Message from the Co-chair

As 2005 closes, I would like to reflect on the tremendous growth our club has undergone over the year. It has been exciting to work with you all and to see the willingness of people to come together to form a community that is based on common interest and mutual respect. We have taken on a number of new activities that were quite successful, because of the contribution of time and of energy that many of our members were willing to make.

It became apparent this year that Ottawa Frontrunners was now a full-fledged association that required more structure than in the past. We designated two Co-chairs and a Finance officer, adopted a constitution, and began tracking revenues and expenses. The group desired the smallest amount of structure possible to achieve our goals, but it has enabled us to take on group activities that we could not have done in the past.

One of the most visible, new activities for us was the Ottawa Pride celebration. Not only did we march in the parade with a banner announcing us to the entire city, but we staffed a table at the information fair and provided volunteers to help the Pride committee with setup. Behind the scenes, we prepared brochures, business cards, and a new Web site so that people could find out about us easily.

We have also participated as a group in a number of races this year. We had a great turnout for the National Capital Race weekend (as well as contributing volunteer labour), and also ran as a group in the RBC Run for Reach, CIBC Run for the Cure, Rattle Me Bones, and Santa Shuffle. The highlight and central focus, however, are our twice-weekly runs. At our peak in the summer, we regularly had more than 25 people come to run together, and our membership roll has grown to more than 80 people.

Every club evolves a collective identity, and I have been happy to observe that ours is consistently welcoming and congenial. More than any of our other successes, I think that this is our best; it is the reason that people keep coming back and why they are proud to be a member of this club. This is the reason why we will continue to grow and strengthen.

Building on the success of 2005, we have even more opportunities to showcase our club in 2006. Here are a few of the new things that I hope to see us take on in the upcoming year:

Expand our support for running by including speed, distance, and beginner activities
Attract a larger proportion of women runners
Solidify some of our organizational structures to allow for greater member voice
Increase our visibility in the Ottawa GLBT community
Improve our communication to Francophone members

Thank you all for your participation in this great group!

Michael

Message from the Co-chair

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