2024 Annual Report

November 16, 2024

Introduction

This year, the RunNB Board has been able to consolidate the organisation, making it stronger financially, safer against personal losses for volunteer Board members and a more efficient in delivering services to the running community.

• New races, sponsors and members made our organisation stronger financially.
• The incorporation of RunNB added protection to the volunteers on the Board against personal losses.
• Our newly appointed executive director, with his experience as a runner and past chairman of RunNB, made our organisation more efficient in delivering our services.

RunNB will continue to encourage an even greater number of runners and walkers to register for its activities, whether they be competitive runners or recreational runners/walkers and thus help maintain them in good health and fit, both physically and mentally.

1.     Meetings of the Board

The RunNB Board held seven Zoom Meetings during the year and took care of daily, weekly business on the Messenger Chat group. The Board also held one Zoom meeting with race directors and organizers and the Chairman sent a communiqué to all race directors and organizers in January touching on important items of interest for the new running season.

The RunNB 2023 Board was made up of 8 members: Daniel Violette, Vice-Chairman, Michel Robichaud Treasurer, Nathalie Boivin, Secretary, Suzanne Myers, Super Series & Championship, Bruce Macfarlane, Annual Awards and Hall of Fame and Donald Wade, Chairperson. Gilles Gautreau was appointed Executive Director and since Gilles had to resign his position on the Board, Sébastien Godin accepted to sit on the Board as councillor in February; his DevOps/Analytics Engineer skills will be a great asset for our organization.

Two members of the Board have decided not to renew their mandate. Suzanne Myers accomplished a remarkable job with the Super Series and Championship programs. Despite his short period on the Board, Sébastien Godin guided us on interesting avenues to explore for our website and social medias.

2.     Calendar Races

Sixty-seven races were posted on the RunNB calendar and their results were submitted and posted. The number of runners registered in 2024 has increased by 1857 about 13%.

Seven new races were posted on the calendar this year, namely:

1. Fleurs en Folie, Cocagne;
2. GMRC's 5 Miler, Moncton;
3. Salmon Festival Road Race, Campbellton;
4. La Course du Festival des Pêches et Aquaculture, Shippagan;
5. Goody's 9th Annual Pro Kids Fundraiser, Dieppe
6. Course Yvon Leblanc, St-Antoine
7. Les Petits Barachois, Barachois

Table 1 gives you an overview of overall registered runners from 2019 to 2024.

Numbers of runners (2019, 2022-2024 (all races, all distances) (Source: Gaétan Haché, Ottawa)

3.     Incorporation of RunNB

The Board mandated our treasurer, Michel Robichaud, to research the procedure and cost of incorporating RunNB. On April 30, 2024, the Letters Patent Incorporating RunNB was registered with the Province of NB, a new bank account was opened and the Board reviewed the RunNB Constitution in light of the new name for RunNB Inc/ CourseNB Inc. and reference number 755464.

RunNB remains affiliated to Athletics NB for policy development advice, insurance coverage and promotion of the sport. The RunNB Board named the Executive Director as its representative on the Athletics NB Board.

RunNB invested $290 in its incorporation, a small price to pay for the peace of mind of Board Members against eventual personal losses.

4.     The 2023 RunNB Challenge

Only 50 participants registered for the 2024 Multi-sports Challenge, 43 logged in their kms. In spite of the small numbers, participants took the challenge seriously and logged in their kms on a regular basis. Rick MacLean is the overall winner with more than 12300 km to his credit. Congratulations to all participants.

5.     Championship and Super Series Programs

Five distances make up the RunNB Open Championship Program: the 5 km, 5 miles, 10 km, 21 km and 42.2 km. Cash prizes for each championship race totaling $600 were offered to the first three positions, female and male, a $3000 investment.

Seventeen races were given SuperSeries status, with a return to the 8 age-categories this year, including the 80+ category. RunNB did not offer medals for the first three positions, male and female, in each of the eight age categories at these races due to budget restrictions. These positions will be recognized at the awards ceremony with prizes.

Table 2 below indicates the number of female and male runners by age categories who participated in each of the 17 Super Series and Championship races in 2024. About 28 % of overall registered runners participated in the Super Series & Championship races. Male participation is 59%.

SuperSeries & Open Championship races for 2024, Male & Female Participation (Source: Gaétan Haché, Ottawa)

6.     Records

This year, some NB runners have achieved remarkable record performances. In October at the Toronto Waterfront Marathon, Lee Wesselius set a new provincial record with a time of 2:13:52. Maryse Jacob set a new provincial record for the Female 80 + at the Ottawa Marathon in May finishing in 6:41:53. In July at the Canada Day 10 miler in Grand Bay-Westfield, Lloyd Sutherland set a new record with a time of 1:48:38 in the male 80+ category. Congratulations!

7.     RunNB Membership Card

RunNB has presently 279 members, thanks to the contribution of several high profile runners who wrote texts published on the RunNB Facebook page enticing runners to buy their membership card. Thank you for supporting RunNB.

8.     Sponsors

RunNB is very appreciative of the majors sponsors who contributed financially to the success of our programs. A new sponsor, Irving, joined the RunNB venture by covering the cost of the 14 annual awards with a grant of $2500 for 2024. A request was sent to Assomption Insurance for a grant to cover the cost of the 2025 Super Series Program; we are awaiting confirmation.

• The NB Medical Society: $10 000 for medals for Small Strides, Healthy Lives and Super Series – renewable annually
• Running Room, NB stores: Membership card 20% discount on running equipment – 3-year contract ending December 31, 2025
• Sports Experts, NB stores: Membership card 20% discount on running equipment – 3-year contract ending December 31, 2025
• Alex & Lilly Shoe Shoppe stores: Membership card 20% discount on running equipment – 3-year contract ending December 31, 2025
• Trackie Inc.: $ 2700 to cover bibs and championship race medals – renewable annually
• J.D. Irving – $2500 to cover the cost of annual awards; renewable annually.

9.     Web site, Facebook Page

RunNB’s website and Facebook was kept up to date with the latest news, announcements, articles on races and inspiring stories. Special thanks to all who contributed in making our social medias attractive, informative and popular sites. Sébastien Godin monitored the activities on our website and he offered important data that could help guide our new strategic plan.

10.     Transgender runners

RunNB established a policy that was published on its website under Policies in February 2024. An ad hoc committee made up of Daryl Steeves, Lisanne Maurice, Sara Young and Bruce Macfarlane developed a proposal that was accepted by the RunNB Board. Athletes may now register for races under their preferred gender and participate in the category male or female in which they identify with no restrictions placed on trans genders or gender diverse; consequently, they are eligible for the prizes and awards for Super Series and Championship races.

Regarding RunNB Provincial Records, in order for an athlete’s performance to be considered for a U16, U18, U20, or Senior Provincial Record, an athlete must first meet the World Athletics Eligibility Regulations for Transgender Athletes.

RunNB understands the position of race directors who may not apply this policy at their event in order to avoid having cis women be unfairly deprived of their position in the race results. RunNB wants to include all runners in its fold regardless of their abilities, their race, religion or sexual orientation. This policy will be reviewed annually at the AGM by RunNB members.

11.     Strategic Plan for Growth

Last Fall, The Board appointed Daniel Violette to lead an ad hoc committee in developing a new plan for the next few years. A bout with cancer forced Daniel to take a break from his responsibilities on the Board.

Daniel plans to move forward with the ad hoc committee in the near future.

12.     Conclusion

The New Brunswick running community is vibrant and healthy. RunNB will continue to help race directors/organizers in putting on great running events and help develop new races and running clubs in all corners of the province.

RunNB is very grateful to the race directors and their teams for offering quality events and thus allow runners to put their skills to the test throughout the year.

RunNB’s financial situation has greatly improved in 2024 thanks to the increase in numbers of runners registering for the races on the RunNB calendar, the increased sale of RunNB’s membership cards, the generosity of our sponsors and the wise decisions of the Board.

I wish to thank the members of the Board for their commitment, the free time offered, their good judgment and their love of running. It was a pleasure to work with such a great team.

Donald Wade
RunNB Chairman