There has been an active debate on this and other lists about the merits of the proposal to require every ride manager who holds a limited distance ride to provide a best condition award which follows the AERC form requiring a top ten finish to qualify. I have also heard from dozens of AERC members on this topic at every ride I've attended in the last few months. Before the debate continues further, I would like to inform everyone that the AERC Limited Distance Committee has notified the members of the Board of Directors that it is withdrawing the proposal.
By way of background, the proposal was first stated in general terms by the LD Committee several months ago. A motion to adopt the proposal was approved by the Board near the beginning of the regular board meeting on the day before the convention in February. To be more exact, the motion was to change the word "may" to "will" in Rule L9. The Rules Committee was also directed to come up with a revision of Rule L9.2 to remove the language making the use of the AERC best condition system optional. I did not participate int that part of the meeting because I had to take a late flight after an all day legal proceeding.
At the next meeting of Board the day after the convention, I made a motion to defer final adoption of the proposal until the 2004 midyear meeting. We realized that the edition of EN discussing the proposal had not yet reached all of our members. We wanted to give our membership the ability to discuss and comment on the proposal at length before we made our final decision. The Board approved the motion to defer the final decision and the discussion on this and other lists ensued.
I have no reason to reiterate the pro's and con's of the proposal here because they have been so thoroughly discussed by others. The Board has received (and is still receiving) over a hundred emails on the subject. It is fair to say the membership is evenly divided on the topic. Many ride managers in the West and Pacific Southwest Regions oppose the proposal, however. There has been surprisingly little comment by LD riders in those regions who might want the award.
In any event, the LD Committee is withdrawing the proposal. It will be making a new proposal at the midyear meeting for the AERC to provide a national LD best condition award to supplement the regional LD best condition awards we currently provide. The chairperson of the LD Committee, Terry Wooley Howe, has prepared an article discussing all of this in more detail which will appear both on the AERC website and in Endurance News.
I, for one, learned a lot from the input of the membership and very much appreciate the effort people have made to communicate with me and other members of the Board of Directors. Regardless of what your position might have been in this discussion, I hope everyone joins me in applauding the members of the LD Committee for their willingness to listen, for their creativity and for their ability to stay positive in the face of controversy.
