November 15/98 1:42 am - CCA AGM Updates

Posted by Editor on 11/15/98
 

CCA AGM News

Lots happening during the CCA Board meeting today in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. The highlight was the decision by Board to not suspend Ontario for non-payment of fees to the CCA. This was a major concession, since suspending Ontario would have meant that Ontario licenced riders would not have had valid racing licences, and that Ontario would not have had a vote on the CCA Board of Directors. The Board is working with Ontario to develop a plan that will put the province back on track as soon as possible. It appears that some late night negotiating, and a detailed proposal by CCA President Brian Jolly got the ball rolling.

The Board will also be introducing a new insurance program that should see rider insurance costs drop substantially. Organizers will see some cost increases, but the main effort will be to attract more riders to take out licences at the reduced rates.

Among other news items:

- the Executive will introduce a motion to remove the R and T (Recreation and Transportation) V.P. from the the Executive, and put the sector in the Development Committee (in other words, R and T will no longer have a vote on the Board). This has to be voted on, so it is not a Œdone deal‚.

- the CCA reports that they are extremely close to re-signing Tim Hortons as title sponsor. The proposal is for 4 years (through 2002), with a substantial increase in funding (from $60,000 to $100,000/year). The deal is hoped to be finalized by early December.

- the mountain bike Canada Cup series will go to a UCI style scoring system for next year: top 50 men, starting at 75 points for the winner; top 25 women, 50 points for the winner. Scoring will also be kept for all categories.

- the Canada Cup series will also be split into separate cross-country and downhill events, starting in 2000 (some events will still have both).

- concerns about Abitibi not appearing on the international calendar are premature. The organizing group is doing some restructuring, and could not get their bid in, in time for the UCI deadline. All this means is that the race will be a late addition to the calendar.