Gate City Striders

The 2010 USATF-NE Grand Prix Series has been selected by an online vote of the membership. A total of 440 votes were cast during the one-week period from November 11 through 18. The results of the vote have been verified by the LDR Chairs and the winning schedule is Slate "C", as follows:
 

A bid presentation meeting (similar to prior year's meetings) was held on Nov. 2, at Brandeis University in Waltham, MA. All races who were interested in hosting a championship made their presentations to the membership. Events were presented in groups by distance, with questions and answers following. However, the change from previous year’s Grand Prix selections is that there was no voting at that initial meeting. Instead, a committee made up of the three road running chairs and a mix of up to a dozen active and top scoring clubs met to discuss the bids, compare races and schedules, and create four options for "slates" of seven series races that were voted on by members via the web.

The new process achieved several goals:

First, the creation of four options for the seven race series allowed thought to be given to the sport's "big picture"'; conflicts with holidays and other major events were addressed to ensure a balanced calendar with thoughtful discussion to avoid schedule issues that come up each year (3 races in 4 weeks, conflicts with other championships, etc.).

Second, the facts on all events were posted and compared in more detail. See the Bid Summary for each race here.

Third, online voting allowed more individual members (440 to be exact) to be part of the selection. Voting by all members (age 18 and over) was possible, and was monitored by using the individual USATF membership number and password.
 

What Next?

It's time to start training and getting ready for another great season of NE Grand Prix racing! If you want to run any of these races with us just shoot an e-mail to Michael Wade with your information (including your current USATF#) and he'll get you signed up for the race. In the weeks leading up to race day we'll be adding everyone’s name to the race list on our website so you can see who’s running and how we’re set for teams. Please understand that, by telling us that you want to run, you are making a commitment to your team to be there on race day. If for some reason, you can't run (after the club has already paid your entry fee) then you'll need to reimburse the club for that entry fee before we can sign you up for another race.

If you’re not a USATF member, and think you’d like to become one, just log on to the USATF website here and fill in your information. The annual membership fee is just $30. And, since Gate City is paying for all its members to run USATF-NE Grand Prix races then that $30 is essentially your ticket to as many as seven races over the course of the season! Not bad when you think about it!

If you have any questions about race selection process, or the New England Grand Prix in general, please feel free to contact Michael Wade at: mwade@ganekarchitects.com