MARATHON RACING CANOE COUNCIL

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

(via teleconference)

April 29, 2000

Present: Steve Vanvlanderen, (Manitoba), Milt Pedwell, (Manitoba), Don Stoneman, (Ontario), Rafe Hooper (New Brunswick), Pierre Beaupre (Quebec), Jean Marien (Nova Scotia), Faye Hallett, British Columbia),

ITEM I: CALL TO ORDER

Meeting was called to order by Don Stoneman 1:10 p.m.

ITEM II: APPROVAL OF 1999 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING MINUTES

MOTION: “To approve the minutes of the previous year’s AGM as presented.”

1) Steve Vanvlanderen 2) Rafe Hooper CARRIED

ITEM III: PROPOSAL TO ACCEPT ALBERTA INTO THE MARATHON RACING CANOE COUNCIL

John Roberts submitted an application on behalf of Alberta to join MRC. Don had received, prior to this meeting, letters of approval from Saskatchewan and from Quebec. Alberta has 10-12 active marathon paddlers based in Calgary.

MOTION: “To accept Alberta as a member of the Marathon Racing Canoe Council.”

1) Rafe Hooper 2) Steve Vlanderen CARRIED

ITEM IV: PRESIDENT’S REPORT

(See attached - was not voted on)

ITEM V: PROVINCIAL ANNUAL REPORTS

(None submitted prior to meeting. All given orally)

a) New Brunswick

- report by Rafe Hooper, provincial race coordinator

- 12 tentative races for 2000. Have a point system for 8 races. Trophy received at the end of season

- 21 members - number is decreasing

- 2 different budgets - one is for money races

- hoping to have Serge Corbin/Peter Head come to put on some clinics

b) Nova Scotia

- report by Jean Marien, President of the provincial organization

- 75 paid members with 300 more paddlers

- increased interest being shown

- a pro-boat was purchased from a grant which has helped promote the sport - point system - 5 racers

- World Marathon Masters in Sept 2000 in Halifax

- going to use a $1500 grant to send some kids to Nationals

c) Quebec

- report by Pierre Beaupre

- probably few from Quebec will go to Worlds in Nova Scotia - La Classique is same weekend

- there are no members in the provincial organization

- there are no association races, as all races in Quebec are independent from CCA - the reason why Quebec is not part of CCA is that Quebec does not want any rules nor pay fees to an umbrella organization.

- The question was asked as why Quebec was partaking in this conference call.

The answer was that Quebec wanted to be supportive of the ICF World Marathon Competition in Halifax. After the Worlds, Quebec will drop out of the Marathon Council/CCA.

d) Ontario

- report by Don Stoneman

- 95 paid members of the Ontario association

- several 100 more on a given day

- total 800 different racers

- 17 races - trying to reach the 100th member level.

e) Manitoba

- report by Steve Vanvlanderen

- 115 members

- 3 clubs in Manitoba

- winter-time pool training for kayak and canoeing

- 11 events - 3 money races this year

- northern region (including The Pas/Thompson) is independent of the southern part of the province.

Six money races in the north - a very independent group.

f) British Columbia

- report by Faye Hallett

- 39 paid members, 3 sanctioned races

- stable-to-growing interest in Prince George which is the hub of marathon racing in BC.

ITEM VI MANITOBA BID FOR 2001 NATIONALS

- report by Milt Pedwell. All members present had the Manitoba proposal.

- The slough is deep, no weeds, good campsite - Selkirk is 25 minutes from Winnipeg.

- if for some reason the water level is too low, an alternate site is available. - some discussion on the August 1st -4th date.

Suggestion that Nationals be held each year about the same time. It was recognized that each host has particular local needs to consider (e.g.. races in northern Manitoba) and that Nationals is not a big enough event to stabilize a date.

- The date will be set in stone and a package on 2001 Nationals (to be available at Saint. Johns) will both be done by end of this July.

ITEM VII: QUESTIONS FOR CLARIFICATION FROM MARK MACDOUGALL

1) MRC Dispute Resolution Mechanism Document

- Mark MacDougall, President of the New Brunswick Marathon Assoc., wishes to know where this document is as it is required for Nationals. - Faye informed Don that she had faxed him a copy of it last November. Don will get this document to Mark.

2) Stock Canoe Specs for Nationals

- presently there are two stock classes, open and mixed open, at Nationals.

New Brunswick wish to offer a women’s class. New Brunswick given permission to do so.

- discussion on the specs for stock boats. A stock boat in the east of Canada is 18’ or less.

Some other places have 17’6”. Each province has its own rules for stock boats.

- New Brunswick to decide by the end of May the spec for stock canoe and to contact MRC executive.

3) Age Categories for Nationals

- Presently the wording for master’s classes is “..over 40 years”, “over 50 years” etc.

- agreed that it should be worded “40 years and over as of January 1”, etc.

- There was recognition that New Brunswick may not have been aware that a motion passed at 1999 AGM now standardizes the age for both male and female.

- clarification is needed as to what date to use (age as of Jan. 1st or race day) for averaging of ages to determine a master’s class.

- another question was should this averaging of ages be applied to Bantam, Juvenile, and Junior? This is a big can of worms and has not been a problem to date.

- Rafe agreed to coordinate a committee (to include mark MacDougall, Faye Hallett, and Jean Marien) to gather information , review, and clarify the issues of Age Categories. Must keep in mind the need to coordinate with ICF Rules. This information is needed by the end of May for 2000 Nationals.

ITEM VIII: FINANCIAL REPORT

a) Financial Statement for 1999/2000

- A detailed/general statement was not available. Don to check into things when in Ottawa.

- Marathon Racing Council had paid off $800.00 of the $1700 ICF debt. MRC received $2100.00 from Sports Canada for the year.

- There was a question as to why MRC is still dealing with the ex-ICF bill. The teleconference of 1999 and this year were to save money (each teleconference saves about $3000.00) and hence there should be no bill left.

- Was the arrangement written down?

- Don will meet with Natalie of CCA after the conference call to discuss the financial affairs.

b) Financial Status of Individual Provinces

- not determined at this meeting.

ITEM IX: CHADWICK GRIEVANCE

- Faye gave a brief outline of the Chadwick Grievance which consists of two issues

- the handling of the original protest initiated by a Saskatchewan boat against the Chadwick boat at Nationals in Craven-Lumsdum last August where the Chadwicks were disqualified and the evidence as viewed in a video of the incident.

- This is apparently the first time in 20 years that MRC will have handled a serious situation.

- All present agreed that the situation must be dealt with promptly. (A letter was sent to MRC last September from the Chadwicks.) It was suggested that an independent person (Don has a lead on a person from the US Canoe Association) review the situation. This person’s recommendations will be binding to MRC and the Chadwicks. All present agreed to this outcome.

ITEM X: ELECTION OF OFFICERS

a) Chairperson

Don Stoneman nominated by Faye Hallett Accepted

Don Stoneman is the Chairperson by acclamation

b) Vice Chairperson

Rafe Hooper nominated Faye Hallett Accepted

Faye Hallett is the Vice Chairperson by acclamation

c) Secretary/Treasurer

Don explained that the secretary/treasurer does not have to be nominated off the board. MRC has two possibilities for this position

- 1) Use the services of the Director General of the CCA but the cost would be substantial to MRC or

2) Sharon Mousseau. She is past commodore of CCA, knows the staff and office in Ottawa, lives nearby, and has e-mail.

MOTION: “That Sharon Mousseau be the new Secretary/Treasurer of MRC.”

1) Steve Vanvlanderen 2) Rafe Hooper CARRIED

Note: Quebec obstained from this vote.

ITEM XI: NEW BUSINESS

- Robert Deschamps to forward all boxed MRC records and information to Don Stoneman.

Robert was on speaker phone with Pierre and agreed to do so in near future.

ITEM XII: ADJOURNMENT

- Meeting adjourned at 3:20 p.m. (Minutes compiled by Faye Hallett)

Chairperson’s Report from the Marathon Racing Council, April 3rd, 2000. This last year has been challenging for the Marathon Racing Council.

At the Annual General Meeting held by telephone conference call last May, two new officials were elected, chairman Robert Deschamp and myself, vice-chairman Don Stoneman. No one was found to be a secretary-treasurer for the group. Monsieur Deschamp became ill during the year and resigned last November. I began acting as the chairman for the Council at that point. Because of a lack of other officers I find it impossible to know what is the financial position of the Council in relation to fees that are owed to the Canadian Canoe Association. As well there is still the matter of an $1,700 debt owed by the Council to the Canadian Canoe Association for a number of years relating to a visit by International Canoe Federation officials to a possible race site for the World Championships.

It was Mr. Deschamp's stated goal to pay off that debt in the past year. This has failed to happen. Last August a successful National championship was held in Lumsden, Saskatchewan, attended by about 86 paddlers from six provinces. The championships were marred by an unfortunate incident on the first day when two canoes collided during the race. A protest that was made by one of the teams has been disputed and at the date of writing remains unresolved. At the MRC meeting at the end of April a location will be chosen for the 2001 Marathon Nationals.

This report may appear to be unduly negative. The fact is that several provincial members of the Council are being asked by their why the Marathon Council belongs to the CCA at all, as fees to the CCA are greater than the sum of apparent benefits.

Holding an annual general meeting via telephone conference call, as conducted last year, may meet the minimum legal standards to continue the organization but it isn't enough to raise spirits among the provincial representatives or to bring them together to generate new ideas so that the organization can go ahead. The Council is looking forward to the 2000 championships which will be held this August in St. John New Brunswick, and also to taking part in early September in the Marathon World championships in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Also on the positive side, a group in Alberta wishes to join the Marathon Council.

Sincerely Yours Don Stoneman

Acting Chairman National Marathon Council