Hi,It's just the start of February, and we've already enjoyed 3 great Club
events. The roster of events for 2006 now stands at 27. Thank you for
being one of the very special people who give back to the community by
hosting a free Club event!
It's tough being an Event Host. Who
do you go to for help and advice? How can you share your hints, tips,
beefs and other thoughts that only fellow Event Hosts would appreciate?
To address those questions and also to foster communications
between each other, we're introducing this special quarterly Event Host
newsletter. Please be generous with your feedback and feel free
to send me your thoughts and contributions. I will acknowledge them directly and in
the next newsletter. Happy Trails,
Sibylle Tinsel
Chief Executive Fat Ass |
NEWS
New Events. Please join me in welcoming two new Event Hosts to our ranks: Sue MacKinnon is a runner in Whitehorse. For the past few years she has organized the "Mount Lorne Misadventure Run", a 21km trail run. She liked the concept of Club Fat Ass and this year is hosting her event under the Club umbrella. Pete
Stace-Smith does not consider himself an ultra runner - at least that's
what I heard him say. However, he enjoyed his recent bonking experience
at the Vancouver New Year's Day Fat Ass 50 so much, that he plotted to
put on the "Run To The Clouds" a 25km trail run with considerable altitude gain and loss.
Veteran Event Host, Craig Moore, also added to the growing list of CFA events. He will host the Vancouver World Run
on Sunday 26 March 2006 in North Vancouver. He's also bringing Jesper
Olsen, the first documented person to run around the world, back to
North America for a speaking engagement in Vancouver. 'Hope to see you
there!
Membership Fees.
As
announced in the fall, CFA membership fees have gone up for the first
time. Annual membership in Club Fat Ass now is $50, Single-Day
membership is $20 (if purchased online) and $25 (if purchased on the
morning of the event cash/check).
 EVENT ORGANIZATION
Manual.
Our manual is intended to provide you with a template for a safe and
successful CFA event. Your event is supposed to be fun for you, too, and the
idea is that you should be able to run in it! I am currently
updating the manual to reflect our website changes and the things we
learned over the past 3 years. I welcome your comments and will
recognize your contributions in the next edition.
Point Series - Point Allocations.
The Club Fat Ass point series was great fun last year. As Event Host
you are in a good position to collect lots of points for hosting and
for referrals. I keep track of the overall standings, but I am relying on you
to forward the points you rewarded during your event. I recommend you
do this in an extra column on the results sheet. Event points are
allocated as follows: - 1 point for participation
- 1 bonus point for pre-registering online at least 2 days in advance (this to prevent event day hassles for you)
- -1 point if a person registers and is an unexcused no-show (please note, this is at your discretion)
- 1 bonus point for good sportsmanship/picking up trash along the trail
- 1 point for volunteers (you don't need to be a member to collect volunteer points).
- 1 point for each new Club member you refer (names of referring member are collected on the membership registration
form)
Waivers. All
members signed up online have signed a waiver. All event participants
signed up online have signed a waiver and acknowledge this again by
signing in on event day. Anybody signing up last minute in person needs
to sign a waiver. Best to bring a few blank waivers to the start.
Waivers are posted on our website under Host Resources at: http://www.clubfatass.com/host/resources/releaseThe
waiver also helps you to establish if a person is a CFA member, collect
their email address for follow-up and keep track of any membership fees
you collect. More information on how to deal with Last Minute Event
Registrations are posted here. WEBSITEIt's
been exciting to see you use the features of our website to update your
own event pages, post photos, reports and photos. Thanks for your
patience and understanding when things sometimes were not working for
you. I will include a section on website help in the updated manual.
If
you haven't tried it yet, keep in mind that the website is best
navigated in the free Firefox browser and that you need to be signed in
to take advantage of the Event Host privileges.
SPONSORSAs you may already be aware, I was successful in securing a number of sponsors for 2006.
Mountain Equipment Co-op again helped with the Club t-shirts. The 2006 Club colors will arrive in late February.
North Shore Athletics
has come aboard as a Sponsor member. All local (Vancouver area) events will receive 3
draw prizes. I will contact you to arrange pick-up/drop off before your
event. Owner, Keith Nicoll, also offered the use of tables,
shelter/tents and water jugs. If you need them for your event, please
call the store and arrange a pick-up.
I am trying to get more specialty
running stores onboard in other communities. Please let me know if you
have any in mind and I will contact them. Contact Printing sponsored our cool brochures.
They will be included in race packages in British Columbia. If you can
distribute a few of them in your neighborhood gym, running store or at
local races, please let me know so I can get some to you.
Trail Runner Magazine
contributed 2 certificates for annual subscriptions as draw prizes for
every CFA event that was listed by fall 2006. If you are in the
Vancouver area you can arrange pick-up with me, all others will receive
them as a PDF attachment via email.
Mosquito Creek Grill
again offers area events a venue for the post event get-together and a
free beer for all participants and volunteers. Unfortunately, because
of a changed license, minors can no longer be accommodated. Please let
me know if you would like to use the Mosquito Creek Grill in North
Vancouver for your post event party. If you're not from Vancouver, I'd
be happy to help you develop a proposal for your favorite local
watering hole. PROMOTIONS
CFA Brochure. Check out our new brochures. If you would like to distribute a few of them in your neighborhood gym, running store or at local races, please contact me.
Online Calendars.
- I
have submitted all CFA events to a number of local, regional, national
and international event calendars. Please feel free to submit your
event to community listings and other online resources. Let me know
where you list your event.
-
When
listing your event, always use the
http://www.clubfatass.com/event/YourEventName web address. This address
will not change over the years. Some of you have noticed that events
have a listing and different URL in the CFA calendar. This URL changes
every year and is best not used in publications.
Another
hint about submitting your event is to avoid having your email address
posted online, as this attracts Spam. All contact info is on your
website. If a submission form does not allow you to leave the email
field blank, you can trick it by typing "contactinfo@website.com".
CFA does not sell or otherwise distribute our member list. |
