April 14, 2005

Attendees: Steve Mentzer, Patty Brunner, Jim Ritchie, Dave Syiek, Doug Moore, Kevin Smith

Meeting started around 6:30 PM

Kevin Smith of Elite Runners & Walkers attended via telephone from his store.

We discussed the event fee and reviewed what it would include. We decided:

  • No prerace dinner (at least this year)
  • Medals for all finishers
  • Trophy for Men, Woman, and Overall finisher (first, second, and third)
  • Trophy for Masters (40+) Men, Women, and Overall (first only)
  • Trophy for relay teams Men, Women, Coed, and Corporate (first only)
  • Medals for relay team members (first only)
  • Long sleeve "technical fiber" shirt (e.g. polyester) for all individual participants
  • Short sleeve t-shirt for all relay team participants
  • After-race food should all be donated
  • No cash prizes

We will charge $65 for individuals, $150 for mens/womens/coed relay teams, and $300 for corporate relay teams.

Kevin says that medal prices range from $3.10 for smaller medals in large quantities (900) to as much as $4.50 for big medals in smaller quantities (150). This includes design work.

We also talked about Grand Master (50+) trophies. There are quite a few ultra runners in this category in Pgh.

Kevin says the technical fiber shirts might run $10 each

Kevin said he can probably get the Xinglet safety vests donated, as well as the energy drink Ultima. He suggested Ashworth as a good source for medals and trophies.

We discussed goodie bag contents - what items we could buy and have sponsors pay for - water bottle with grip, fanny pack, food, drink, medical, lotions ... etc.

Possible sponsors: Cabelas, Gander Mountain, National City, UPMC. Also consider soliciting a chiropractor to give post-race treatments.

We discussed relay member shuttling. Having each team responsible for meeting each member at the transition point could create a lot of congestion. A designated shuttle bus would be complicated logistically. The first transition point is in Cook Forest, with a large parking area. The second is along a 1/2 mile stretch of road, the third is along a 1/4 mile stretch of lightly used road, and the fourth is along a 1/4 mile stretch of road along the Redbank Creek. [My opinion is unless we have over 100 relay teams that we have the teams responsible for shuttling. There should be enough road for cars to safely park along.] Dave Syiek added: I think we actually decided that teams are responsible for their own chase vehicles. One thing I forgot to mention is that at Tussey Mtn they asked that you register your chase vehicle with them and only registered vehicles were allowed on the course. This to minimize congestion and deal with state land use issues.

We need different bib colors for individual vs. relay participants. At an earlier meeting Lou suggested these could be donated.

We discussed whether to delay the relay starters from the individuals but no decision was made. [My opinion is we don't bother. It would complicate the logistics and not add much.] Dave Syiek: Maybe we can defer this decision until we see how many people we are going to have. Its hard to let 200 runners start down a narrow trail all at the same time. But we might get away with 100 or less.

To do:

Steve: Work up brochure copy (mention different course each year, old growth forest, Indian trails). Also contact shuttle bus company for morning trailhead and afternoon dropout shuttle. Work up sponsor letter draft.

Kevin: Talk to Mark Courtney about listing the event on his site. Check with Laurel Ultra about EMT services.

Dave: Contact West Penn track club.

Promote at Venture Outdoors, Post-Gazette, Valley News Dispatch, Tribune-Review. Dave Syiek: There was a guy at Valley News Dispatch named Rex that I've corresponded with in the past (he does sports commentary). I could send our information on to him once we've got it all organized.

Next meeting date is Monday May 2 at 6 PM.

Meeting adjourned around 8:45 PM.