The AGM of the Off Road Commission takes place this Saturday, 13th January 2007 in the Foy Centre, Dundalk Street, Carlingford, County Louth, start time is 2pm.
The AGM is open to all Cycling Ireland Licence holders, and all attending are asked to bring their 2006 licences for the purpose of signing in. Each Club attending is permitted two voting delegates, I would ask Clubs attending to pick their voting delegates before the meeting.
Two members of the current commission will be standing down, Billy Ferguson and Justin May. Billy has been a long time servant to Irish MTB, working as part of the Off Road Commission and on the Executive of Cycling Ulster. Billy is not retiring from MTB totally, he remains one of the top Off Road Commissaires in Ireland and leader of the Team BHB MTB Squad. Justin joined the Commission last year, and has chosen to step down due to family commitments. During the year Justin played an active role in the work of the commission, firstly as PRO , and lately switched his attention to Access affairs. On behalf of the commission I would like to thank Billy and Justin for the all the time and effort they put into MTB.
Two new important positions will play a vital role in the future of the commission, they are Irish DH and Irish XCO Co-ordinators, both looking after Irish issues in their respective disciplines, eg, calendars, appointing commissaires, league tables. The establishment of these new positions will help lessen the burden on the International Managers, who until now had to look after domestic MTB issues.
Commission Chairman, Andy Potts will be the Irish XCO Co-ordinator as he has carried out this task for Cycling Ulster and has already completed work on the 2007 season. The Commission is currently looking for a suitable candidate to look after DH, perhaps one of the DH Committee could take on the role.
Cycling Ireland High Performance Director, Frank Campbell, appointed Eamonn Lawlor and Geoff Seymour as International Managers for DH and XCO, they will take up places automatically on the commission. Each International Manager will name an assistant manager, they will be permitted to attend commission meetings, but will only have a vote in the absence of the International Manager.
Robin Seymour also automatically retains his position on the commission as coaching rep. Robert Lamont has reached the end of his two year term in office, and will be standing to be voted in as Andy's replacement as Youth Development Rep North, Robert already heavily involved in Youth Development with his own XMTB Club and Cycling Ulster MTB Academy. Two other positions to be filled at the AGM are Youth Development South and Access.
The Agenda for the AGM will be as follows:
1. Chairmans welcome
2.Minutes of 2005 AGM
3.Matters arising from 2005 minutes
4.Off Road Commission Reports
5.Questions regarding reports
6.Elections
7.Up date on one day licence
8.Race Organisers criteria
9.The problem with message boards
10. AOB( no motions of were received by the Chairman or Cycling Ireland by the closing date Friday 5th January 2007).
The meeting will be conducted in a friendly and constructive atmosphere, we will all be there to promote the sport of MTB not only within Ireland but around the World.
Riders wanting to go for a ride before the AGM will have a bike wash facility available courtesy of the Foy Centre. I look forward to seeing you all on Saturday,
Best wishes,
Andy Potts
