M&T - A Brave New World?

Earlier this summer we had a meeting with Ryan Montgomery of AAI concerning a revamp of the Meet & Train Series of winter and summer races for women.
Time is ticking past and we urgently need to fix a date for a general meeting of all clubs and groups associated with M&T and Fit for Life. Possible dates are a Monday or Tuesday in Donore - ie, 15/16 Sept, 22/23 Sept, if any of these dates suit.

Here is the background (Apologies for the length):
For the past 20 years or so, M&T races have consisted of :
Winter - 4 x 2 mile cross-county races from Nov to Mar, depending on dates available. Venues are usually: Swords (Fingallians) , Tymon Park (Sportsworld) , Phoenix Park (Donore) , St Anne's Park (Raheny Shamrocks) and Griffeen Park (Lucan Harriers). We have also used Santry (Clonliffe) and Irishtown (Crusaders)
Summer - 3 built-up races to the mini marathon consisting of 2 mile, 3 mile and four mile runs; in the past we also had the Fingal 8k to round it off. Because of increasing volumes of traffic, finding suitable roads has become difficult. Venues this year were Griffeen Park Lucan, which has new tarmacadam paths and the Phoenix Park. Dunboyne also offered to host a race. Venues used in the past included Templeogue, Tallaght, Dalkey and Raheny.
A successful addition to the calendar in 2007 was a Meet & Train track meet at Irishtown, organised by Crusaders.

What we have to do:
1 Get more clubs and groups in involved, particularly Fit for Life groups operating in the greater Dublin area. For example, there is a new running group in Donadea, Co Kildare, which is organising a 10k on Oct 11. This would make a lovely venue for a M&T race. There is also a running group based in the Curragh. Wicklow also has some nice venues, with running clubs operating in Bray, Greystones and Kilcoole, as has Meath (Dunboyne, Navan, Dunshaughlin, Enfield) .
2 Find more venues. Marlay Park is one option, with DSD willing to give it a go. Any other ideas? Dun Laoghaire pier was one - possibly very early on a Sunday morning! We have never used parks like Malahide and Newbridge. Maybe even stretch as far as Westmeath, which is only an hour away on a Sunday morning (Belvedere House outside Mullingar is gorgeous).

Winter League - possible dates (2 in Nov; 2 after Xmas):
Sun 16 Nov
Sun 23 Nov
Sun 30 Nov
(No dates yet for AAI Races after Xmas).
Sun 18 Jan 2009
Sun 8 Feb
Sun 15 Feb
Sun 22 Feb
Final race to include prizegiving, if possible.

Summer League - for major re-vamp. Series to incorporate the Sportsworld 5 and the mini marathon itself, with team captains assembling times places from the published results of these two races, ie, no extra work for either Sportsworld or the WMM office!)
Possible dates (Easter is April 12) :

Wed 8 April M&T 2 Mile
Sun 26 April M&T 3 mile
Wed 13 May M&T 4 Mile, Phoenix Park, 7.45pm
Sun 24 May Dublin 5 Mile Classic (Sportsworld)
Mon 1 June Flora WMM 10k

Followed by track evening and prizegiving, Fri Jun 5?

Other items for discussion:
- Entry fees for the two series.
- Relationships with adidas re prizes/numbers.
- Eligibility of runners once they improve beyond M&T or FFL standards.
- Establishment of small committee to supervise series and call two meetings a year.
- Website/blog.
- Results.

Please pass on to your members for discussion before the proposed meeting; hopefully we will have news of a date soon.