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North East Rowing on-line
Northern Rowing Council - ARA Div Representative’s Report 2005 by Megan Bell

This year has seen some heated council meetings and significant changes in some of the ARA committees and commissions.

There has been little progress with the idea of proportional representation to council despite our support for this issue as the matter is resting with the ARA Executive.

After the most animated council meeting I have attended, J14 and J15 events were kept in this years National Championships. The Junior Commission felt that its views had not been considered and the motion to remove the events was not supported by the regions, so the status quo remained. However, the Competition Commission is still reviewing the matter and it is essential that our regions views are put forward to the Junior Commission and the National Development Committee, which is now under new chairmanship.

The new online entry system is up and running, our region piloted the system in February and several events have used it successfully. It is still under development so any competitions using the system are encouraged to forward constructive comments to the development team. By contrast, it is reported that several events (not using OARA) have failed to submit their returns to the ARA - meaning that crews having won qualifying events could (if they were unsportsmanlike) be entering below status for the forthcoming season. We must ensure that our events fill in returns promptly. If the online system were used, and all entries were online, it would take only around 20 minutes to complete, and competitors points would be updated immediately. (I know from experience - it really is very easy!). So I would encourage all clubs to get their members properly registered and all events to use the system in anger - it will make life a lot easier!

The region continued to have success at national level competitions, with good representation in this years junior squad. We also saw the first senior medal at National Championships for some time, which was excellent.

Regional development has also taken huge steps forward, the region’s forward plan was one of the first to reach the ARA and our goals are included in the national plan. The working party taking on the fulfilment of the plan continues to make progress, although it would benefit from even more involvement of other individuals from across the region.

On a personal note, Mark and I are now proud parents of baby Daniel and therefore I am reluctantly standing down as Divisional Representative when my term of office ends in December. However, I hope to continue to support the development of the region through progression of the forward plan and the running of four of our regions events, as well as attempting to compete (time permitting!).

Megan Bell


© 2006  North East Rowing on-line