General Membership Meeting Recap

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by Amber Wipfler

The DSE Board held its second General Membership Meeting on December 13, 2015. For those of you who weren’t able to make it, here’s what went down:

  • Double Dipsea Update:  There will be a limited number of early registration slots available to active DSE members in good standing. If a large number of people are interested, there will be a lottery for the slots. Look forward to an official announcement come January!
  • Race Fees:  The cost of race permits has risen considerably in the past few years, and at least 7 of our races now require double permits.  To cover these additional costs, the Board will likely have to do something that’s not been done in 10 years—raise race fees. One possibility is an increase to $5/members and $10/non-members. We really, really want your feedback on this, so please do contact us and let us know what you think. Any changes in price will likely not take effect until at least the second half of the year.
  • Standardization of Age Groups:  As you may have noticed, DSE’s age group divisions are not consistent—some age groups cover a five-year period, while others span 10 years. Starting in January 2016, all age groups from 18 – 80 will be in five-year increments to be consistent with RRCA recommendations. Please note that this will take extra time, and age division points totals may not be updated until a week after each race.
  • Next Meeting: We can’t give you an exact date yet, but look for the next General Membership Meeting to be held sometime during the first few months of 2016. But you don’t need to wait until then to make your voice heard! Please contact any member of the Board (you’ll find our contact info on the DSE website) with your comments, critiques, and suggestions. We want to hear from you!

December President’s Desk

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Thank You!

As another year in DSE history comes to a close, it’s fitting that we reflect on the year’s challenges and everything we accomplished. I want to take the time to thank the 2015 DSE Board and the entire membership for an outstanding year. It was my pleasure getting to know you, hearing your concerns, and working together to continue to make DSE the best running club in the Bay Area. Don’t forget to vote during the month of December for who you want leading DSE in 2016!

General Membership Meeting & Holiday Social

The last general membership meeting of the year will be on December 13 at the Presidio Sports Basement Big Room starting at 3pm. Sports Basement will also host a Holiday Shopping Party for us, which means DSE members will receive a 20% discount on this day. In addition to giving you club updates and getting your feedback, we thought this would be a great opportunity to socialize with your fellow DSE members and celebrate the holidays, so we booked extra time. We’ll provide pizza for everyone, and Sports Basement will provide some snacks and drinks. Feel free to bring a snack, dessert, or drink to share.

Double Dipsea Update

General registration for the Double Dipsea will open in mid-March 2016. DSE will have a limited number of spots for active DSE members to get a chance to register early. We’ll provide more details at the meeting, but know that there will be requirements to qualify for this perk, including being an active member with dues paid for at least one year prior and earned 8 volunteer points within the previous 12 months.

Submit Your Awards Form

Active members who wish to be considered for a Mongo, Top 5 Race Miles, or Top 5 Total Miles awards must submit the awards form by Saturday, January 2nd. Check out the Awards Criteria page under the Awards menu on the website for details.

October President’s Desk

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by Kitzzy Aviles

Poll: Next General Membership Meeting

At our previous meeting in August, members expressed interest in having one General Membership Meetings each quarter. Looking at the remaining DSE races for 2015, there are only a few dates that will work, but none are optimal, so we’d like your input. Please take 1 minute to fill out this survey and share your preferences for 11/8, 11/29 or 12/13: http://bit.ly/nextdsemg

Save the Date: January 23, 2016

I’m excited for our next Gala to kick off our 50th Anniversary celebration! Check out the teaser video below unveiling the theme (spoiler: colors will be purple, green, and gold) and read the article in the October newsletter from Gala Coordinator Christine Clark for more details.


Volunteer Appreciation Picnic

I had a blast at this event. Thanks to everyone who helped make this happen. We host this annual picnic to thank our tireless volunteers who help us host over 40 races each year. This year we wanted to treat the picnic as a sneak peek of the Awards Gala and recognize our top volunteers with certificates and special prizes. The election sub-committee obtained two new candidates and confirmed three current officers for the DSE election in December. Members are reminded that we are taking sign-ups until late October for the ballot. We also held a raffle for all volunteers who earned at least 6 points, and a costume contest for all who best embodied the “All Sports” theme. See the full article in the October newsletter for more details and a list of winners.

Race Director Rewards Clarified

There has been some confusion about what rewards race directors get after each time they volunteer, and how they claim it. We’ve modified the wording to clear the confusion as follows:

  • An RD is entitled to a cotton DSE t-shirt or two $3 DSE race entries after directing their first race in any calendar year.
  • An RD who directs a third race after July first in the same calendar year is entitled to a high-tech DSE t-shirt or five $3 DSE race entries.

Please see Calvin to redeem your reward after the first and third time you race direct each year.

August General Membership Meeting

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by Amber Wipfler

DSE held its annual General Membership Meeting on August 9, 2015, at the Presidio Sports Basement.  We had a fantastic turnout, and the DSE Board would like to thank all the attendees for their excellent ideas and input.  In fact, it was such a great experience that we’ll be doing it again in the not too distant future—several members requested that we hold general meetings more frequently, and the Board is committed to make that happen.  In the meantime, here is a rundown of some of the topics we discussed:

  • Treasure’s Report:  Despite an approximately 15% drop in race registrations this year, our club is financially healthy and solidly in the black.  The Double Dipsea remains our most profitable event, bringing in approximately $8,000 this past June. To offset the decreased revenue from our Sunday races, we are looking for small tweaks that will cut down on costs—for example, slight course modifications can result in lower permit fees.
  • Membership Report:  DSE memberships have leveled out in 2015, after 5% annual growth for the past few years.  We are looking into the possibility of auto-renewals and multi-year memberships, as well as the option to pre-purchase a block (or even a year’s worth) of races.
  • Double Dipsea: We did not have enough DSE volunteers at the 2015 Double Dipsea, and the assignment of volunteer positions did not go as smoothly as we had hoped. To remedy this, we plan to begin recruitment for Double Dipsea 2016 volunteers at a much earlier point, and we hope to return to our old system of having a captain for each aid station/checkpoint assigned ahead of time to help with recruitment.
  • Code of Conduct/Stroller Policy: We presented the new DSE Code of Conduct and a draft of our Stroller Policy for consideration, and received a lot of great input from our members.  We are revising the policies to reflect certain member suggestions, and will post drafts for members to review within the next few weeks.
  • Open Discussion:  The most fun part of any general membership meeting is hearing from our members!  Per our members’ suggestions, here are some things the DSE Board is looking into implementing in the near future:
    • Online form to submit candidates for the Eco Awards presented at the Gala
    • Way to donate those old race medals and trophies to a good cause
    • Subcommittee focused on DSE’s charitable giving
    • Improved first aid kit and race director resources
    • New DSE merchandise to celebrate our club’s 50th Anniversary
    • More frequent General Membership meetings

Those who attended the meeting have the Board’s sincerest thanks.  For those who couldn’t make it, please be sure to make your voice heard by e-mailing a member of the DSE Board.  You can find our contact information at https://dserunners.com/about-us/officers/, and we always want to hear your comments and suggestions.

August President’s Desk

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by Kitzzy Aviles, DSE President

Volunteer Points

I finally got time to tally everyone’s volunteer points and you can view the current totals on our website. Please keep in mind that since this is a mostly manual process, there will likely be mistakes. If you spot a mistake, omission, or have questions/concerns about your totals or the points awarded, please contact me asap and I’ll look into it. Thanks for your patience!

View Your Current Volunteer Points Total

Volunteer Picnic

Our Volunteer Appreciation Picnic will be held in September. Remember that you need to earn 3 volunteer points by September 1 in order to attend. Invitations for those that qualify will go out the first week in September.

Summer Evening Race Series

The 2015 Summer Evening Race Series continues every Thursday for the next three weeks at Lake Merced starting at 6:30 pm for just $2. This series started out in 2008 with about 25 runners and has grown to a steady 80-100 runners in the last eight years. We want to thank Janet Nissenson for organizing these races all these years, as well as our dedicated group of volunteers who help keep it going. In order to keep this tradition alive in 2016, we will need more members to step up next year.

Thank You SF Marathon Volunteers!

Thank you to all the volunteers who got up before the sun came up to help man the DSE aid station at the San Francisco Marathon and cheer our runners. It’s always nice to see a familiar face after completing that tough first half, and our members always do an outstanding job supporting this race.

Upcoming Races

We only had races on three Sundays in July, but we’re making up for it with five races in August. It must be cross country season, because three of these races include trails. If you’re not able to run, consider volunteering to earn those last few points needed to attend the Volunteer Appreciation Picnic.