BBA Holds AGM, Dunne Returned As President
The members of the Bermuda Bicycle Association held their Annual General Meeting last evening to elect the Board of Directors for the current year. The incumbent directors all stood for reelection and were returned by unanimous vote.
The 2014 board is comprised of Peter Dunne, Elliot Hubbard, Charles Dunstan, Dannielle Bezant, Kris Hedges and Greg Hopkins. Immediately following the meeting, the board appointed the BBA’s Executive Committee for the year with Mr. Dunne being re-appointed as President. Joining him on the Executive is Vincent Chaves, Nigel Godfrey, Martin Bolton, Fiona Miller, Wenda Roberts and Arthur Glasford.
Mr. Dunne commented, “We are fortunate to have such a strong Board of Directors and Executive Committee to continue our efforts to expand cycling locally.
“The combination of skills and perspectives these individuals represent allows us to develop programs and practices which enhance the cycling experiences for our members. We hope to continue this in 2014 while pursuing additional avenues of sport development.”
The President’s full report to Annual General Meeting follows below:
Membersof the Bermuda Bicycle Association, 2013 was another year of growth for your association. This trend which began a few years back continued to show expansion in many aspects of our activities: greater number of participants in both road and mountain biking events, more effectively managed events and a more stable financial base to allow these activities to continue.
Let me first thank those who have supported the BBA in the last year as sponsors, organizers, volunteers and even the rare spectators. The support we have received has come from a range of entities,including the Bermuda Government, International Island Games Association, various corporate and individual sponsors, the UCI, USA Cycling coupled with the enthusiasm with which you help to promote this exciting sport. Without all of these contributors coming together we would not be able to continue to expand cycling in Bermuda.
As the sport continued its rapid growth in 2013 the BBA Executive Committee was able to put in place several programs which we feel have helped to make our competitions more effective. The Racing Committee, which was chaired most ably by Martin Bolton, continued to work with the various teams in organizing the events. Though toiling in relative obscurity, Zoe Roberts has helped immensely by coordinating all of the permissions we now require in order to run an approved race. We are delighted that she has agreed to continue in this role for 2014. We greatly appreciate the work the teams have put into race organization and know that we can continue to use this system of event management in 2014.
Adding to this was the initiation of a corps of Race Officials. These individuals volunteered to be educated in this important role and received instruction from USA Cycling’s official Diane Fortini last winter. Funding for this program came from International Island Games Association and was effective way of developing sufficient officials for the NatWest Island Games cycling events while expanding the local knowledge base for race officiating. This group is now working all BBA events and we are now looking to expand the number of qualified officials by running another training program in the coming month.
Along with the officials the BBA produced the first major re-write of the rules in many years. Martin and I used the USA Cycling rule-book as the basis for this project and Bermudianized it. Having this comprehensive set of rules has made the officiating process much clearerand should assist all those who race to better understand how a race is to be conducted. We have produced a 2014 revision and will continue to do so annually to keep current with other jurisdictions.
On the subject of NatWest Island Games, we were pleased to be a part of this major undertaking for Bermuda,and by all accounts we produced exceptional cycling events. The credit for this goes to the entirety of the BBA membership, from those who were race organizers, marshals, officials, competitors and team managers. It was the group effort that lead to such positive comments from the overseas participants.
During 2013 we were represented by seven juniors and five adults at the Caribbean Cycling Championships. Gabby Arnold brought home the bronze medal in the girls’ road race in Aruba while Zoenique Williams claimed the silver in the elite women’s road race in Curacao. Nicole Mitchell was a double medalist in Curacao with bronze in both the time trial and road race. In all the athletes demonstrated the high level of our national cyclists and we expect that the coming years will be equally fruitful at this competition.
Also of note in 2013 was the rapid rise in popularity of mountain biking events. This was due to the enthusiasm of the Fat Tire Massive group. Their year-round passion for off road riding has turned the discipline from a winter diversion to a thriving scene.They have also been working with the organizers of the Tokio Youth MTB Series to add some skills activities for the older participants. We greatly appreciate all their work to grow the sport.
On the financial front, Nigel will present the details report to you in a moment but the short version is that the BBA is now in a better position to finance a wider range of activities and programs. Please don’t get too excited, the surplus we have is not enough to hire an administrator or have a central facility but it should permit us to do a bit more.
As an example, we will have five high school students competing in a mountain bike race in New York on March 30th and the cost of this is being carried by the BBA.This is the appropriate time to mention that after this meeting Nigel will be stepping down as the BBA’s treasurer. Another of the unseen and thankless tasks of sport administration, Nigel’s professionalism and detailed understanding of the job has been of extreme value to all of us. Thankfully he has agreed to remain a part of the Executive Committee and, subject to the election of the new board, Vincent Chaves will take over the role of Treasurer.
Winding this down, I’d like to thank all of those who have been directly involved in the administration of the BBA this past year. The Board, Executive Committee, Racing Committee, plus a few other assigned jobs have all made for a smooth administrative process. John Narraway will be stepping down from the Executive and we appreciate all of his help with BSADA matters. Martin Bolton has relinquished his chairmanship of the Racing Committee and I personally appreciate all the time he has given to improve our local racing scene. Thankfully he will remain involved with the BBA so that Fiona Miller, now chairing the Racing Committee,and the rest of us can continue to benefit from his knowledge.
Just a note on the future, while we have had great success in recent years growing the sport to what you see today, there is a great deal of work necessary to go to the next level. A revisiting of our development efforts is about to start and we need to ensure that we are moving in a direction that is reflective of your interests. For this we will require your direct feedback and assistance and I hope that you will be willing to provide them.
Finally, I should remind you that the 2013 awards will be distributed at the party scheduled for this Sunday afternoon at 4pm at The Outback.I hope you can be there.
Thanks for a great year.
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