Minutes of February 1, 2005 NVRC Meeting.

The regular meeting of the Nittany Valley Running Club was held on Tuesday, February 1, at the Hi-Way Pizza on Westerly Parkway. We had to string a few tables together to accommodate Jim Taylor, Bob Radzwich, Marty Klanchar, Boyd Brumbaugh, Ken Poli, John Domico, Tom Cali, Kimberlee Nuszkowki, Megan Kiczek, Lisa Plesko, Kim Gasper, and Marty Mazur. The group ordered the pizzas and Sierra Nevada and got to work on a full plate of Club business.

Jim Taylor reported that this year's Indoor Mile series was going well. The third race in the series on February 5 will also feature a 3000 meter run.

Tom Cali had a number of items to report on. First, now that Tom has crossed into AARP territory, he would like to see the Club get involved in supporting the Senior Games. There are plenty of seasoned citizens who are very active in these games. Some of our own membership, including Truman Hershberger, compete very well.

Tom also reported on the recent Arts Festival 10K committee meeting. There will be some changes in the Arts Fest race in the next few years. First, the Race Committee will add something that Tom has been plugging for years: a 5K race. It's hoped that this will increase the overall number of runners. Second, the committee discussed the possibility of moving the race to Saturday evening, around 6:30 and having the starting line downtown near the corner of College and Allen. CPFA Director Phil Walz is open to both ideas, though they probably won't be implemented the first year. The Club will first investigate logistics of the Saturday start and discuss it with the general membership on the Yahoo discussion group. The 10K race will probably continue to use a modification of the new (and popular) West Campus route that uses the IST building. Another suggestion from Phil Walz was that we get more Alumni Association support in the way of sponsorship and/or marketing.

John Domico reported on the NVRC Boston Marathon teams, which will again be running in support of Centre Volunteers in Medicine. The Club is already fielding 18 runners across three teams: a Men's Open, a Wonen's Open, and a Men's Masters. If John can find one more Boston-qualified woman over the age of 40, we can also field a Women's Masters team. Thursday, February 3, will be "media day" at the Multi-Sport Facility. Representatives of various local media will show up at the regular Thurday Track Crew workout to interview members of the NVRC Boston teams.

Lisa Plesko reported on progress of the coming 5K Run For Relief of Tsunami Victims that she and Morgan Windram are directing. The race will be on February 26 on the Penn State Campus. The race has good sponsorship and fits well into a time of year with relatively few racing opportunities. There will also be a raffle of a bike donated by B&E Cycles, and the raffle will be open to all, runners and non-runners alike.

Kim Gasper would like some help starting a youth running program in the Bellefonte area. Kim is the cross-country coach for the Bellefonte High School boys and girls teams. There are few running programs for middle school children in particular in any of the area schools. Some of the schools have track, but none have a Fall distance running program. Kim despairs that few kids have interest in the sport by time they get to high school because they have very little exposure to it. But she nows middle school aged kids love to run! She'd like to put together a race day for pre-High School kids with runs for various age groups. She hopes to have the race day in May.

Finally, there was a brief discussion among the officers of developing a formal means of using or disbursing some of the Club's financial largess. The Club has a not-insubstantial nest egg. The question is how much should we keep as a rainy day fund (X years expenses?) and how much should we spend? And on what? Whatever we spent it on would, of course, be in relation to our charter. Should we have a trust fund set up specifically to support such things as (for example) the Herm Goffberg Fund, local running program startups such as the one Scott Brooker got going in Penns Valley last year and the one Kim Gasper is trying to start in Bellefonte? We will be discussing these questions at coming meetings and will at some point raise them among the general membership.

Next Meeting: April 5.

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