HELD AT ROUND TABLE
MONDAY 21st FEBRUARY 2005
1. Present:
Glynn Hawkes Chairman
Miles Trustham Vice-Chairman
Lorna McCosh Secretary
Rachel Davis Public Relations
Justin Bird HRC
Robin Barrett HRC
Mario Cunha SGBC
John Grant SGBC
John Satombo PE
W Pondiwa PE
D John PE
D Musendekwa PE
Q Mkadhla PE
Paulette Resink Chisipite
Lex Lovemore SGBC
Matthew Linforth SGBC
W Muzengi GHS
P Matope GHS
J Kallo GHS
M Kubula GHS
M Manyonga GHS
Mr Tsimba GHS
H Peswa GHS
2. Apologies:
Danielle Cox (Chisipite)
Paulette Resink (Chisipite)
Leonie Rickards (ABC)3. Confirmation of Minutes
The minutes of the last meeting were proposed by Robin Barrett and seconded by John Satombo.
4. Club Reports
St George’s Boat Club
Saint’s and Chisipite had a successful National Champs. All crews have qualified, except two senior doubles and a senior single. Saint’s won the B4+ M Linforth, B Gurney, T Zaranika, A Weston, C2XA Hunt and M Trustham, D2X J Linforth and A Hall composite crew and the C single, A Hunt. The C2X of Hunt and Trustham set an extremely fast time of 7:41 over 2000m. It was fast considering they are 15 years old. They even beat the senior Peterhouse combination of Peebles and Hogg by 3 seconds in the senior B2X.
Chisipite won the C4X, C2X, C1X, D4X and the D2X. All of the Chisi girls were well within the qualifying times.
The Chairman congratulated St Georges Boat Club for their performance at the Nationals.
Hunyani Rowing Club
Robin Barrett thanked RAZ for a very enjoyable Nationals. Hunyani fielded Mens crews in B, C and D status and Ladies in A, B and C. Robin did query the structure of the regatta in that the distances set to race were determined more by the distances needed to get qualifying times for the junior rowers, rather than the correct distances for a status regatta.
Along the same lines Robin stated he would like to see less emphasis on the South Africa Nat Champs, and more on our local regattas. Likewise, he would like to see our local regattas elevated in status generally and South African rowers invited to participate.Robin wanted to encourage all affiliated RAZ rowers to continue using Mazoe dam where there is sufficient water for training purposes , but not for regattas. Justin Bird was introduced as Hunyani’s new Chairman.
Glynn Hawkes congratulated Hunyani on their turnout of new members at the Nationals and said he hoped that this would continue and not be a flash in the pan. Glynn also agreed with Robin’s comments re local regattas and agreed that the general focus tended to be on SA Nat Champs and the Vic Falls regatta.
Peterhouse
Rachel Davis reported that Peterhouse were working up towards the SA Nat Champs. Peterhouse also has a number of new rowers in D category and some of them rowed for the first time at the Nationals. The Chairman encouraged other clubs to get D rowers into boats for regattas. The Chairman congratulated Peterhouse for making it to the Nationals at Arcadia Dam.Prince Edward
John Satombe reiterated that after losing a number of their senior rowers they are starting from scratch. Their main problem however is lack of equipment, and the means to carry equipment from one venue to another.Justin Bird asked RAZ if Hunyani can be responsible for the RAZ trailer and keep it at Hunyani Rowing Club.
Justin advised that HRC could help carry school equipment on the RAZ trailer providing that the schools give them notice beforehand. John thanked St George’s for working with John Hawkes who is a PE rower.
The Chairman commented on the fact that PE have a number of interested rowers but that they currently only have one 4 , which tends to defeat the object of getting as many boys out to the damn as possible. PE have a scull that requires riggers to be operative and they are looking for either a donation of riggers or someone who has riggers to sell to them.
Rachel also advised that a double had been donated by Peterhouse to GHS and PE, and asked whether it was in use. John Satombe is to find out where the boat is and get access to it for the PE rowers.
Girls High SchoolGirls High school have rowed on Lake Chivero, but more recently on Mazoe Dam. They are looking forward to a good year. The Chairman commented on the fact that for GHS and others, the costs of joining Jacana Yacht Club at Lake Chivero outweigh the inconvenience of the walk with boats to the water at Mazoe dam.
Robin Barrett made a comment about the fragmentation of the rowing community with some clubs rowing at Chivero (HRC) and some at Arcadia, others at Mazoe dam. The Chairman commented on the costs of joining JYC being a hindrance to most RAZ members, together with the fact that the conditions there are far from ideal for rowing. Ideally we will all be able to get back to Mazoe dam and use our facilities there.
5. Regattas
The Chairman reported that the RAZ Nationals was successful and that even though they started late, we did not lose time over the course of the day. There was lots of new blood from the clubs which was a positive sign.
RAZ Development regatta is to be held on the 20th March 2005, the focus will be on new rowers starting out, though not to the exclusion of experienced rowers. It will be more of a fun regatta especially after SA Nat Champs.
There will be more mixed events, mixing rowers with different statuses, different sexes, and also composite crews from different schools.
The RAZ committee will set a venue nearer the time.
The Arundel regatta was postponed and the Chairman stated his concern with the lack of interest at Arundel and the lack of a cohesive programme to draw in new rowers. Leonie Rickards is unable to coach as she has too many commitments. Kerry Mackie is supposed to be taking over whilst here from the UK, but RAZ need to look into the whole situation at Arundel.
The Chairman extended his congratulations to those who have qualified, and wished them good luck in South Africa at the SA National Championships. He reiterated that the qualifying times were there not to impede, but as a guideline. RAZ do not wish to embarrass our schools in Zimbabwe and have to set reasonable standards for those competing outside the country. The Chairman also reminded all participants that they are representing their country as well as their club and need to behave accordingly.
Glynn continued by saying that he would like to see those who are interested in qualifying doing so at least 6 weeks before the Nat Champs, which gives people more time to train together and is less pressure on those responsible for the administration etc.
Rachel Davis disagreed with this time limit, and reported that the coaches do try bringing the selection regattas forward every year. Unfortunately one of the last events of the year in 2004 was held at Jacana on Lake Chivero in very unfavourable weather conditions. She also stated that it was difficult for coaches to work to that deadline, in terms of the amount of time that is taken up by the schools on various other activities. Rachel also proposed that crews be given as long as possible to qualify.
Glynn said he stood corrected, but would still like to see crews qualifying earlier rather than this late, however confirming that all rowers be given the maximum opportunities to qualify. Clubs individually need to look at the issues of admin etc.
6. Treasurer’s Report
Fees for 2005 are $60 000 per rower and RAZ would appreciate prompt payment from all of the clubs.
The entry fees for the RAZ Nationals was $40 000 per rower which included the $5 000 fee payable to Arcadia for use of their dam. Fortunately, the cost was kept down as RAZ were able to recycle a number of medals – the cost of a new medal is now $50 000 each. RAZ need to have this money paid by the clubs as soon as possible. RAZ also need the mandatory annual returns from all of the clubs in order to ensure that the billing for each club is correct.
The profit made on the RAZ Nationals was approximately $500 000 –800 000. However, the idea is not to profiteer from our own members and rather to encourage club to follow the same precedent when hosting a regatta. The Chairman feels that it is important for us to fund raise externally, and not from our own members.
As the executive had been responsible for payment of all the costs of running the regatta, RAZ would appreciate prompt payment once Penny has sent out the invoices to all of the clubs.
Glynn advised that Penny is in the process of adding new signatories to the bank account, and would then take off unnecessary signatories.
Robin asked about the possibility of members making donations to RAZ. Glynn agreed it was a possibility, but that he would prefer members to donate to specific causes eg for stopwatches, radios etc. Acknowledgements of donation could then be made.
Glynn also advised that in terms of the current constitution, fees should be set and called for immediately after the AGM and in that way there would be no need for the executive and other members to assist RAZ financially until members have paid their subs.
8. A.O.B.
Status
The Chairman reported that he had only received one reply giving feedback on the status issue, from Lynn Taylor. He advised that RAZ is trying to give every member the opportunity to participate and give input in to this contentious issue. Accordingly if clubs have suggestions please can they put them in writing to the chairman on as soon as possible. If there is no interest from the clubs then obviously RAZ will make their own decision on this issue.Rachel Davis wanted to state for the records, that she is happy with the way status is currently handled, and does not feel it necessary to change it. She also stated that it would be a very burdensome issue to change, requiring a lot of time and effort generally, and may not be beneficial in the long time. Rachel agreed that although the system is fine, it has been mismanaged over the last years with no RAZ member having knowledge of their status at any given time. Rachel said she did not see a need for discussion on status.
Lorna McCosh said that the reason why status has been included on the agenda, is because of the controversy experienced at recent regattas where crews appear to be entered into races with an incorrect status, with no-one being able to verify the correct status of the crew. As a result status is an issue which comes up often at regattas and has caused much bad feeling, and therefore merits discussion.
Robin Barrett said that perhaps we should be having more status regattas.
The Chairman advised that the issue is to be opened to the floor for proposals as there is unhappiness and dissatisfaction with this issue.
Mario Cunha also agreed that the system was fine although badly managed. However he wanted to see one amendment to the constitution whereby B rowers were able to row I a C category.
The lack of good coxes was discussed and everybody agreed it was something that we need to look at in the future. The benefit of having a good, experienced cox who knows the rules means that we have less collisions, better boat handling etc. Crews have to have a dedicated cox and should call on other clubs to help them train coxes if necessary.
John Grant suggested that rescue boats should be able to give directions to D sculls and D doubles.
Robin Barrett said that we have as a community overlooked the skills of boatmanship, discipline and maintaining equipment over the last few years . He suggested an organisation called ROAZ (Rowing Officials Association Zimbabwe) be set up to govern the behaviour of the rowing officials, who would address these concerns.
Robin also suggested a workshop be held on boat maintenance and handling and safety issues in general.
Rachel Davies offered her services for running coaching/umpire clinics, to be held at HRC.
The issue of chase boats giving directions to boats was discussed and it was confirmed in terms of the constitution, that chase boats can only give directions if there is a chance of collision, self-injury or equipment breaking. John Grant said that Miles Rees is keen to get involved with a number of the safety issues.
Scholarship – once again no names have been forwarded to the committee, this position would be given to a person who would become a National coach and would train other coaches within Zimbabwe.
High performance centre – again there has been no response from the clubs and we need to respond positively or we may not be offered anything similar in the future.
World Junior Champs – Starting point is to be a squad of potentials, which will then be whittled down to a crew of 5 and a coach. The crews will be rowing against anyone 18 and under and RAZ will be looking for the strongest combination crews who are able to represent Zimbabwe. The coaches have put together a short list of 18 rowers and 3 coxes to begin with. A selection committee will be appointed which will work objectively and transparently. The short list will not be made public initially.
Rachel stated that she would also like to use the expertise offered by a South African official. This official takes crews to the Junior World Champs every year and knows which categories field the strongest crews and will be able to offer us valuable advice and assistance as a result of his knowledge of the event.
It will be held in Brandenberg from 3rd to 6th August, however there will be a training camp for two weeks prior to the event, so rowers will effectively be missing school from the middle of July onwards. RAZ will have to provide air tickets and insurance and the rest will be covered by FISA.