RDU-TBARC MEMBERSHIP NEWS

In an effort to consolidate some of our threads and allow for better tracking of club business. We are creating some master threads. When you chose to post race results, training outings/trips....equipment questions etc please post under the main topic area. If we don't have one to match, feel free to simply post up and a new thread can still be created. This will take sometime and effort to move things around so please be patient.

From Don Childrey:

Announcing our new mailing list! It's a great new way to talk in between Meetups right from our email. This means we can discuss where to meet, what to talk about and who's bringing what without having to keep checking the Meetup.com website.

To get started, please sign up for the mailing list! You have to sign up on the site: http://www.meetup.com....

Some quick notes on our mailing list:
* Our email address is: adventureracing-17@meetup.com
* When you send or reply to a message, your email address will be displayed
* When you reply to a message, it will go to the *whole* mailing list (not just the person who sent it)
* All mailing list messages will also be archived on our website

If you have any questions, let me know!

From Don Childrey: DONATIONS TO KEEP OUR WEBSITE RUNNING.


The TBARC-RDU Meetup group has been around for three months now. In that time we've grown from zero to 60 members. We've scheduled 25 meetups and met lots of new friends. In my opinion, this "experiment" has shown me that there is genuine interest in adventure racing in the Triangle and beyond. Many of you are eager to learn and do more, and this group's organizers are figuring out exactly what activities you're looking for.

As the primary organizer, I would like for membership in this group to be free. But to help us cover the costs of the website and the helpful features that Meetup provides, I would like to offer you the chance to make a small donation.

If you feel that membership in this group is helpful in some way and that you're getting something out of the information we post and the activities we're planning, please consider making a small donation to help cover the website costs. We recommend a donation of at least $1. You can donate through Paypal (please add $0.33 to cover Paypall fees). Or you can hand $1 to Don or Patrick in person at a group event.

If most members donate $1, we'll only need to ask for help once every 4-5 months. If you feel that membership is worth more than $1, we would appreciate any amount you are willing to donate. Monthly costs for the Meetup site are $15, so if everyone chips in, we'll cover the costs and you'll have plenty of money left for new gear and race registrations!!

FROM PATRICK D.: TIME TO JOIN THE TBARC-RDU

As we look toward the 2008 AR season I would like to invite you all to become members of the Trailblazers Adventure Racing Club. There are many benefits to becoming a member of TBARC:




Discounts off of race entry fees for several races (typically 10% or higher)

Free practice events in the Raleigh Durham area

Nice membership swag - Coolmax hat with logo and UTM tool

Discounts on gear at several retailers (Working on including the local REI stores!)

Liability coverage for working/organizing/leading/volunteering a club event

Pride from knowing you're supporting the sport of Adventure Racing!



Additionally, this year the Impossible Panther and Gold Nugget races will be part of the Trailblazers Race Series with individual race prizes and overall series prizes! Details coming soon on http://www.trailblaze....

The annual membership cost is typically $35, but we can offer it at a discounted $25 if paid at a sponsored event or training activity. These funds will help support the local RDU chapter host practice events and put on real races. The TB-RDU chapter plans to host 4 to 6 local practice events in 2008. These events will be free (or have a minimal cost) to TBARC members, however only TBARC members will be allowed to participate. Any fee's for these events would be a small $5 to $10 charge to cover maps or other expenses.

We plan to host a couple of simple training activities in the next few weeks that will allow you to join at the $25 rate. Please ask about me or Don C. about joining at any of our events posted on the Meetup site.

Thank you for your support. Here's to great racing and training in 2008!

See you on the trails,
Patrick D.

FROM GREG C.

Patrick,

Are you and Don going to be handling the Raleigh-Durham Chapter from now on? If so, I just want to thank you guys for getting things organized and getting the ball rolling...can we only join at one of the events, or will there be a way to download paperwork, PayPal you guys, etc...? I trust you with my money. Also...any idea of how organized the local chapter will end up being? I'd be willing to give a little extra $$ if I knew most of it was going to stay local and we could decide as a group how to spend it...perhaps get another race off the ground, social event, etc...

FROM DON CHILDREY: DIRECTION OF THE CLUB

You can join through the TrailBlazers website, download a membership form there, and we'll also be making membership forms available at most club activities in the near future. You may need to get a form locally in order to take advantage of the discounted membership fee.

The TrailBlazers organization gives chapters $20 for every member they have, based on the count of chapter members on Dec 31 of the previous year. We have about 16 members now, so we're looking at a base allotment of roughly $320 for 2008. TrailBlazers will also help out by covering some additional expenses if the activity is helping to bring in new members. If anyone gives extra money to TrailBlazers directly, I think it would be filtered out to the chapters through the methods above.

Chapters can keep the proceeds from the races they put on. Patrick and I are working out the details of our chapter co-hosting the Impossible Panther and Gold Nugget races this year, with the majority of the proceeds going to the chapter. This will give our chapter money to work with beyond what we get from TrailBlazers. Both of these races will be part of the 2008 TrailBlazers Sprint Series. One of the requirements for a race to be part of the series is that racers must be members of TrailBlazers, so we should end up 2008 with a couple hundred members in our chapter, which means we'll get a much bigger base allotment for 2009.

The whole plan for making our chapter more organized and active depends on chapter members getting more involved in helping design & staff the two real races, helping put on practice races, pushing TrailBlazers membership, and promoting AR in general. I think that members' time is more important than money right now, but we won't turn down any money.

We'll get more ideas and plans out shortly, but feel free to share any ideas you have with us now. Our mission is to promote adventure racing and get more people involved in the sport. Any activities that support that goal is fair game for us. We've tried scheduling training outings, with limited success. Practice races draw more people out. We haven't really tried a good social event yet, but maybe that will draw more people out. Combine it with a little informational presentation and we might have something.

Just like adventure racers often choose their route based on instinct, Patrick and I have sort of decided that we're just going to head down this path and see what happens. If we can get others to follow, we'll be able to do big things with the chapter. If no one follows, then this will be a short trip and we'll move on to something else.

Don C

MONEY RAISING EFFORT FOR TRAILBLAZERS ADVENTURE RACING:

VISIT WWW.TRAILBLAZERAR.COM AND FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS BELOW.

Zach Doppel
AR Junkie


Joined: 02 Dec 2004
Posts: 999
Location: Atlanta area
Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 3:16 pm Post subject: Another Way to Help Your Club

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you are ordering gear from REI.com, REIoutlet.com or RockCreek.com, please do so through the links on our main page on the bottom right. For every order placed through thses links the club earns about 5%. Thank you for your support.

Just noticed on the Trailblazer site, a newly announced Adv racing magazine has been launched in a paperless format. Ever since Adventure Sports magazine went under 3 years ago there hasn't been anything decent...you can preview the Feb 08 issue for free, otherwise it requires a subscription going forward.

http://www.adventurew...

Check out the newly proposed TrailBlazer Bike Jerseys/shorts....pretty nice looking. They are hoping to roll them out soon. Be sure to scroll down through the thread for the graphics.


http://www.trailblaze...

I have secured a deal through our race team www.triangle-ar-team.com for a club discount on all Accelerade products. By ordering through the below club website you will get 30% off their product line, so if you are using these products anyways, then you're getting a pretty good deal. I have been working on a couple differant angles, one of which resulted in free packs for our club leadership from www.wingnut.com. I am remaining in contact with them to try and work a discount on their products as well and will let everyone know...in the meantime the link to Accelerade.

http://www.accelsport...