Last weekend the Cycling Ireland AGM took place in the Castletroy Park Hotel in Limerick, with over 60 delegates representing clubs and commissions from around the country. With several motions proposed and three Board positions open, there was much discussion throughout the morning.

After addressing the attendees, Cycling Ireland President Ciaran McKenna went through the highlights of the year, thanking outgoing board members Siobhan O’Connor (who stepped down earlier this year), Senan Turnbull and Sam McArdle, the outgoing Honorary Treasurer.

Treasurer’s Report re. 2015 accounts

Delivered by outgoing Treasurer Sam McArdle

· The revenue is up by 67%, in numbers that’s an increase from €1.8m to €3.1m. The increase is largely down to a few changes, like the internal administration of the Great Dublin Bike Ride, and the fact that the carding funds for the high performance athletes are now being processed in house.

· The Great Dublin Bike Ride (GDBR) operated at a loss in the first year, largely due to a funding shortfall. However, despite this it is considered as a positive introduction and as a good investment based on it being dedicated to our leisure membership. There were 5,000 participants this year, up from 3,000 last year.

· The accounts operated to a deficit of €50k which was a combination of high performance spend and the Great Dublin Bike Ride.

· Each year the intention is to set aside some cash reserves to ensure staffing and resources are not in immediate danger if funding is down.

· We think we have reached peak with cycling growth, and we now aim to retain the existing 28,000 members

· The expectation for 2017 is that there will be continued pressure on our finances due to reduced funding to sport in the recent budget.

Treasurer Report 2016 year to date account

· At this stage we are still on target to produce a small surplus

· Cycling Ireland proposed a number of changes to the membership fees. The rationale behind increasing the limited competition licence from €60 to €70 is due to the increased number of races in which someone with a limited competition licence can compete. An increase was also proposed for the youth licence to increase from €5 to €10. Additionally the one day event licence was proposed to change from €2 to €5.

· An insurance summary was presented, with the following points of note:

o The insurance cost for members has gone up in 5 years, from €11.46 per member to what will be €13.33 per member in 2017.

o The split of the claims comes roughly from a third in races, a third in leisure events and a third people out training on club spins.

Motions Relating to Fees

Carrigdhoun CC

Kieron Gardner from this leisure club ran through a very concise presentation regarding the needs of leisure cyclists, with this particular motion relating to decreasing the fee from €40 to €30. He outlined disconnect between the club members and Cycling Ireland and Cycling Munster, and believed that they need a better service. The club was proposing the reintroduction of the leisure commission as well as reduced fees. A counter argument from the floor suggested that the leisure members need to get involved in committees, and that the reason the leisure commission was disbanded was due to the shortage of people willing to be involved.

Southside Wheely Wheelers

Pat O’Donnell also was proposing a reduced leisure fee from €40 to €30.

Also it was highlighted from the floor that if more leisure clubs attended the AGM then proposals regarding leisure members would have a better chance of getting passed.

Motions 8, 9, 13

Motions 9 and 13 requesting a reduction in the leisure fee was overruled. Motion 8 ruling against an increase was not relevant as there was no indication to increase the fees.

Proposed membership fees for 2017

Motion Fee Structure carried as proposed by Board with the note that the leisure licence fee indicated in book was showing incorrectly as €35 and not €40 which it will continue at in 2017.

Medical Committee

Eoghan Connolly from the recently formed Medical Committee gave an overview of the aims of the committee, and the reasons for the establishment of it. The committee comprises of individuals from the medical profession, from the College of Commissaires and from Cycling Ireland.

Remit

The remit is to increase the awareness of the importance of medical cover at races and sportives, an awareness of the concussion protocol, increased medical screening, and the importance of carrying ID. The recent partnership by Cycling Ireland with iDMe wristbands was outlined with the availability of the €4.50 wristbands for CI members being received well by the delegates.

Business Update 2016

Geoff Liffey, CEO of Cycling Ireland, presented a comprehensive business update from the organisation.

Membership at a glance

· The female membership in Cycling Ireland is now 20%, this is more than the average of 14% across most other European Federations.

· The membership is made up of 65% leisure members, and 10% youth and 35% competitive (note this includes the 10% youth licence which is a competitive licence).

· The membership growth has slowed from an average growth of 20% each year to 2% this year. This is comparable to other sports. We are currently addressing the churn rate; while we have 60,000 members on our database, the current membership is just short of 30,000. There are an estimated 250,000 people riding a bike regularly.

 

· To address this we are working on building better relationships with Bike Shops. We are soon to launch an incentive with Bike Shops to attract more members to Cycling Ireland.

· While we previously considered the member as central to the organisation, we are shifting that focus to the clubs. Without strong clubs we cannot operate.

· Our federation income shows that 42% comes from funding partners, 56% from membership and 2% miscellaneous. Our challenge is to increase the miscellaneous funding.

· In terms of federation expenditure we spend 20% on insurance and business matters, 29% on high performance, 12% on coaching, 12% on sporting and 27% on membership services.

High Performance Expenditure

A significant percentage of the funds spent on high performance is specifically ringfenced for this purpose. Out of our membership approximately €200,000 is used additionally for this purpose. This is a common practise across other sports. Liffey highlighted that the recent comments from the Junior Minister for Sport which indicated his desire for more medals at the Olympic level similar to the numbers won by nations such as New Zealand (15 medals) was unrealistic, when the investment was not comparable with other countries. The high performance funding that is provided to Sport Ireland does not have the capacity to fund 22 different Irish high performance programmes on that budget.

 

Coaching Programmes

Liffey outlined that one of the services we offer that is of huge benefit to the leisure members and leisure clubs is our coaching programmes. We have a range of programmes on offer from Sprocket Rocket to Gearing Up Track. For these programmes the main challenge is delivery, as they rely heavily on volunteer involvement and engagement. Liffey is particularly excited about the Cycle Right Programme due to roll out in 2017. This is a cycle safety programme aimed principally at primary school children and run in conjunction with the Department of Transport Tourism and Sport, RSA and other stakeholders.

 

Increased Activity and Presence

There are many very successful and well promoted events, with close to 1000 events been run on an annual basis – credit for this goes to the many event organisers. This year we piloted an Event Support Officer Scheme, with the aim of providing education and guidance to event organisers. The execution of this involves the Officer visiting an event organiser some weeks prior to the event to run through the event guidelines and then visit the event on the day. A review of this pilot is currently ongoing to see how the programme may continue in 2017.

Insurance

The number of insurance claims paid out in 2013 was €116k, this increased to €198k in 2015, with almost €500k having been paid over the past four years. This figure only reflects the claims that have already been settled, with it due to rise over time. Three accident claims a week are being received at the moment which makes it increasingly hard to find a company who wants to underwrite the business.

Strategy Progress

Liffey outlined the progress with the Cycling Ireland Strategy.

Strategy Objective:



Strategy Progress:

Challenges

Liffey highlighted the importance of good governance, which is critical in today’s landscape. He identified integrity and leadership being crucial saying “it is important to do the right thing and having the right cultural values in the organisation. This is key- without this we can’t move forward.”

Velodrome

Liffey expressed disappointment at the lack of provisions in the budget for developments in the National Sports Campus, which kicks back the building of the Velodrome. He sees it unlikely that this will be developed before 2018. Liffey highlighted that at this stage our priority is that we remain at the top of the queue for facilities, and that he would be disheartened if he were to hear that another facility were to be developed and with that not being the velodrome. The Cycling Ireland offices are due to locate to the National Sports Campus in the near future, but this comes from a different budget to that of the Velodrome.

Motions

See all the motions HERE

· The motion regarding the raising of a youth rider’s hands coming to the line was proposed by board and carried.

· The motion regarding the exception for a junior rider to compete in specific events contra to their licence was proposed by board and carried.

· The motion regarding a riders competing in a stage race for an entity other than that on his licence was proposed by the Board and carried.

· The motion regarding the national champion jersey being awarded to a woman in her 40^th year competing at the Elite Women’s race was proposed by the board and carried.

· The motion regarding the rotation of AGM to include counties in Northern Ireland when it’s due to be held in Ulster was carried.

· Motion 5 as proposed by Balbriggan CC to add the extra 5 names to the Hall of Fame that were originally to be added in 2013 was carried. These will be in addition to the three names to be inducted this year.

· Motion 6 as proposed by Balbriggan CC for Cycling Ireland to provide a blueprint for the running of cycling road races on open roads was not carried.

· Motion 7 as proposed by Carrigdhoun CC for the re-establishment of a leisure commission was carried. This left motion 10 as being irrelevant and withdrawn.

· Motion 11 by Carrigdhoun CC was withdrawn based on strategy update provided by Geoff Liffey, CEO.

· Motion 14 by Southside Wheely Wheelers to allow leisure licence holders to do hill climb championships was not carried.

· The Cycling Ulster motion regarding the start date of the road racing season was withdrawn.

· The Memorandums and Articles Resolutions as proposed by the Board of Cycling Ireland was passed unanimously.

Board of Directors Nominations

1. Election of Honorary Secretary: Jack Watson and Carl Fullerton had both been nominated but prior to the election Carl Fullerton withdrew his nomination and Jack Watson was re-elected by acclaim.

2. Election of Honorary Treasurer: Michael Mannix and Carl Fullerton had both been nominated but prior to the election Carl Fullerton withdrew his nomination and Michael Mannix was elected by acclaim.

3. Election of Board Director: Jack Watson and Carl Fullerton had both been nominated but as Jack Watson had been elected as Honorary Secretary he withdrew his nomination and Carl Fullerton was elected by acclaim.

The retirement of Senan Turnbull as an appointed Director was noted, and he was thanked for his contribution to the Board of Cycling Ireland. Liam Twomey was approved as an appointed Director of the Board of Cycling Ireland.

The Board currently has seven members with a vacancy at present for one appointed director. Once the new Memo & Arts have been accepted by the CRO there will be vacancies for two further appointed directors.