Aug Letter from the CRC President

 
Over the years, the Charlotte running scene has changed in some ways but in others ways the view has remained pretty much the same. When I look across the running landscape now, I see lots of smaller running groups and a couple of large groups/clubs. One of these groups/clubs is our very own “Charlotte Running Club”.

Turning back the clock 20 years, and I remember there stilling being two major running groups/clubs in Charlotte. One in particular was the “Charlotte Road Runners Club”.
My reason for talking about these guys stems from the fact that they have decided to close their club doors.

In 1988, Steve Staley formed the “Charlotte Road Runners Club”. To my knowledge, Steve has been the President and the driving force behind this club the entire time. 

I have joined Charlotte Road Runners Club somewhere around ’92 or ’93 when I met Steve, Bobby Aswell, and Ken Wong. These guys were like the three amigos. They seem to race often and everywhere. We quickly became friends, and I went to many of the club socials and group runs organized by Steve.

In CRRC's hay day, I am guessing they had well over 300 members. Maybe they had more. Steve would know for sure. But like anything in life people move on, and over the years, the club has grown smaller currently at 52 members.

Over the last couple of months, Steve has talked often about shutting their club doors and just recently he started taking the necessary steps to move forward with this effort.

At the end of December, the Charlotte Road Runners Club will cease to exist. For me personally, this will be a sad day. I have many fawn memories of being a part of this club and running and racing with these guys.

After Steve told me about his plans, I wondered what these runners would do without a club home.
I cannot envision not having a place to hang my running club hat. To this end, I reached out to Steve and extended an invitation to him and the rest of the members to join our Charlotte Running Club.
Having them join our club is a win-win situation for all of us. Our club continues to find its footing but has enormous drive and potential. When blended with their experience, our future can only continue in one direction – upward.

Please join me in welcoming these former Charlotte Road Running Club members in to our club.  
 

 

Upcoming CRC Activities and Events:

Here is what’s on tap for the coming months:

·         10/4/14 CRC Uptown Throwdown 12hr Run Oct

·         10/29 & 30/14 CRC/Run Safer Clinic Charlotte Running Company Locations & Times TBD

·         11/15/14 CRC Cheer zone 10 point of the Thunder Road course

·         12/6/14 CRC Annual Board Meeting 1-4 Location: TBDs

·         12/7/14 Holiday Lights Run - Freedom Park 5:30 PM

·         12/13/14 CRC’s Guinness World Record attempt for most number of runners tethered together while completing a 5k (Huntersville Half & 5k 8:00 AM start)

 

CRC Guinness WR Tether Team

Our Guinness WR attempt is coming right along. Our application for this attempt has been submitted to Guinness. I have been working with them on the approval of our tether team layout. There are a number of guidelines that need to be approved by them before we can make our attempt.  

Additionally, a budget has been created but hasn’t been submitted to the board as yet. There are a number of materials needed to connect the runners together. The budget reflects those materials but I cannot finalize it until Guinness has approved our layout. For my part, I try to respond quickly to their request and questions. But as you can imagine, their response isn’t quick.

There continues to be plenty room on our team so if you are interested, please email run.charlotte@gmail.com. My goal is to have 200 runners, but if we have more, we definitely will not turn anyone away.

Nonprofit Status:

Good news. The IRS has responded to our nonprofit application. Their response contained four items for us to address. In three of these items, they have asked us to modify our club’s purpose statement to better fall in line with the IRS tax codes. The forth item pertains to how our foundation is classified under the IRS tax codes. The letter also stated that we need to respond by September 18^th or our application will be suspended.

During our Aug meeting, our board members approved these changes to our club’s bylaws and our response has been returned to the IRS.  

 Uptown Throwdown:

More good news, our 12 run and relay will pretty much use the same course as last year but the starting and finishing location will be at the opposite end this year. We will be running from Shelter #6 in Freedom Park down to the Metropolitan and back.

Rob is on track to get more info out in the coming weeks so stay tuned to our Facebook page.

Winter Classic 8k Status:

As many of you know, there is major construction coming to the McAlpine Greenway. Shortly after Foot Locker races are completed, the park will close to all events. What does this mean? Well, we have been looking for a new home for our Winter Classic 8k. We have explored numerous locations around Charlotte. The short story is that we have not been able to found a suitable location which would allow us to continue the Winter Classic 8k in the same fashion as previous years. With this said, we have decided to postpone our club’s Winter Classic 8k race for ’15.

Once McAlpine reopens, we will plan to return with the Winter Classic 8k. This will most likely happen in ’16.

I know everyone is disappointed. I am disappointed as well. Hopefully, our disappointment will last only one year.

Mileage Program:

Audrey has tabulated the July results for our club and posted it to our CRC website.

You can still join our mileage program by replying to Audrey’s monthly email. For those that might have this email address, please use run.charlotte.miles@gmail.com

Member Status:

Our club membership total now stands at 338 members. Remember, you are our brand so help us promote our club. I would love to have 400 members by December of this year.

Board Meeting Update:

Our Aug Board meeting covered the following topics:

·         July Meeting Minutes approval

·         Treasury Report

·         Winter Classic 8k postponement – voted to postpone the event until ‘16

·         CRC Introductory Letter – draft copy to be updated and reviewed by board members

·         IRS Nonprofit Letter – required updates to our club bylaws and foundation classification. Letter is being signed and returned before 9/18/14

·         Board approved allowing Allen to use the club’s clock

·         Board approved dropping Survey Monkey in favor of using Google Survey functionality for the fall club’s elections.

Other statuses given:

·         Discussion of adding a social to the fall schedule

·         Guinness WR attempt status

·         Uptown Throwdown status

·         RRCA dues for ’14

 

 

Wrapping Up:

I have to say that this summer we have seen some of strangest weather in recent memory. Either the skies have been cloudy with rain falling or the days been summer hot and humid. Honestly, I am pretty good with it either way. I like it warm. There is nothing like a warm summer shower during a run.

Now, with September I don’t expect too much rain but I do expect cooler temperatures which mean good running and racing weather.

There is a ton of events coming this fall in the Charlotte so get out and take advantage of them.   

I welcome any and all feedback from our members. To contact me, please use the following email address: run.charlotte@gmail.com. Our board members monitor this email inbox and usually respond to emails within 24 hours.

 

Best in Running,

Bill Shires

CRC President

run.charlotte@gmail.com