Those in
Attendance
Tony Ameadors, Carl Wilkins, Brian
Akers, Doug Peterson, Bob Lundberg, Ron Mattson, Mark Swartzendruber, Nancy
Beck, Rich Johnson, Mary Lee, Mike Farrell, Bill Cassidy
Introductions
The meeting started out with introductions. We had some new
faces at our meeting this year with the addition of Ron Mattson of Freeport
Bicycle, Tony Ameadors of EMC2, Brian Akers Lamb Little, and Bill Cassidy, ABR
Race Official attending this meeting. All race promoters appeared to be happy
with the way the series is headed and were happy with their events in 2012. A
comment was made by many promoters that the new 2012 age groups brought more
women riders to their events in 2012. The series could not move forward
without great ideas and taking a little risk from time to time to change things
up. The new age groups appear to be boding well for the series. Thanks goes
out to Mike Farrell of ABD for proposing these age groups last year.
Timing
Bill Cassidy explained his new timing system, and how it
would benefit the series going forward. Bill talked about the lap top, finish
clock, and printers our silent sponsor provided the series for 2013 to go along
with his system. He also wanted each promoter that uses him for timing to
provide him with a rider list before the event. This way, he can input the
rider list into his spreadsheet the night before the event. He spoke of the
features of the program. When a rider finishes their race, all Bill has to do
is press a button and this automatically calculates the rider’s finish time.
This is an advance from most timing systems used in the past and present in that
it alleviates the chance for errors. Most of the timing programs used in the
past and some in present have the timer manually enter the finish time into the
spreadsheet. Thus, mistakes can occur with this technology. Again, Bill’s
program alleviates the possibility of errors in this area and speeds up
results.
Doug Peterson, the MATTS Coordinator, encouraged all
promoters to utilize this system in 2013 to speed up results, so that riders can
stay for awards after each event, instead of waiting a long period of time for
official results to post. Bill continued the discussion by saying for his
system to work, riders who show up late to the start would need to either start
the event or go back and tell registration that they want a new start time. The
rider would be requested to fold over their number. The starter would put the
correct start time on folded over part of their number at the start line. The
rider would then be instructed by the starter to safely come back to the finish
line at the end of their race, so that Bill can input the rider’s start time
into the system to accurately compute the rider’s finishing time. Lastly, Doug
Peterson said that he had support for hot spots to be used with Bill’s system.
Rich Johnson and Bill Cassidy discussed which hot spot technology would be the
most reliable and affordable for MATTS. This area was tabled for further
discussion. ***Since the meeting, Doug Peterson has secured sponsorship for the
hot spot hardware and fees associated with using this technology. Most
promoters appeared to be interested in using this timing software for 2013.
Carl Wilkins said that he was going to use a timing program for his Bong
Series. Bob Lundberg mentioned that all promoters will be required to put their
results in one standardized format in 2013, so that MATTS can post results and
rider points in a timely manner.
MATTS Age Group
and ability Categories Rules
Promoters decided to add CAT 3 back into the mix for 2013 for
both men and women. The 2-Person rules changed to 10 year age categories
(20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70-79, 80+). Riders can choose to ride his
or her category at these events (Cat 1/2, Cat 3, Cat 4).
Promoters were happy with the way MATTS points its races.
The rider points system will remain the same for 2013.
Riders will be required to do at least 8races to qualify for overall
awards. A rider’s best 10 events would count towards overall awards. A
rider who completes 8-9 events cannot place higher than a rider who does 10
events. A rider doing 8 events cannot place higher than a rider doing nine
events.
One On-line
Registration Provider for All MATTS Events
A discussion was started on this topic. There was some
interest in doing this. Rich Johnson of ABD said that it would be relatively
easy to make on-line registration available for all MATTS events on Active.com.
Carl Wilkins said he was looking to go with Truesport for his Bong Series in
2013. Mark Swartzendruber said he was open. Others in the group were thinking
it through. The topic was not fully explored as it was getting late, and the
meeting was close to ending. This topic will be tabled for further discussion
at the December 19 meeting.
Race
Dates
Mike Farrell brought up race dates. He wanted to get ABD’s
race dates on the calendar for 2013. Bob Lundberg requested others to provide
him with their race dates ASAP. Update:
MATTS 2013 Race Schedule was posted on 12/12 on the MATTS website. Thanks to
everyone for getting Bob your dates and or tentative dates. This is the
earliest we have posted our schedule since I have been coordinator. This is a
positive step for our ridership to plan racing and training schedules for
2013.
Coordinator’s
Note
I am very happy with the way we have all come together to
make some positive changes over the past year. We have great energy at our
meetings and at our events. I think we are able to make such positive changes
because everyone in our group wants the best for our series, and it shows in the
end product. While we have a ways to go to be the best time trial series in the
nation, I think if we continue to work together to make subtle changes to
improve our series each season and listen to and meet our customers (riders)
needs, we can and will be the best series in the U.S. -DP
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