1/25/00 

  
     Hello and welcome to the 2001 racing season.  My name is Frank Mackzum and I have been elected President of TBRA for the 2001 racing season.
     First, let me thank the former President, Robby Fromin and the others (Todd and Marsha) who helped make the 2000 racing season a success.
     As most of you know, I have been involved in one way or another with TBRA since its inception.  The whole plan of the association was to help promoters put on races and schedule these events without conflict with other races in the region.  At the time we started, the USCF was doing a poor job of helping the small race promoters.  We have gone from around 9 races a year to a high of 36 in 1999.   Our state has been the hotbed of racing for the last five years.
     We have much to be proud of in this state.  We have national caliber racers and officials.  Racers from all over the southeast come to Tennessee because of our road races.  The promoters in this state take pride in having scenic and difficult courses.  By far the biggest attraction in Tennessee is the safety and fairness of the officiating in this state.  I have had calls from Texas and Wisconsin wanting to know how to get and association like ours started.
     The biggest part of making this work is finding people who truly love the sport and are willing to put a little time back into the sport.  The BAR series has become as well known as our association.  Without the farsightedness of Harry Williamson and Reneau Dubbely (among others),  none of this would be possible today.  We started this to try to keep Tennessee racers interested in doing races in TN.  This also would help promoter know that they could put on a race and count on a good number of riders to attend.  I think this has worked beyond any of our imaginations.  Last year we added a mountain bike series with seven races.  It looks like that number might double this year.
     This year's Board are some of the most active people in Tennessee racing.  Our Vice-President, Joey Holland is a racer of both road and mountain bikes.   He is a promoter and an official.  Our Secretary is        Barbara Rigby.  She is an official and a mother of one of the racers. You see Barbara and her husband, John, officiating at most races. The  Treasurer is Mike Mead.   I am just getting to know him, however, he is no stranger to mountain bike racers.   We added two new positions this year - a Director for Mountain Bike Racing and a Director for Road Racing.  Kymberly Flynn graciously accepted the position of Director for Mountain Bike Racing.  She is one of the founders of Team Peggy and is an avid mountain bike racer.  Most of you already know Vicki Mackzum, the Director of Road Racing.  She is an official for both USCF and NORBA.  She is very active in the state and on the national level.  She started race results in the computer results that will next year be required by USA Cycling.
     As you can see, you can not do a race in this state without seeing at least one of us.  Please if you have any questions or concerns, feel free to ask any one of us.  If we do not know the answer we can find out for you.   Vicki will also be keeping the Website up to date.  If you need a change made or to send a race result, please e-mail her.  There were a few changes to categories in both BAR series, so please check them.  We added two new junior categories to road racing and some changes to women's mountain bike events. The new race schedules are up and are tentative, so if you see a mistake, please let us know.  Have a great off season and keep an eye on the site for news.

Frank Mackzum
TBRA Director

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