Some Answers from Russ
PRESIDENT MTBA VISION SUMMARY – RUSS BAKER
You can
download and read my official statement from the MTBA Website. Remember, for the MTBA members, voting closes at 1000 eastern on Friday 11 Feb – that’s tomorrow. This year is the first time we have had e-voting so I expect a lot more people to vote, because it is now easier to do so and you don’t have to spend your time and money getting to meetings if you don’t want to.
Without repeating my entire official statement, here are my main priorities for 2011:
Members. The focus will be on the general membership of MTBA – the 95% of us who are not Elite. While Australia topping the gold medal count at the 2010 World Championships is a great achievement for our riders and an inspiration to us all, it is our whole membership that counts. We are currently spending a large proportion of your membership money on the elite end of the field, and this will change. My previous concern about the officious nature of MTB remains, although some small advances have been made. For those of us who love mountain biking, trails access remains an issue and the development of MTBA’s subsidiary, IMBA Australia, will continue. I will continue to get to as many mountain biking activities around the country as possible and I will always be ready to take your feedback. I continue to want to transition MTBA from a following organisation to a leading organisation and I commit MTBA to serving its members.
Membership. Increasing the MTBA membership by ensuring that we provide a product of value to the mountain bikers of Australia. Last year, I asked the question, ‘Why did 99% percent of the people who purchased a mountain bike in Australia last year not join MTBA?’ I haven’t found a satisfactory answer yet, but I will keep searching. We must be relevant to all the mountain bikers. To ensure we are heard on issues, we need membership strength.
Management. Changing the management structure of MTBA to integrate with the Cycling Australia business model. This will mean the physical move of some staff and functions to the CA Sydney Office, but it also will provide MTBA with a better interface with our members and access to professional support services. Our constitution is in serious need of revision to bring MTBA to a National Body organisation and allow for modern ways of doing business.
YOUR QUESTIONS AND ISSUES FROM THIS FORUM
I would like to address the questions that have been raised on this forum since the elections opened, and I will try to keep them grouped by subject.
MTBA / IMBA AU
MTBA and IMBA AU don’t really have different aims. IMBA AU’s aims are a trails and access sub-set of MTBA’s aims. The broad trails access and advocacy aims of MTBA have now been given a separate organisation by which they can be implemented and paid staff to do it, but MTBA owns IMBA AU, funded its creation and MTBA has been a member of IMBA (International) for many years. So, MTBA has always been doing this, and your membership money has been supporting it, and continues to support it. The IMBA AU membership offers a less expensive means for people who do not want, or need, an MTBA membership, to support this activity.
Has MTBA Become the Organisation it Broke Away From ?
I said when previously running that I was concerned that MTBA was becoming too officious. Certainly the reaction from clubs to things like the Commissaire policy have reflected that. The bulk of our membership have little interest in an officious organisation, they just need the ability to enjoy their sport and places to enjoy it in.
MTBA needs to serve its members and I am concerned that an attitude has developed that the members are there to serve MTBA. Any organisation that does not address the needs and concerns of its members has no future.
National Series – Poorly Supported ?
I support having a national series, but it has to be one that MTBA can afford because it is your membership money that is being used to prop up the series financially. Right now, more of you membership is being used for the series than goes towards your insurance coverage. Under the current model, we are getting more sponsorship than before – but overall the series is costing MTBA more than before too.
But, I do not think that MTBA should be in the business of running events. There are clubs and promoters out there who do that – some affiliated with MTBA and some not. MTBA needs to have a viable product for these organisations and then provide the structure and oversight for the top level of competition. That will still require some financial support from MTBA in some of the technical areas.
Clubs, the Real Face of MTBA
While I try to get to as many events as possible so that I can see first-hand what is happening and the members and prospective riders can provide feedback, the real “face” of MTBA is our Clubs. People join clubs, the clubs conduct the activities and the MTBA membership is mentally in the background for most of us. The club-focus is something I believe in, but it does have an unfortunate side-effect of making the national body a bit of a faceless organisation.
Clubs can charge their own club component of the membership, and I am consistently amazed how low they can keep the club component cost for the great service they deliver to their members.
Russ – being “paid”
This has been raised on the forum. In my pre-election statement for the 2009 AGM , I stated that I expected the position of MTBA President to be paid (along with a team appropriately remunerated for their effort, time and accountability). Basically, this meant the positions of President, Vice President, Treasurer and Secretary. At the 2009 AGM, I was asked what would happen if I were elected and not paid, to which I replied that I would need to have a job and that every day I spent on the day-job would be a day I did not spend solving MTBA’s problems.
At the following Management Committee meeting, the committee voted that these positions would not be paid. So, that is the decision. This has meant that I have been able to devote less time to MTBA than I would like, but that was an openly declared fact which the committee were well aware of when they made their decision. For this election, I have not stated that the positions be paid, because the decision has been made that they will not. If re-elected, I will continue to perform on a voluntary basis.
MTBA and the big events (Mont/Scott) and also non-affiliated PP events.
The large MTB participation events do attract big numbers of riders, and the vast majority of the riders are not MTBA members. This can be taken many ways, but at the most basic level, the decision of a rider to become an MTBA member will be one of perceived value for money. For some it is a simple financial decision – membership is cheaper than multiple day licences. For others it is about being willing to contribute to an organisation that helps provide trails and assists in the development of the future of the sport.
But – that is the rider’s decision to make. My task is to deliver an organisation which can provide as many reasons as possible to join.
For the large events that are run by non-affiliated promoters, I would love to have those organisations come onboard and affiliate with MTBA, but the issue is similar. It has to work for them, because MTBA cannot make them come onboard. From my discussions with these promoters, many of them feel that the “baggage” that comes with MTBA affiliation is too great or not worth the cost.
Juniors
We are developing juniors and in addition to very inexpensive memberships for our two young age groups, introduced in 2010, there have been training clinics at the National Series rounds. But, like most things, it all starts with the clubs. They will also have their own range of events, whether it be skills sessions or an Under 7 category at a club race.
Commissaire Policy
This has been a subject I have taken a lot of calls and emails on in 2010. In my opinion, the level of imposition on clubs for club level events was unreasonable and MTBA have now deferred the club level implementation date to 1 July 2011 while a re-vamp of the policy for these events is undertaken, particularly to allow the commissaire to take part in these events.
My main aim here is to have safe events where riders obey the rules. Above this level, we need to get our developing riders used to operating in a commissaire environment, so that it doesn’t come as a shock to them at the higher level races.
My aim is to get the base level commissaire training and qualification as a 100% online training process, but there are still some hurdles to be overcome here in terms of accreditation and assessment.
State Bodies
I feel that the aim I outlined of aligning with the CA Business model will allow us to more easily form state bodies, which can then link in with the respective CA state bodies for common services, and also get better access to state level funding, currently very difficult for MTBA to get, as a national body.
I believe that the state development funds, which MTBA currently collects as part of your membership, should be able to be used for purposes which the state deems appropriate. Having a state body will make this easier than the current model which requires club consensus within a state.
Ride vs Race Balance, The Elite / Participation Member Balance – Crawford
This is in my position statement for this election, but 95% of our membership are not Elite riders. It is about participation in sport so MTBA need to carefully balance the resource allocation between these levels. Fortunately, the return of some performance development funding has made life a bit easier on this front for 2011. In 2010, MTBA decided to financially support the Australian Team for the World Championships, but this was a relatively small amount. Even so, it came out of the membership fees for all members – not just the Elites.
Communication
I agree that this needs to be improved, and will continue to work at it, at every level from me as President down to member emails and our website (currently undergoing a re-vamp).
Conflict of Interest
There have been issues raised here about conflict of interest, either perceived or real. This will always be so in an organisation largely made up of people who have some level of involvement in the sport. For example, prior to the 2009 AGM, I declared that because of by race software and race organisation activities, I would not be making those services available to any race for which MTBA had assigned the rights following a bid evaluation process. That is how I dealt with that issue. The important thing is that issues like this are declared, openly and up-front.
Member Fees – where do they go ?
Another common question I get at the various events I attend. To put it in very basic terms and rounded figures for an MTBA senior membership fee: 20% insurance, 25% National Series Support, 5% State Grants, 10% IMBA AU support, 30% staff costs. The remainder is admin, travel, and, finally, I think I cost about 3% for travel etc.
Attracting the big sponsors
This has been raised as an issue for helping to grow the national series, and we have been getting great support for the current and previous series, from Jayco and Specialized, plus others. But, big sponsors go where their target market is, so for example, it seems to be easier for CORC to get major sponsors for the Scott than for MTBA to get them for the National Series. But if you look at the number of people at these events you can understand why. The 2010 Scott/World Solos had 10,500 people per day at Stromlo. The National Series is yet to achieve this level of exposure. Of course, the profile of the event and the external exposure, through TV and other media will also affect this.
The real factor for MTBA to work on here is the “chicken and egg” one. We need big sponsors to support major events, but the events need to be major to get increased sponsor interest.
Personnel Issues
With the exception of a few paid staff, MTBA is an organisation which can only function because people give their time and skills voluntarily. Please be considerate of them when making comment on public forums.
