May 13, 2010
TO: Directors of UMCA Certified Events
SUBJ: UMCA/ABR Provided Event Insurance

With the recent realignment of UMCA management, certain duties of the Managing Director have been reassigned. Among these is the processing of event insurance requests. Until further notice, this function will be administered by Joe Jamison.

The Ultra Marathon Cycling Association (UMCA) and American Bicycle Racing (ABR) provide event directors of UMCA Ultracycling Cup races, access to event insurance if requested. There is an application fee for this service which is to be filed with the application. New, beginning with 2010, is a surcharge raising the application fee to $70. There is also a $5 late fee for applications filed < 30 days before an event and a $10 late fee for applications filed < 10 days before an event. The application fees include the UMCA charge for processing.

In addition to the filing fee, ABR requires a fee for each rider starting the race. Event Directors must submit the complete list of participants (finishers and DNFs) to the UMCA within five days following the race. To finance this service, the UMCA requires that all participants be either active members of the UMCA in which case no charge is assessed, or pay for a one-event license which is $10US if an American citizen or $12US if not. Upon receiving the participant list and the payment for one-event licenses, the UMCA checks participants against membership status and forwards payment to ABR.

There is a joint ABR-UMCA release form which every rider and volunteer in a UMCA event insured through ABR has to complete and sign. The event organizers do not need to copy the form and send ABR a copy, but must send the signed originals to the UMCA to keep in our membership files. However, in the event of an incident (property damage or personal injury) requiring medical/hospital attention an Incident Report form, must be sent to ABR with copy of release form within 5 days after event. A copy must also be sent to the UMCA.

Please, if you have interest in this service, contact me for further information and the required forms.

Joe Jamison

5 May 2010

UMCA members,

The UMCA Board of Directors is engaged in implementing several significant changes within the organization. As previously stated, the position of Managing Director is being restructured. The creation of a new management position necessitates a change in the Constitution. To this end and to remain current with the evolving nature of the organization, a committee has been formed to update the Constitution and Bylaws, which have remained virtually unaltered since 2002.

To allow the committee time to develop these constitutional changes and present them to the membership for ratification, John Ceceri has been retained for a period of at least 12 months to perform the following managerial functions:

• Processing memberships,
• Handling day to day office functions,
• Editing the magazine and website,
• Working with Russ Loomis in overseeing the Programs.

He will not have a voting position on the Board of Directors.

John Hughes will be assisting us in this transition through May 15, 2010. Please join us in again thanking John Hughes for his years of service to the UMCA and in welcoming John Ceceri to his position as acting Managing Director.

Merry Vander Linden
UMCA Board of Directors

29 April 2010

Resolution regarding departure of John Hughes as Managing Director. Thanks, John, for your 12+ years of service.

The UMCA is no longer responsible for RAAM Qualification.

RAAM, LLC has taken over responsibility for the RAAM Qualification process, including 1) how to qualify for RAAM, 2) the qualification standards, and 3) how to become a RAAM Qualifying event.

For more information please visit the RAAM website, www.raceacrossamerica.org.

31 March 2010

We are very sorry to report that there has been a hitch in the Board of Directors election process. Evidently an invalid postal address has resulted in most, if not all, prospective candidates having their applications returned to them as "undeliverable".

In order to rectify this situation and to give all prospective candidates ample time to resubmit their applications, the Board of Directors with the counsel of the Elections Commissioner has decided to revise the election time table as follows:

If you have previously submitted an application, please contact Rick Hays and verifly receipt of your application. We urge all candidates to submit/resubmit their written applications to:

Rick Hays
17 Impala Trail
Ashville, NC 28806

We encourage all candidates to also send an electronic copy of their application to: rickhays@hotmail.com. Our most sincere apologies to the membership as a whole and to all prospective candidates in particular for any frustration and inconvenience this may have caused.

Merry Vander Linden, President
UMCA Board of Directors

15 March 2010

Nick Gerlich has resigned from the UMCA position of President, but remains on the Board as a Director. Merry Vander Linden has been elected by the Board of Directors as President. In turn, Merry has appointed Russ Loomis as Vice President. We thank Merry and Russ for their willingness to devote their time, energy and expertise to these UMCA positions.

15 March 2010

With the agreement from the President, and in my position as Chair of the Program Committee, I am rescinding the previous announcement by the Managing Director to change the UCC rules after the season has begun. The change mid-stream is contrary to UMCA Board Policy and has the potential of legal action against the UMCA, it has happened in the past when rules were changed after the season had begun. The UCC will for the 2010 season continue under the rules that were in place at the start of the first race.

We will be looking at the rules for the 2011 season and there will be changes that will reflect some of these concerns of the membership. Our goal will be to listen to the membership and design policy that will reflect the needs of the members.

Russ Loomis, UMCA Vice President