More details to follow later, but just to update you on some details from the AGM, there were a few changes.
Senan Burke has stepped down as President, but remains on the general Committee.
Paul O’Donoghue has stepped down from the Committee after many years, but continues as Irish representative to ACP. Stuart McLean also stepped down from the Committee.
Dave Bayley takes over as President from Senan, leaving a vacancy at Chairperson, which has been filled by Helen Kerrane.
Niall Diamond remains as Secretary, and Andreas Voigt remains as Treasurer.
Aidan Creaner and Paul Willock were elected to join the Committee.
So the incoming Committee is made up as follows:
President: Dave Bayley
Chairperson: Helen Kerrane
Treasurer: Andreas Voigt
Secretary: Niall Diamond
General Committee: Senan Burke, Conor Daly, Bernard Flynn, Aidan Creaner and Paul Willock.
The AGM commenced with a minute silence in memory of Stephen Sweeney who sadly passed away during the Coast to Coast 600 in June.
Niall presented the Secretarys report of the activity during the year, and Andreas presented the Club Accounts.
The elections for Officers and Committee were held as outlined above.
There were a few items which came up for discussion under AOB:
Paul Newman suggested a central person to post out Medals after events.
Doug Corrie asked if organisers could vary routes to keep things interesting, and Doug was invited to propose a new Permanent route, which could potentially become a new Calendar event for 2021. There was some discussion regarding the busy calendar, and the fact that on several weekends there were already clashes of events.
Danny Moriarty asked about fees from PayPal and Eventmaster ? In general they are much the same, as we are supposed to pay charges to PayPal, the “friends and family” option is not applicable to what we do. Eventmaster is easier for committee and organisers, although events are time consuming to set up.
Helen Kerrane gave some details of her ongoing work in conjunction with Eddie Dillon to come up with an Irish Super Randonnee 600 route (600km with minimum 10,000m of ascent). It is getting there, but it is difficult to comply with all the route requirements. Helen is hopeful a suitable route will be finalised, and approved by ACP by Spring 2020.
The Maritime Museum in Dun Laoghaire has been selected as the Finish of the Easter Fleche and the Start will be 10am on Good Friday 10th April. Start planning those teams and routes now !
Seamus O’Dowd proposed a new challenge of a series of 5 x MTB 200km rides, to comprise at least 2 Calendar rides, and the rest Calendar or Permanents.
The Committee will take all the above proposals under consideration, and more info will follow soon, where applicable.
The big event next year will be the second running of the WAWA (Wild Atlantic Way Audax), and we hope that if you are not riding, you will try to make yourself available to help with the running of the event in some way, as it is a big undertaking, and will require a lot of manpower over an extended timespan.
On behalf of the incoming Committee I would like to thank all those who have stepped down, those who are continuing, and all event organisers for their help in assisting to run a very busy programme of Audax events, and best of luck to all riders for a safe and enjoyable season in 2020.
Following conclusion of the AGM, the evening continued with an enjoyable post PBP get-together and slideshow which included the presentation of Super Randonneur Medals, some Celtic Knot 1000k Medals, William Dickey for Irelands first International Super Randonneur Award, Helen Kerrane for our first (and only) Super Randonnee 600 Award, and volunteer awards for Clare Irwin, Sharon Flynn and Philip O’Leary who all went above and beyond the call of duty in assisting at our events during the recent past.
Thanks to all those who attended, and see you all on the road in 2020 !