- Corrections to minutes: in general no refunds for amounts under $20; all decisions should be case-by-case.
Approval of past minutes - motion Julia - second Keith - passed unanimously.
- Recent events.
Savanna Portage - the terrain was very good, the event very well attended. The suggestion was
made that teams with the possibility of participation in more than one division declare their division at
the start of the competition. Not many took advantage of camping. There was even international interest
through the presence of team "Lithuania", who came all the way from Chicago.
Lake Elmo Summer Sprint - 14-15 people participated in the sprint event. The park was relatively empty.
The short course was 1.2 km and long 2.1 km, and the results were accepted into the national series. E-punch
worked well with the summer sprint.
Willow River - good map. The contours of 6.1 m threw many a bit off as it is very unusual. There are
other opportunities for future meets, with various other parking lots that could be used for the meet site.
Relays were a bit long considering the heat and humidity, and the fact that this was a fun event. The door
prize and volunteers drawings worked out well. Many stock items from past events (T-shirts, etc.) and goodies
from REI came in handy. The drawings and food fulfilled the purpose of getting people to hang out and socialize,
and get to know one another. Having water close by for swimming was also a plus.
Nerstrand - good turnout, with 50 participants on the advanced courses, about 100 total. A lot of
nice, open running.
Corporate event for 3M at Lake Elmo, organized by Ian.
- Future events.
Murphy-Hanrehan - Keith and Carol Ottoson meet directors.
Manitoba - Club presence through a number of members.
Sand Dunes - Roger is vetting, Steven Regenold setter. Ian is making sure we have enough
poison ivy blocks (Tecnu/Ivy Block).
Hyland - Keith and Carol are setting and vetting. Courses will close earlier because the event
is after returning the clock to standard time. Roads and bike trails will allow for easier retrieval.
- Newsletter - to go out Mid-November.
Ski-O and Snowshoe-O need to be scheduled for the winter. Willow River and Lebanon Hills East
were considered as possible sites. Afton, Lake Maria, and Lake Elmo were all mentioned as alternative options.
- Publicity
A weekday as an advertisement day in the papers may be better due to less clutter in the paper.
The outdoor section is the preferable section for our press releases.
- Budget
Ian presented the summary submitted by Sam. The O-suit sales were budgeted without room for revenue.
- Meet Directors
Hyland - Mike.
2 additional schools are joining in the spring. We should approach JROTC for a bit more meet support.
Etiquette in the woods will have to be addressed. The U of M will get a proposal where they could follow
the JROTC model, get similar benefits and provide similar support to our meets as the JROTC does (block
registrations, support from the instructors, etc.). Another option for the U would be going with their
classes to permanent courses.
- Equipment
A few batteries on the e-punches have failed, and Ian is now able to exchange them very quickly.
We have about 30 e-sticks at a value of $30 each, with rental of $1 per event. JROTC is interested
in getting their own system. For the championship they need to participate on Red.
An upgrade is available for the e-punch stations, where the old ones can be traded in.
Motion: Upgrade our stations and buy more e-punch sticks - motion Keith - second Carol - passed unanimously.
The new system needs only an initial, one-time programming for the e-punch stations. The old stations need
the programming of the control number, wake-up time, etc. at every event. The new stations are much lighter
in weight and the batteries last much longer.
- Other
Number of volunteers at events are still slim and were again discussed, including ways to advertise
for tasks to be done and ways to recruit helpers.
Boy Scouts have consolidated into one council. We would be allowed to use Camp Stearns were we to provide
the Boy Scouts with an updated map and work out a deal on mapping and printing. It is a good place for Night-O,
sprint-O. Keith and Ian will look into initiating the contact. A base map does exist.
A statement needs to be made on the web-site as to the fact that we do not sell our lists to other groups.
We do have some reluctance from people filling in, e.g., their birth date on registrations through the web.
For the spring events it may be useful to have fewer courses, e.g. have white/yellow or a shortened red as
the green. This may help the setters/vetters not to have to put out extreme large numbers of controls.
Events for next spring were discussed. Sand Dunes in spring poses a large poison ivy problem. Battle Creek
or Camp Stearns are good Night-O sites. Camp Stearns offers itself for a 2-day event, possibly with 3-4 events,
like Night-O, sprint, relay and classic.
The Hyland Clinic program was discussed at length, the pros and cons for the members and the club, and potential
members and newcomers. Picking up new members for the season justifies the early date. The format of the class
at REI deserves reviewing. Too much teaching may have been crammed into too little time. The pay structure will
also have to be reviewed, as a function of the agreements with Three Rivers Park.
Easter is late (April 16, 2006) and will affect the scheduling of Hyland.
Midwest Mountaineering has a booth in November.
National O-Day and State Championships were discussed in context with the low numbers of participants
in each category.
- Mapping
Camp Stearns.
Lebanon Hills East (problem: horse trails) and West (problem: bike trails, wouldn’t be available
for a spring event.)
Camp St. Croix - not interesting as a map for our meets; Harding Cartographics may pick up this project.
Camp Iduhapi. Other, larger boy scout camp areas may be of interest for our meets.
The next meeting is tentatively scheduled for November 16, 2005 at Julia's house.
The meeting adjourned at 10:05 P.M.
Respectfully submitted,
Andrea Schneider
September, 2005
