Notes from Annual General Meeting - June 21st 2001
League Officers
Doug Rikly retired as League Treasurer after 19 years in the
post. He was presented with a plaque for his long service to the
League. Richard Inchley from Leighton Buzzard replaces him as
Treasurer.
Sponsorship
The offer of sponsorship was accepted from Apex Sports of Farnham
Common. The League will therefore be called the "Apex Sports
Chiltern Cross Country League". The period of sponsorship
will last for two years after which time it will be reviewed.
Some of the particulars such as what awards will be made are
still being discussed. The main change for clubs will be the
provision of race numbers by the sponsor which gives us the
opportunity to streamline our numbering system and get rid of the
additional letters clubs have had to wear. Numbers would be in
the range 1-999, i.e. no more that three digits for ease of
recording. The likely split of numbers would be something like
Club A 1-30, Club B 31-60, Club C 61-80, Club D 81-100, Club E
101-130 etc., i.e. some blocks of 30 and some of 20 depending on
the size of the club.
League Structure
There were two problems to tackle here:
a) The need of an enhanced female section in view of the demise
of the Southern Women's League which has meant a loss of
competition to our member clubs and caused other clubs to
approach us for membership.
b) The likely poor state of the young athletes competition in
Division 2 where numbers would be reduced by about 50% next
season and probably no clubs would be fielding complete teams,
only odd individuals.
The long term strategy agreed would be along these lines:
Season 2001/2002. Allow applicant clubs with strong
female sections to join Division 1. Amend the under 15 and under
13 girls races to 4 to score. Add an under 20/under 17 ladies
race 3 to score. The first two matches would be mob matches and
Division 2 clubs would have access to all age group races, any
team scoring would be 3 to score. If any Division 2 clubs felt
they were sufficiently strong enough and required full young
athletes competition they could join Division 1. The final three
matches for the divisions would be at separate venues. The young
athletes races would depend on how the first two matches went.
Either they would stay as they were or we could go to the Season
2002/2003 set up (below) immediately if necessary.
Season 2002/2003. There would be three divisions.
Division 1 from the previous season, because of its likely size,
would be split into Divisions 1 and 2 (or 1A and 1B but I will
stick with 1 and 2 for this article). Half the clubs, about 8 or
9, would be in Division 1, the rest in 2. These divisions would
always compete together and the full range of young athletes
competition would be available to all. However, the scoring would
be 4 to score for Division 1, 3 to score for Division 2 except
for the under 20/under 17 ladies race 3 to score. There would be
a full range of awards in these divisions and there would be
promotion/relegation of 2 clubs at the end of the season. The
current Division 2 would become Division 3 and would have senior
mens and ladies races as now. The young athletes section would
probably be replaced by a short distance race for seniors who
wanted a lower key race plus the youngsters. There could be a
range of individual awards for the young athletes. There would be
promotion/relegation between Divisions 2 and 3 but this may have
to dependant on a club's circumstances and requirements for young
athletes competition. Mob matches would still be possible and
likely so that Division 3 clubs could have occasional full young
athletes competition.
Transition. Season 2001/2002 is a transitional season
where we will try out the structures and see how well they work
before going to a more set divisional structure for 2002/2003. It
was felt that this was necessary as the league is in a state of
flux and needed to settle down before fixing a rigid structure.
Clubs currently near the top of Division 2 would need to decide
what they wanted to do for season 2001/2002. Either way they will
have full access to all young athletes races at the first two
matches. After that they can carry on in Division 1 with full
young athletes races or continue in Division 2 with a reduced
lower key competition. They would have to decide before the
season and need to inform the League Secretary by September 1st
if they wish to join Division 1.
The final structure for season 2002/2003 would be decided at next
year's AGM or an earlier EGM if it was felt necessary.
For more info see AGM proposals.
Fixtures
See fixtures and results page.
Any other business
Richard Inchley updated us with the current state of the age
groups controvery for the National. There would be an EGM of the
AAA of England around about the 13th of October with a view to
overturn the decision to amend the age groups for the National.
Richard urged clubs to support the motion.