The February meeting was postponed to March 31, due to difficulties in raising the required quorum of committee members.
Minutes of the Meeting Held at the Institute Francais d' Ecosse, Edinburgh on Saturday 31st March 2001
Meeting commenced at 10:40am
Apologies were received from Pam Pilbeam, Rocco Richardson, Len de Vos, David Lewis, Simon Ward, Bry Ferguson.
Matters Arising: AUK not yet registered under Data Protection Act as the relevant parts of the website are not at present functioning. Will do so as soon as necessary.
Action FC
BM now has a stock of 500 medals.
PP is distributing AUK pens to organisers.
OS not yet approached for EL maps.
Action PP
Medals: BM has received 100 & 200 medals in black/white. They should be colours as agreed. Contact supplier and arrange return and replacement with the correct versions.
Action DKB, BM
300 medals correct.
Correspondence
CT&C magazine editor has asked for contributions of road routes for article. 5 routes around the country. Agreed to collate audax routes and offer as weekend rides, with the possibility of offering them as Touristique events in due course. AUK to retain control of distribution.
Actions SS, DP, IH.
Shropshire Horse group asked that cyclists slow when passing horses. Mention in Arrivee
Action PC
Officers' Reports
RS said that renewals were going well. New members down 16% on last year (3 months figure - 200 down from 240). Membership drive at York Rally suggested.
Action SS, RS
Membership renewal problem resulted in an unknown number of members not having their renewals processed properly. RS is investigating.
Action RS DKB
New frame stickers in stock. Agreed to distribute 2 per member with Arrivee. Note of this in magazine.
Action RS, TW
Members asked to give consideration to design of a new leaflet.
Action All.
DP said permanents were going well. There would be new permanent events in the next Arrivee to provide rides where there are FMD related cancellations.
Action DP
BM noted that whilst in Spain he had accumulated a large mobile phone bill because of diverted calls about EL. 1 set of cards appears to be lost in the post. 1st ever such loss. Produce certificates to replace lost cards.
Action FC
FC. Less spending this year on computer hardware. Website not fully functional due to ongoing problems with providers. RS has acquired 3 laser printers. These will be distributed to those who need them.
Action FC RS
PC. Estimated 15 - 20 event cancellations; 8 - 10 postponements. (FC reckoned 31 total).
DATC has sent a questionnaire to organisers, and offers a refund to early events not properly advertised.
BSCA has requested a link to AUK's website.
Action FC
It was pointed out that the 'licenced riders' category for entries to the Semaine Federale (and presumably other French events), includes CTC membership (enter membership number where licence number is requested).
There will be a Birthday Rides event at Gt Malvern, 3 - 6 August this year.
Email Meetings. Pro-forma layout to be devised. Formal system of notice in advance of meeting. Time-scales for procedures to be generous enough to allow those who wish to to participate. Eg. 2 weeks advance notice; 1 week to respond to proposal; 1 week to register vote.
Action SW FC IH
NS asked for assistance in creating more manageable attachments for email transmission.
Action FC
Edinburgh-London.
Thanks to BM's daughter Lindsay for her efforts while he was on holiday.
Entries so far: Thorne 115; Harlow 136; 800km 16.
Austrian audax have asked for places to be held open as they are requiring their members to complete an SR series before entering EL. This is likely to be difficult as places are limited. Respond to them asap.
Action BM
Agreed to allow 165 total at Harlow and 150 at Thorne. These figures may be subject to revision.
Controls. Longstowe now manned (Hermann Ramsey);
Barton will be open - rooms booked. Cafe (6am - 10pm) and 24hr
garage for catering.
Thurlby. New warden okay.
Lincoln. Manned by Roger Howlett
Langden Beck. To be arranged.
Sponsors. Orbit Cycles placing stand and repair shop at Thorne. Dave Yates, bottles. High% to chase.
Action IH
Routesheet. Excel file. DP and DKB to add their parts.
Action SS DP DKB.
Agreed to publish Sonya Watt's phone number for helpers.
Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD)
Advice sent to organisers with events to mid-May. PC offering advice as necessary.
After discussion, agreed to revamp advice stressing that events should go ahead unless exceptional local circumstances dictate otherwise. New mailshot to organisers.
Action RS PC IH
Website
After discussion, it was agreed that AUK should provide an interactive and mainly free-access website. FC mentioned that the number of people visiting AUK's website prior to the current problems was far in excess of the numbers for comparable sites, eg the CTC's. He further suggested that component pages could be updated by other committee members as appropriate. He estimated less than 1500, probably nearer 500 to reconstruct and place the site. He and SW were investigating the possibilities of using commercial providers or installing a private server. FC will update the committee on costs etc.
Action SW FC
Medals
Increase to selling price of date-bars necessary as cost from supplier is 1.43. Will in future be 1.50 each. This to be advertised in Arrivee. No change to medal price.
Action SS PP PC
Pens now available and being distributed by PP. DP requested 100 End-to-End medals.
AOB
Rob Hiddersley has proposed a Mileater style 100,000km award. Agreed to go forward with this.
Action NS
York Rally
9 or 12 pitches used as AUK site for Controle and Finish. Keep stand low-key. Large tents required.
Action all
Entry forms were altered to reflect that the BCF no longer offers 3rd party insurance with their bronze membership. Entrants are now asked to sign specifically to say that they have valid 3rd party insurance.
NS will ask ACP if AUK BR events could count as qualifiers for next Paris-Brest-Paris. We would be prepared to offer a qualifying fee for each qualifier.
Ron Kitching Museum
DKB will remove, renovate and replace the AUK display. Colours at present not in keeping.
NS said that the meeting had been conducted in an efficient and witty manner.
Meeting closed at 3.30pm.
Next meeting 22nd June at York. Newington Hotel to be booked.
Action DKB
Minutes of the Meeting Held at the Newington Hotel, York on Friday 22nd June 2001
Meeting commenced at 11:10am
Apologies were received from Dave Lewis, Len de Vos, Sheila Simpson, Francis Cooke, Noel Simpson.
meeting of the previous meeting were agreed to be correct
Matters Arising: OS maps for EL route not yet organised as the route had not been finalized. Contact OS regarding strip maps. BM will give complete EL route to PP.
Action PP BM
Medals
50; 100; 150km medals are black & white. One complaint has been
received that they are 'last year's'. No coloured (ie this year)
medals of these distances ordered yet. 200 medals are correct. Wrong
colour was AUK's mistake on a top-up order last year.
Membership.
Leaflet printed offering a 9.00 joining fee at York Rally and for 2
weeks after.
New leaflets required. 2 kinds - 1) 2 side form. 2) 6 side form with blurb, similar to current one. Reprint current form with new photographs, and deleting 'next PBP...'
Action PP
Brevet cards lost in post Certificates printed and sent. Suggested that all critical post should use Proof of Posting form.
Action All
Email
Discussion about use of email. In particular, avoid using the
official 'Halibut' address for casual messages, and send emails
generally only to those to whom they are of interest.
EL
Austrian late entries will be accepted at Harlow
Orbit will not be putting a stand at Thorne. Martin Maltby will supply spares for sale or return.
York Rally
Agreed to put a stand in the club tent. One con
Discussion of CTC-AUK relations and specifically events at York.
OFFICERS' REPORTS
DP. New permanent rides being offered. These have offered alternatives to Events cancelled in the early part of the year.
DKB. AUK finances in good shape.
PP. Very slow start to the year in terms of brevet card production. She will be out of action for a period because of hospital treatment.
PC. One further FMD related cancellation. M Stapleton, organiser of the National 400 apologised for lack of mention of AUK in publicity for the event.
RS. New members still low. 20% down on same period last year. Leaflets should be ready for Autumn being the next busy time for new members. Peter South will resign from delegate position next year. Advert for new delegate(s). 3 would be ideal. Will investigate feasibility of membership cards.
Action RS
IH. AUK has received a complimentary copy of S Doughty's Book. AUK details have been supplied to Hollis Directory of clubs and associations.
BM. Validations down for the period, but now increasing. BP events not as much affected.
EL
We have to supply each EL finisher with RM medals or pins. Agreed to
suppy pins as cheaper and better design. Letter to NS - in the light
of recent committee concern we would like RM/ACP business more
formally dealt with; does he require or wish temporary or permanent
assistance.
Action IH
Agreed to offer AUK medals at the finish.
All controls booked and I/Cs in place. Rooms still to be booked at Lincoln. Some deposits still to pay. Floats to be distributed to I/Cs. Registrations from 13:00 Friday at Harlow and Thorne.
Harlow: free accom for foreign riders. No UK accom before the start. RR indicated that he would be unwilling to run a control at Harlow premises again. He said that earlier planning and more help needed for future events.
Dave Yates will sponsor part cost of bidons. All-Sports will supply bidon and energy powder to each rider, and offer sale-or-return energy bars. Publicity for these in Arrivee and possibly elsewhere.
Action IH
Free goods in plastic bags to distribute to riders at start(bidons, powder, T-shirt, brochures). Badge at finish. Use standard brevet cards + insert.
Action PP PC
Frame numbers to be ordered plus ties for these.
Action PP SW
Motorbikes will be organised by Timm Frenzell
All I/Cs to have mobile phones. 24hr number for riders to use. DP to coordinate.
Action DP
Noted that motorbikes also need phones.
Discussion about communications. . Control centre Thorne. Brevet card numbers held at Thorne.
Possibility of roadworks at Peterborough.
All I/Cs to submit reports to form basis for handbook for next time
ISR award administration held over to next meeting.
ACP's demand for regionalization. AUK has no control over formation of clubs, and therefore no reliable data on which to base regionalization. Letter to ACP to this effect.
Action IH
Aftermath of Foot and Mouth disease. AUK should react earlier in the form of reassurance or advice in futures crises affecting cycling.
AGM 2001
Notice in Arrivee. Invitation for nominations and proposals. Check completeness of officers' job descriptions.
Action IH
Check that TW has sent form to Llandrindod Wells for approval.
MEDALS and MERCHANDISE
Order coloured ones for BPs. Also badges and EL medals. Sweatshirts with AUK Auk logo. 150 ordered.
Action PP, DKB,
TOURISTIQUE events. to be offered if practical
Action DP PP IH
Proposal for new Vice President to be made by BF. Seconded by PP
Agreed to run Dinner Darts as AUK events, Because they are national and not tied to any region.
Extend AUK insurance to cover Irish Republic subject to practicality.
Action DKB
All committee members reminded to obtain proposers and seconders for re-election.
New Patron proposed. DKB to investigate.
Action DKB
Next meeting Saturday Sept 29th Provionally Peaks area. [NOTE this may now be changed to Thursday 27th]
Meeting closed at 17:30.
Minutes of the Meeting Held at the Portland Hotel, Buxton on Thursday 27th September 2001.
Meeting commenced at 11:20am
Apologies were received from Dave Lewis, Len de Vos, Pam Pilbeam. All others present, including BF.
meeting of the previous meeting were agreed to be correct, except that SS is seconder for P Hansen proposed as VP
Matters Arising:
Enamelling of medals is not as FC envisaged. Enamelled areas, as well as colours, should have been differentiated according to original designs. The medals as produced were agreed to be acceptable. BM is using remaining stocks of B&W BP medals. Stock will run out this year.
PP is producing the new leaflets
Brief discussion on York Rally. It was agreed that the organisation was satisfactory this year.
Discussion about membership cards. Several members requesting them. Agreed in principle to produce these.
Action IH; RS
Special cards to be produced for Touristique events.
Action PP; SS; PC
It was noted that Dave Yates (M Steel Cycles) was the only sponsor of EL to provide cash rather than goods.
Irish events will be covered by AUK insurance. The arrangement with them is to be reviewed for next year, to see if they are in a position to run their own affairs. NS will explain situation to ACP and ask for a swift response.
Action DKB; NS
CORRESPONDENCE
A Euroaudax event from Strasbourg to Paris takes place starting 3rd Oct. 4 AUK members taking part.
A new multi-lingual dictionary of cycling terms available through the FFCT
A quote for administering a postal voting system has been received from the Electoral Reform Society. FC will propose a constitutional reform (requires a 2 thirds majority) to allow postal voting at special general meetings.
Some complaints had be made by members about tan article in Cycling Plus critical of The running of EL. IH to write to the editor.
Action IH
Cliff Shakespeare is selling photographs of AUK events and asks permission to mark them 'Audax UK'. There were no objections to him doing this.
Frank Mumford wishes to offer a prize of £100 to the AUK member who is a novice time-trialist and gains the highest mileage in the Mersey Roads 24. No objection to this scheme.
Decide to Respond to Dan Joyce at CT&C magazine, saying that there had been a good response to the 'Great British Rides' article.
Action IH
Email from Finnish rider who retired from EL after an accident. We lost his luggage valued at £70. Agreed to reimburse him.
Action DKB; RR
BM personally delivered other mislaid luggage to Italian address.
OFFICERS' REPORTS
BM BPs validations equivalent in numbers to last year. Events of 200k and above are down on last year.
BF (on behalf of PP) No problems with card production. PP recovering well from eye operation.
DKB Finances show a drop in income. Events showing a loss for
this year. Smaller membership surplus. Overall surplus will be
small this year.
EL is likely to break even. Because of the problems encountered
at Harlow a reduced payment is being offered. Refunds will be
made to some non-starters who had accidents prior to the event.
There was discussion of refund policy. It was re-affirmed that
the usual policy was that entry fees were not refundable.
DKB will recommend at the agm that the be no change to membership
fees etc, but may suggest an increase in Honoraria for committee
members.
SS Selling photographs of EL via AUK is proving difficult. Next time the photographer should deal with sales directly. End of year reports from committee members asap. Last date for publication: 6th Oct. All members should inform Fc and SS of changes to the handbook entries asap.
BF will print all copy required for agm.
PC CTC Cycling Development committee wishes to run the 'Ron Kitching' and 'Phil and Friends' events under AUK regs next year, allowing non-audax participants. Similarly with the National 400. Also they wish to run a national 200, and a national 100 next year.
RS Slightly fewer new members this year. Membership approximately 25 less. 6 members offered their services as delegates. 2 taken on : Nik Windle, Findlay Watt (in addition to Julian Beach). Thanks to the others.
DP Fewer permanents ridden this year. Estimated 500 by end of season. 1 Trafalgar-Trafalgar, and 4 Calais-Brindisis validated.
EDINBURGH-LONDON
Paperwork and tidying up still in progress. All rides have been validated. BM decided not to send a list of times to riders. BM wishes to send a letter to LRM objecting to the requirement to purchase LRM medals. Real Prefontaine has asked for the nationality of each rider.
NS said that the minutes of the LRM meeting which decided on the requirement to purchase medals was not published at the time. There is an apparent misunderstanding in that LRM appears to assume AUK has not ordered pins, although these have been ordered. DKB will send money to LRM for validations and pins.
Action DKB
NS mentioned ongoing construction of LRM constitution, and that he had urged Real Prefontaine to make decisions as president and not allow Robert Lepertel to continue to dictate from retirement.
BM said he wishes to run EL next time.
Discussion - new and larger controls needed next time. Investigate the new YH at Lee Valley for the southern control. Basic route does not need altering. The provision of accommodation prior to the event was questioned - it was noted that ACP do not do this before Paris-Brest. Question as to whether the event should be financially self-sufficient. Question whether the 800 should be part of EL or possibly run a year earlier.
Agreed to form a sub-committee for EL 2005 - BM; RR; DP; SS
Noted that R Lepertel thought the route good. Comments from the riders were all favourable. Mention this to R Prefontaine
Action BM; NS
AGM 2001
The Metropole is handling all bookings.
Friday morning rides will start at 9:30 - 10:00. There will be a
Saturday morning ride. Contact the Cycling Museum to ensure they
will be open. Sunday rides to bre organised.
Note that it will be the 25th Anniversary of the founding of AUK
LES RANDONNEURS MONDIAUX & AUDAX CLUB PARISIENNE
The first draft of the new LRM constitution is ready for distribution. AUK will object to the requirement for the purchase of LRM medals. AUK will ask for a change to reg 3.2 to reflect the existence and nature of national clubs.
Action NS; SS
The LRM/ACP request for regionalization of AUK was rejected. AUK are happy to opt out of international competition. Members will be advised that points will only be awarded to DAs and local clubs. Those without other affiliations will not gain international points.
Resolved that NS should communicate with Yannis Varouchas and R Prefontaine, as the relevant elected officials, rather than R Lepertel, wherever possible.
MEDALS AND MERCHANDISE
Tracksuit badges 2001 will be for sale.
New ultra-mileater medals/badges - committee felt they should be in miles rather than kilometres and should start at 50,000km or imperial equivalent. Total mileages should be realistic to allow for reasonable take-up. Review design and colours.
Action NS
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
CTC Cyclists' Defence Fund
Agreed to make a donation of £500 to this fund for fighting
actions on cyclists' behalf. Ensure correct payee account name
for cheque. 5 for. 0 against.
PC asked whether he should agree to a request to run a 20km event. Committee felt this was not AUK's remit.
PP will run a Southern Reunion on the south coast next year.
Check venue for AGM 2002 - Possibly Scarborough.
Action PP
Awards bestowed by the committee were discussed and agreed.
NEXT MEETING 2nd March 2002 at the Southern Reunion.
Meeting closed at 5:00pm
IH