involved • Enthusiastic This is a group of people that State Reps will pick out of RRCA club members across the state to serve as additional ambassadors for the RRCA and to promote clubs. ROADIEs be registered with the RRCA and will receive special ROADIE gear, male or female shirts, sleeveless, singlet, long sleeve shirt, or visors. The requirements to be a ROADIE are that you have to active in an Arkansas RRCA club and that you are visible both at races and on social media. I have already identified a few people to take on this role; I can pick around 10. If you are interested and want to learn more, send me an email.

• Runner Friendly Community designation. Arkansas should have a few cities designed as.

At club meetings, I have spoken about this about how it would be great to get North Little Rock, or Benton, or Russellville, or other places to earn this designation. I see nodding heads around the room but then it’s forgotten and I get that. But this year I would love to help with at least one application. Which club wants to step up and make this happen? I will help with the process. L to R, Ann Arbor mayor Christopher Taylor receiving plaques for the Runner Friendly Community designation and the 2015 Outstanding Runner Friendly Community from RRCA President Mitch Garner. RRCA Insurance All attendees are asked to attend the General Session on Friday morning which has been the insurance presentation.

While insurance can seem like a bit of a dry topic, insurance for running events can get a little entertaining. At the very least, it’s eye-opening. The insurance program offered to clubs and members of the RRCA is designed for running events and organizations. It’s price-competitive and offers features not available elsewhere. • Coverage is available at either $1 Million per occurrence or $2 Million per occurrence.

• General liability – most business insurance policies do not cover athlete injuries. The RRCA insurance does. • Covers automobile use for club or event • Optional volunteer medical coverage for doctors, nurses, therapists • Optional Club Directors and Officers coverage • Optional club equipment coverage • Police departments can be added as additional insured for only the event. • There is no aggregate limit of coverage.

• Make sure members and event attendees all sign waivers • Events that are NOT covered by RRCA insurance (not an exhaustive list): • mud runs • overnight stage runs on open courses • manmade obstacle runs This is a brief overview of the insurance program. For any specific questions, go to or email membership@rrca.org which goes to David Morgan.

Just keep in mind that he receives and answers about 500 emails per day but he will definitely respond surprisingly quickly. Breakout sessions The meat of the RRCA convention is the breakout sessions with topics ranging from Developing Club Training Programs, Working with For-Profit Events, Keeping the Sport Clean, Recognizing Medical Issues, Youth Running: A Town Hall Meeting, and club governance. This is where I see a big benefit for Arkansas clubs to send a few attendees to spread out to absorb this information and to bring it home. Here are notes that I took on a couple sessions. Tony Reed of the National Black Marathoners Association starting his session on Increasing Diversity Increasing Diversity in Running Tony Reed of the presented a session on diversity in running.

The room was packed and they had to bring in more chairs which I think shows both an interest in clubs to reach out to minorities and also a demonstration that they want to know how to do this; count me in both camps. The beginning of the session he talked about the National Black Marathoners Association, it’s mission and member makeup. First of all, it’s not limited to just people who run marathons; people of all running capabilities are welcome. Also, it is not limited to just people who identify as black. In fact, one of those most popular members is which Tony explained is evident by all the pictures that NBMA members post of themselves with him at races and expos. The NBMA works to bridge the racial divide between distance running and minorities.

It provides a fun and active club for members to celebrate each other’s success and to encourage and mentor runners. And it’s a non-profit that raises funds to award scholarships to young runners. It was great to see a familiar face in Tony’s presentation: Brenda Stallings of Little Rock and member of the National Black Marathons Association Tony attempted to ask and answer two questions in his session. First, is there a diversity problem in running clubs? And secondly, if there is, what can be done to remedy that? The first question is not as easy to answer as one might expect and it implies a couple more questions.

There’s a whole discussion of the comparison of statistical majority and minority populations and the sociological definitions of those terms but that’s a different topic for a different day; for the purposes of this discussion, minority is defined as any person non-Caucasian. We can look at our club membership and see how it compares to the local population at large. Other than Black Girls Run! And Black Men Run which are built to attract minorities, do our clubs look like the cities we represent? Nationally, Tony posted statistics that core runners are about a 90% Caucasian and 10% minority split; the minority portion of the general population is 28% nationwide which is certainly higher in some places around Arkansas.

If we can anecdotally or statistically show that our clubs underrepresent minorities, does that mean we are actually missing minorities or are there just that many fewer minority runners. Tony posited that the number of minority runners is not really known. Clubs typically don’t track the minority percentage of club memberships nor do races record that information. In the past, he has stood at the finish line and just counted the number of minority finishers in a particular race just to collect that data.

It’s an elusive question to determine if minorities are really underrepresented even if it feels that is the case. If minorities are indeed underrepresented, is that actually a problem? People will join clubs that appeal to them. If minorities don’t join a certain club, is that the club’s fault/failing or is it just that what the club represents doesn’t draw in minorities? I’m trying to be careful here knowing how easy it can be to offend one or all groups in this conversation which is the last thing I want to do.

It’s my personal feeling that running clubs underrepresent minorities and that it is a problem. Transcend External Hard Drive Drivers Download more. One statistic that Tony pointed out is that in 2010, the birthrate in the United States was 49.9% minority and it’s following a trend of increasing. This means in the not too distant future, non-Caucasians will make up a statistical majority. Clubs and races that do not attract minorities will soon be losing participants and the revenue they represent if they haven’t already. This is an existential issue for clubs: adapt to the changing population or lose relevance and fade away.

Loss of opportunity is a problem but that’s not the only issue with missing out on minorities. Having people from different walks of life can lead to an even stronger organization; this is at the core of the idea that America is a melting pot. Ok, we found that there is a diversity problem and we want to address it. I think this is part of the broader question or making the clubs appealing as possible to everyone. We all see people running in neighborhoods and at races who we never see at clubs.

In Arkansas, we have the Grand Prix that really helps break down barriers to meeting new runners from all over the state. But there are people in every community that run but that are not plugged into the Grand Prix crowd.

And this is certainly true for minorities. One person in the session asked the earnest question of how should a person of the minority population be best approached to talk about running clubs. The answer from a person in the audience was that runners are the same no matter what they may look like. Runners like to talk about shoes, paces, training, races (running races), clothes, nutrition, etc. In other words, talk to these people like you’d like to be talked to. Some people are more outgoing than others and it is very easy for me to be introverted; but I have to admit that some of the best conversations I’ve had were with people who were being shy wallflowers and would not have spoken to anyone at an event until I went over to say hi. It felt good to make them feel welcome when perhaps they hadn’t been previously.

At the 2015 convention, there was a representative from Steel City Road Runners of Pittsburg, PA. They have business cards given out to members who in turn give the cards to people they encounter out running, at races, at running stores, etc. As club members, it’s easy to forget that not all runners know about the clubs. And even if people know about the clubs, it’s also easy for people to feel like the clubs aren’t for them. Objections can vary from “those people are too fast” or “those people all run way longer distances than I do.” And obviously objections can include “there aren’t many black people in that club” or even “black people aren’t distance runners.” In the presentation, Tony had a list of myths or objections that some people, black or white, believe about running such as blacks are better at sprints while whites are better at long distance. I wish I had written down all the myths/objections but they aren’t in my notes.

One objection that has been voiced by some black people, especially women, is that running and the subsequent sweat is hard on their hair. Some in the audience seemed to acknowledge the concern but indicated there are some good ways to deal with that. The bottom line is that clubs need to be more engaging of all people in the community but especially with minorities. Invite them to club meetings and invite them to serve in leadership roles in the clubs. Treat people with interest and respect and make them feel welcome.

Back side of business card Club Governance The convention had a series of sessions on club governance from getting started, to financial and planning, to resolving conflicts and I was not able to attend those sessions. I did attend the final club governance session which was an open forum. There were a variety of people in the room from a couple RRCA directors and State Reps to club presidents and other representatives from large and small clubs. Since this was an open forum, there was obviously no structure or presentation. Here are few of the topics that were discussed: • Club leaders need to mentor new and future leaders. Club leaders usually spend all their efforts on what’s immediately in front of them: preparing for a club race, or doing the club budget, or creating a training program, etc. But one important duty of club leaders that is often not considered is mentoring the future leaders.

This especially applies to younger runners who are interested but don’t have the experience to be leaders yet. • Reach out to younger runners to bring in new blood. Clubs age just like any other group.

The only way to keep clubs young is to bring in new runners. Reach out to runners out on the roads and trails, at races and expos, and on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. • Background and criminal checks for board positions, anything to do with finances, and youth training programs. Some people might feel this is an intrusion into people’s privacy. But it’s reassuring for club members and parents to know that the people taking care of money and their kids have been checked out by an impartial party. The cost of these checks is well worth the investment according to the backers in the forum. • Term limits and length of terms limits.

Once a club finds a good leader, it can be too easy to just hang on to that person in perpetuity — especially if they don’t seem to mind. But that can become an ongoing burden. Clubs should have clearly stated limits on how many terms leaders can serve and how long those terms should be. And they should stick to them.

This can be a means of bringing in new blood. Convention Auctions One big perk of attending the RRCA convention is the live and silent auctions. These are fundraisers for RRCA programs; the Live Auction benefits the Roads Scholar and RunPro Camp programs while the silent auction supports the State Reps. Signed memorabilia, race entries to marque events, a spot on a coaching certification course and more are offered in the live auction. The silent auction is filled with items that State Reps bring and I’m so proud and pleased with what Arkansans did this year: Jessica Torrey – an original painting titled “Faster” For those who don’t know, Jessica is the daughter of Bill Torrey, former Arkansas State Rep and the owner of Rock City Running in Little Rock.

6 pack of home-brewed Arkansas beer Luncheons and National Running Awards banquet The highlight of the convention for many people are luncheons on Friday and Saturday and the awards banquet on Saturday night. Over the years the convention has been host to many of the greats in the running community and in other walks of life. One year we had both and, the last of the original Navajo code talkers from World War II as our luncheon speakers. For the convention in Dallas, we had and. Ben has been speaker and motivator at the RRCA RunPro Camp and loves to talk running.

Gilbert has an amazing life story and continues to inspire with his Gilbert’s Gazelles training program. Ben talked about his experiences as a runner and a coach. He said that it’s never too early to be a team leader and that running changes lives.

We all know this is very true. Ben Rosario speaking at the Friday luncheon The Saturday luncheon speaker was the inspiring Gilbert Tuhaboyne. This man survived the Burundi civil war, torture, being burned, and a genocide. He found the strength and will to make it out. “Running literally saved my life over and over,” he said. There were few dry eyes in the room as he told us of his life, his struggles, the forgiveness in his heart, and how he passes on his lover of live and running through his coaching. “Run with joy.

Whatever you do, find joy.”. Copyright © 2016 Arkansas RRCA State Rep Blog Credits: .