The Lawrence Trail Hawks Board of Directors held its monthly meeting April 19, at the Lawrence Public Library, 8-9 pm. Attending: Nick Combs, president; Sherrie Klover, vice president; Josh McVey, treasurer; Gary Henry, secretary; Caroline Wroczynski, membership director; Mary Ann Frevert and Shari Hicks, Nighthawk race directors; Kara Protasio and Jeff and Kelly Keele, members; and Bill Loats, former president. Webmaster Jeff Triplett was unable to attend.
Sherrie called the meeting to order and conducted it, due to late arrival by Nick.
Treasurer’s Report: Josh briefed the members on the electronic ledger he developed to track club transactions. He demonstrated how the program itemizes and categorizes each transaction for display in multiple formats, including by event. The ledger shows sums the club hasn’t been able see until now, such as the amount of money in the credit union not associated with any upcoming races, and the amount of money currently in play for upcoming races. The actual balance $7,537.09 is in the account, but is from various race entry fees and is earmarked to pay the expenses of those races. Currently, $3,398.06 of that amount is a solid balance, not earmarked for or involved with any club event.
Caroline briefed the group on Pi Day. Out of 131 registrants, 71 finished the half-marathon, and 43 finished the Pi-Miler. The remaining 16 either didn’t show or DNFed. Caroline and Josh are still calculating debits and credits to determine the race’s financial outcome, but it appears positive. Left over hoodies will be on sale at other Trail Hawk events, starting with the Skyline Shuffle. Next year’s Pi Day race is set for March 11, 2017. Registration is set to open July 12.
Sherrie briefed the group on the 2016 HAWK. There are 56 registrants so far, including 16 in the hundred; 22 in the 50, and 18 in the marathon. Seventeen hoodies and 3 shirts have been pre-sold on ultrasignup.com. Sherrie has researched race entry fees, and determined that the HAWK is among the most fairly priced to run, while offering food and swag comparable to much more expensive races. Nevertheless, she said she has no plans to raise entry fees next year.
Gary briefed the group on The Snake 10-miler, set for July 9; and the Birthday Fat Ass tentatively set for Aug. 13. The Snake will be offering shirts as entry swag, rather than the initally planned beer mug, to showcase and gain marketing value from the logo, which turned out cooler than expected. Co-RD Benita Jones is overseeing, and talking to Jeff at Pride of Gumbo. Gary asked for and was granted $175 to pay Corps and State Park application fees for the Birthday Fat Ass. He also requested and was granted $294 to buy 150 color-changing plastic beer mugs with the Trail Hawks logo for Birthday Fat Ass swag. Price includes shipping.
Mary Ann and Shari briefed the group on the Nighthawk 50K and 10 Miler, set for June 25. Currently, there are 14 signed up for the 10 miler, and 11 for the 50K. Entry swag consists of shirts for 10-miler runners, and hats for the 50K. Mary Ann requested help in promoting the race. The group discussed some promotional tactics, including ramping up conversations on Facebook about the race, and paying for some limited advertising on Facebook.
Caroline also mentioned the Lawrence Trail Hawks Runner Relay team fundraiser for “Relay for Life,” a charitable endeavor. Caroline said registration to be on the team is still open. She also invited Trail Hawks to attend and volunteer at a Star Wars-themed costume-party fundraiser for the Relay, at The Sandbar, May 4, titled "When I Grow Up...the Fourth is with you." https://whenigrowupmaythefourthbewithyou.eventbrite.com/ or https://www.facebook.com/events/1700523000206647/. The event organizers are looking to see if anyone has anything they would like to donate for prizes or food or to help run it. Shouldn't be hard, as there is no real set up or cleanup.
The group briefly considered Heather Cotten’s request for Trail Hawks technical shirts, but had to table the discussion, due to library closing-time. The board plans to take up the discussion at the next monthly meeting, tentatively set for Tuesday, May 10 in one of the downstairs meeting rooms at the Lawrence Public Library. All dues-paying members of the Lawrence Trail Hawks are invited to attend.
With no further business, Sherrie adjourned the meeting.Very Respectfully,
Gary Henry, secretary