I had every intention to publish this new website and the wealth of new information by the end of 2009. My mistake was trying to get every single piece complete in too little time. Here’s a short list of some things that have changed:
- Revised the rules – more details can be found in the Record of Revisions on pages 2 and 3
- Recommendation to use UCI-based rules (though, not required)
- Numerous clarifications
- Incorporation of the mission statement
- New points system
- Application to establish NATS as a non-profit organization
- Created Mission Statement
- Created officers and by-laws
- Opened small-business banking account
- Developed a new website with modern features and capabilities
- Worked with all of the 2009 event directors and two new event directors to tentatively establish the 2010 Event Calendar
- Established a closer relationship with the Ontario Trials Series
As you can see, I’ve been quite busy. I suppose I should also mention that my son was born on January 6th so he has occupied a huge portion of my time for the past few weeks.
The last piece, which has caused the longest delay, is to offer payment processing on the website for voluntary membership and donations. You see, my plan for the future of NATS is one of sustainability and, hopefully, growth. To date, we’ve held NATS together with meager sponsorship and our own pockets. The recent economic challenges have dried up nearly all sponsorship and, well, I can’t run the whole thing on my own. Plus, if we’re ever going to grow the sport on this continent, we need to make it easier to establish new events, attract new riders and support the existing riders. The simple truth is that these things require money.