The Isle of Man Cycling Association

The Isle of Man Cycling Association

Annual General Meeting

Thursday 29th November 2012at the Isle of Man Sports Institute.

MINUTES

Present:Emma Gell, Erica Bellhouse, Gary Mazzone, Jean Slack, Gary Hinds, Amber Ward, Nigel Morris, Ian Brand, John Turner, Jayne Black, Dave Black, Peter Kennaugh, Phil Knights, Jim Cottier, Jackie Kennaugh, Andy Brooks, Pauline Davies, Graeme Hatcher, Andrew Roche, James Smettem, Tony Varley, Andrew Roche, Brian Johnson, Adam Warburton, Norman Quayle, Aaron Livsey, John Watterson, Kevin Perry

Apologies for Absence:Rob Holden, Scott Morgan, Mike Nicholson.

1. Minutes of meeting held on 24th November, 2011

These will be sent with this year’s minutes.

1. Matters Arising

During this year without a chairperson, issues discussed last year were not progressed. It will be the job of the new CA delegates to look at how to move forward,

1. Secretary’s Report

We have had 10 meetings this year.

All delegates have now been appointed. We welcome the new faces to the CA. Being a rep should not be a position you are cajoled into but one you are committed to for the right reasons. Need good attendance at all meetings to enable things to be dealt with promptly and to move forward ideas.

Communication is key and is what has been lacking this year. Information given at meetings should be passed to club members promptly to avoid misinterpretation and gossip amongst riders and also the wider community. If you do not attend meetings please make sure you read minutes and not just presume or guess at outcomes or decisions.

Many of you will have received the email stating Erica and I were not willing to re-stand without a chairman. We did not take this decision lightly. Hopefully by the end of this meeting we will have a chairman and can commit to move forward.

1. Treasurer’s Report

Summarised accounts have been distributed. Audited by Les Millar and thanks go to him for this.

-Profit of £9k year end, this is not a true profit figure as items such as dinner and sponsorship do not come through by the year end.

-Thank you to the sponsors. Very important to the road race series and 10 league as well as the team.

If anyone wants the full accounts please place your name and email on the sheet at the door.

-Email any queries or questions to Erica.

In absence of the chairman I would like to make a few more points

-Performance Committee

This is open to everyone. Meetings are held regularly. £6k has been paid for Junior, Senior and MTB. Deposit has also been paid towards the Island Games.

Performance committee ran well, as did CA but there was a lack of communication between the two. Everyone committed to addressing these issue. Proposal from E.Bellhouse that first committee meeting this year be to focus on the role of the Performance Committee and their responsibilities and boundaries.

-Payment Process

Any money that comes into cycling via sponsorship or grants come directly to the CA. Money is released to claimants through signatures of both the Secretary and Treasurer and only where receipts have been produced.

-Travel Grant. Awarded by Government. Distributed in February for the year before. Decided in the January meeting who this will be distributed to. Club responsibility to let members know they can claim for off island travel and provide members with the correct paperwork.

-Issues arising this year

Number of emails received this year has been outstanding. Emails are being used haphazardly and can be misinterpreted. Please use club reps correctly so issues can be addressed at CA level before they get out of hand.

Questions.

J.Cottier-what is the current individual levy amount per rider? £1.50/rider/race

I.Brand-understanding that individual grants were not being considered. This is not the case. The reason we do it individually is so that we have all receipts. We have previously allocated amounts to clubs for them to distribute but these amounts were then not needed or receipts had to be chased.

1. Performance Group Report

Thank you to Secretary and Treasurer for the past year. Performance group and wider cycling community grateful for work.

See attached.

-Performance committee believe 14-18 development is important and should be supported to a high level.

-Sponsorship from Microgaming has now ceased. This means we have no sponsorship going into 2013. Microgaming have been sponsors for the past 5 years and for this we are grateful. Need to build on what we have in terms of talent and organisation.

Dinner booked Oct 26th 2013.

1. Election of Association Committee (Maximum of 10 voting members per club)

2011/12 / 2012/13 / Proposed / Seconded
President / Ron Killey
Vice President / Mike O’Hare
Chairman / Vacant / Graeme Hatcher / Gary Hinds / Ian Brand
Secretary / Emma Gell / Emma Gell / Jim Cottier / Nigel Morris
Treasurer / Erica Bellhouse / Erica Bellhouse / Ian Brand / John Turner
Head of Performance / Gary Hinds / Gary Hinds / Tony Varley / Ian Brand
Performance Committee / To be elected at CA level in first meeting.
Dev. Group Co-ordinator / Adam Henderson / Adam Henderson / Nigel Morris / Ian Brand
10 League Co-ordinator / Jim Cottier / Jim Cottier / Peter Kennaugh
Press Officer / John Watterson (unofficial role) / John Watterson (unofficial role)
Auditor / Les Millar

President/Vice President. Ron is in poor health. Discussion around whether these roles remain the same or whether Ron be moved to Honarary President and Mike Approaced to be president.

Gary Hinds to speak to Mike O’Hare regarding this.

Club Delegates

EVCCIan Brand, Richard Fletcher,Brian Leadley (Reserve), Frank Hesketh (Reserve)

MRCStephen Cregeen, Rob Kinrade, Aaron Livsey, James Smettem (Reserve)

MVWBrian Johnson, Andy Brooks, Simon Kelly (Reserve), Gary Mazzone(Reserve)

BMXDave Black, Micky Cain (Reserve) Sue Gibson (Reserve)

MMBCNigel Morris, Scott Morgan, Brian Ravenshear (Reserve), Adam Henderson (Reserve)

1. Club Affiliation Fees for 2013

Set at £750last year for MVW/TMT/EVCC/MMBC with BMXIOM paying £100

Aaron Livsey Proposal to keep the same. Seconded Ian Brand

Need to take into account the outgoing costs of the forthcoming year(s).

To be paid by Jan 31st 2013.

1. Any other business of a non-contentious nature.

-Performance Committee

Concern from B.Johnson that there has not been good representation from the Performance Committee at CA level. Issues with CA/Performance Committee will be discussed at December meeting.

-Levies for 2012 have not yet been paid. Proposal that this years be paid by 31 Dec and then by Oct in future years. Proposed: Phil Knights Seconded: G.Mazzone

-Club involvement. Concerns this year that people ae not coming forward to help when it has been requested. This needs to be a focus as the same people are doing all the work.

-Request that all race reports be sent to John Watterson quickly to enable him to get it in the papers promptly.

1. Date of next monthly CA meeting

Scheduled for the week beginning December 10th 2012.

Head of Performance Report 2012

Objectives

The objectives for 2012 competition off island consisted of a full junior program very similar to previous years, including the National Road Race Series, Tour of Wales and also integrate into the Suir Valley 3 Day.

The senior off island program consisted of three funded events, the Tour of Kerry, Tour of Ulster and Suir Valley 3 Day. Budgets were put in place and all events attended under budget.

The Lighthouse Challenge went into its second year and admittedly the performance group found this, as well as all there other commitments a step to far. Taking this into account the event still ran well albeit in atrocious weather with 170 starters.

Other objectives throughout the year included gaining qualification for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, standards of which were set and agreed last winter and have to be met before April 2014.

Another initiative to derive from the Isle of White Island Games was the lack of Criterium/Kermesse type of racing on the island, this was addressed throughout the year and following a successful Nocturne a full Kermesse series will be on the calendar next season.

Microgaming, our National sponsor agreed a fifth year of support and following discussions a contract was signed, this involved fulfilling a number of commitments which at times, stretched us to the limit but we have had a very fruitful relationship with Microgaming and most importantly we could not have achieved anywhere near the level of development and achievement without them.

Juniors

Our small Junior Team competed well all year, the highlight undoubtedly being Jake Kelly’s 3rd in the National Junior Road Race Championship. This in his 1st junior year bodes well for next year

Seniors

In Kerry the team rode aggressively and gained a couple of top 10 placings on stages, however luck wasn’t on our side and punctures crashes and missed breaks resulting in a lower than expected overall GC placing.

In Ulster things were a little different apart from the weather, great stage placing’s by Elliot Baxter and Darren Bell and a third overall by Darren ably assisted by their team mates against British Pro’s and top Irish competitors. This event along with his MTT and stage placing’s later in the season have given Darren at least 5 Commonwealth Standards this season alone and one standard for Elliot.

Following this event a team attended the toughest and most respected race on the calendar, the An Post Ras; they sourced their own sponsorship and performed admirably, in particularly Christian Varley and Andrew Roche who achieved top 10 placings on stages and a top 20 overall. Unfortunately the raising of funds from alternative sponsors caused abrasion within the sponsorship contract and lessons should be learnt to negate this happening in the future.

The Suir Valley 3 day was attended by both Senior and junior riders and still forms a major part of the development from junior to senior ranks. This event produced some of our best results of the season with Darren Bell narrowly missing out on the overall win slipping to 6th and Chris Whorrell in 5th after a hard fought 3 days and 4 stages.

IOM Youth Development (Rob Holden)

At the close of the 2011 season I contacted BC’s Olympic Talent Coach Tim Buckle to take advice on how best to input youth riders in regard to their training, during the winter as I felt they lacked the understanding of what they could be doing during this time. After an initial meeting with Dot, Tim and me it was concluded that, in addition to the Thursday night RL360 turbo sessions, a separate night of roller training was a priority. This training night was specifically aimed at 13 – 16 year old riders (youth A and 2nd year B riders) with juniors invited too. This was again on the guidance of BC as riders racing in this age category were moving into actually ‘training’ and away from just riding their bikes, as under 12’s should preferably do. We are grateful to have the use of Microgaming’s office which has a space big enough to accommodate the numbers we are getting (between 12 – 18 riders).

The rollers are seen as crucial for this age group as essentially that’s what their racing is; short, fast on restricted gears. This then gave riders a basis of their training week of 1 roller, 1 turbo and 2 club runs per week without too much thought. Not only that it gave this age group a sense of team spirit and I think that has shown in the 2012 season.

So, not only did it provide a training night but also a chance for riders to have a chance to ask questions on a wide variety of subjects to do with training such as nutrition, stretching, race tactics and recently strength and conditioning.

If I’m honest, from what I’ve seen at youth racing level in the UK in the last 18 months and the input they’re getting at club and regional level is way in advance of what we are doing. What the IOM has in its favour is the amount of kids we have racing, particularly between the ages of 6 – 12 years. Obviously the lack of closed road facility (that we have control of!) or track severely hinders us in developing the skills and knowledge of youth riders through all the age ranges. I do think that IOM Cycling could be nurturing more of these kids as we have a wealth of talent and knowledge to do so.

Regionally, BC run regional schools of racing (RSRs) for track, road, mtb and cyclo-x for the region’s most committed riders with really detailed coaching days. This is in effect the first chance a youth rider will have of input from Olympic talent coaches, ‘the bottom of the ladder.’ The IOM has had up to 5 riders on such days (road, mtb & track) in which Dot nominates on behalf of the club. I think it would be fair to say the RSRs have had some influence on Elizabeth Holden getting selection for Talent Team after less than 18 months of deciding to have a go at racing.

Rob also stated that he feels this initiative should be a priority over pursuing facilities for cycling on the island, by all means this should form part of our long term objective put at this present time we don’t appear to have the people and time resources’ to effectively take this forward.

Club Roles

I believe the role of the clubs is to assist and develop their riders both on and off island, so they are ready to step up to the mark of representing the island when selected. We are all aware that funding is extremely tight and is only going to get tighter in the near future. I would take pleasure in assisting clubs to put together an achievable program that would target up to 4 off island trips that could encompass the whole club and create a feel good factor whilst offering their members targets throughout the season.

Isle of Man Sport/Sport Aid

At present the performance group are processing all Sport Aid Grant Applications, these will be submitted in a priority listing according to the criteria laid down. We have witnessed a number of barriers in the interface between Sports Council (IOM Sport) and the CA (IOM Cycling) one of my priorities over the winter months is to smooth this out and form a sound working platform to enable both parties to work in tandem.

Island Games

This year see’s the Island Games in Bermuda; deposits have been paid for an anticipated team size of 16 including officials. The selection process will be put in place over the next two months and will be distributed via club websites and at the pre season riders meeting.

Steve Shimmin

It’s great to see Steve Shimmin taking the plunge and setting himself as an event promoter. This bodes well for future events and events completely new to the calendar. He is taking on the new Kermesse series and the Lighthouse Challenge and to date has 14 events on his itinerary

Dinner

Again the dinner was a huge success and has been booked for next year on the 26th October. (Need to put this in the calendar)

Summary

To close I want to state that i will stand again as Head of Performance and with the new enthusiasm around IOM Cycling and the Performance Group look forward to IOM Cycling moving forward and proving to any potential sponsor that we are the most marketable sporting asset on the island by far. I will however state that following the 2014 Commonwealth Games i will be definitely be standing down, being over 50!!

Thankyou to everyone concerned who has made what at times can be a very arduous task that little bit more pleasurable.