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The annual meeting of the Federation of Gay Games (FGG) was held 12 Nov – 18 Nov 2005 in Chicago. GLRF is an organizational director on the board of the FGG and participated in the meeting as a voting delegate. It was a non-stop marathon of general, committee, and sub-committee meetings.
The first two days of the meeting were devoted to the site selection process for the 2010 Gay Games. Three cities submitted bids to host the event: Paris, Köln, and Johannesburg. One winner was selected with only one ballot: Köln. See related story.
The remaining five days of the meeting focused on the general business of the FGG. The Chicago Games Inc. presented an update report on the progress of the planning and organization for the 2006 Chicago Gay Games. Currently, 4100 athletes and cultural participants have registered and more are anticipated in the coming months. New marketing campaigns were unveiled that will target key cities and leverage the use of the partners program. What about rowing? No changes or updates were provided since the visit to Chicago by members of the GLRF Regatta Advisory Group on 25 August 2005.
The FGG continues to pursue corporate sponsorships, submit grant applications, and develop fundraising events to raise monies for various general and specific funds. A contract to develop sponsorship materials with pr firm Maloney & Fox was completed.
The pr firm of Witeck-Combs Communications was retained for the media and publicity requirements surrounding the 2010 Gay Games site selection and the 2006 Chicago Gay Games event.
An initiative to revamp the organizational structure of the FGG was approved by a majority of the directors. The outside consulting firm of StrategicSolutions Consulting outlined various options and approaches to a new organizational structure. The new design calls for a smaller board of directors, and a larger, general assembly. A steering committee will now begin the process of drafting a plan to implement the new organizational plan and hopes to formally submit the plan to the board for final approval and adoption at the 2006 annual meeting.
Several organizational directors and two independent directors were reelected to the board. No new organizational directors submitted applications for membership. One new position was created for the Executive Committee: Senior Vice President – Female, which expands the current executive committee to 8 members.
The board approved a bid to host the 2006 annual meeting in Lyon, France on 27 Nov – 01 Dec 2006.
There were two big rowing events for the week. The first was a GLRF-organized, community focused rowing social, Drinks With Rowers. The idea was to promote rowing in the Chicago gay and lesbian community, and to provide a chance for all local rowing clubs and organizations to network and promote their programs and regattas for the 2006 season. The event was a big success and we were honored to have an official representative from USRowing attend! Thanks Kelly!
The second big event was an early morning, lakeside meeting with a representative from the Crystal Lake Rowing Club on Friday, 18 November 2005. The objective was to explore the idea of hosting the 2006 Gay Games rowing regatta on Crystal Lake. You couldn’t ask for a better location and set of facilities. Wow. See a review of the location in the GLRF Regatta Advisory Group findings and recommendations cgi_mtg_findings_august2005.pdf to Chicago Games Inc.
At the 2005 annual meeting of the Federation of Gay Games, delegates voted to select Köln, Deutschland as the site for the 2010 Gay Games. Three cities submitted bids to host the 2010 Gay Games: Johannesburg, Köln, and Paris. Each bid consists of a set of 22 required sports and up to 8 optional sports, that are selected from an official list of authorized additional sports. Rowing is one of the authorized additional sports. Each of the bidding cities selected various additional sports but none included rowing. Both Johannesburg and Paris did not select a full compliment of additional sports, leaving the door open for adding extra sports later on. The Köln bid included the maximum of 30 sports. When queried why rowing was not included in their bid, when there is a World Class championship rowing facility in the city, Köln organizers responded that they did not believe they could obtain an adequate number of class A racing boats for rental and that there was not the infrastructure to organize a regatta.
Köln was the site of the 22nd annual FISA World Rowing Championships 6 - 13 Sep 1998.
The infamous queerStrokes rowing team, of Hollywood film fame Summerstorm, has begun training in earnest for the 2006 World Outgames Regatta in Montreal. Between 10 and 20 Berlin rowers are planning on competing in the event. With a worldwide reputation, they plan to repeat their film script performance against any competitor who dares to challenge their rowing prowess! Viel Glueck!
Members of Crew New York remain dazed and in shock at the loss of a fellow rower during a boating accident on the Harlem River early Monday morning. Four rowers from the Peter Jay Sharp Rowing Club, rowing in a straight four, were executing a u-turn just downriver from the 181st street bridge when they were struck broadside by a power boat. The impact struck just forward of the bow seat and immediately capsized the boat. Three of the rowers were immediately pulled from the water. The bowman, Jim Runsdorf, initially assisted in the rescue of his crew but then disappeared. He remains missing and is presumed lost.
[Edit] 21 Dec 2008; Crew New York has subsequently disbanded. Most members are now rowing with other New York City rowing clubs, with the greatest number of rowers pulling for Harlem River Community Rowing.
The Craftsbury Sculling Center announced today that it had decided not to continue its partnership with the Gay + Lesbian Rowing Federation for the 2006 season. The GLRF board deeply regrets this decision given the promising and productive cooperation that had been developed in 2005. The Craftsbury Gay and Lesbian Pride Sculling Weekend had yielded 15 GLRF members, or three-fourths of all participants during the 3-day weekend of 24 – 26 Jun 2005. In addition, GLRF had actively promoted the Craftsbury partnership at the San Diego Crew Classic, the Stonewall Regatta, in promotional materials, at two gay film festivals, and at the Royal Canadian Henley. Craftsbury, for its part, had created a separate web page on their website, labeled “GLRF Partnership.” In light of these enthusiastic cross-promotional activities, the news of the partnership termination came as quite a surprise. However, GLRF is staying in contact with Craftsbury management and will keep the door open for any possible future joint endeavors.
In view of members’ significant interest for sculling camps, GLRF will continue to pursue the development of new gay and lesbian sculling clinics as well as the formation of new partnerships.
The DC Strokes Rowing Club voted to participate as a team in the 1st World Outgames Regatta. The decision came after several months of internal discussions among the membership. In the end, the deciding factor was the rowing facilities at the Montreal Olympic Rowing Basin. The Strokes plan to send a team of 20 - 25 rowers to compete.
The sun shone brilliantly as 45,000 visitors descended on Montreal’s Gay Village for a celebration of sport. Labeled Rendezvous dans Le Village, the sports festival offered a preview of the 1st World Outgames with animated demonstration sports from Equipe Montreal (Team Montreal) and several sports teams. The first booth to greet visitors in the pedestrian-only St. Catharines street was Club d’Aviron Odawagan, Montreal’s gay and lesbian rowing club.
Visitors oggled over the new club logo (tres chic and tres cool). Rower wanna be’s had the chance to win a free learn to row session, valued at CA$150 in a raffle contest. Best of all is that rowers in Montreal can practice on the course right up to the 1st World Outgames! You guys are so lucky!
The Gay and Lesbian International Sports Association (GLISA) held its first delegate congress this week. The three day meeting brought together delegates from 4 international sports federations and a multitude of sports teams from four continents. As license holder to the World Outgames, the association received an update report from the Montreal Comite Organizateur des 1iere Outgames Mondiaux. At the close of the congress, GLISA announced the formation of a partnership with the City of Copenhagen to deliver the 2nd World Outgames in 2009.
The meeting approved the associations’ bylaws and elected the first board of directors. A strategic plan was approved that targeted the formation of continental associations to represent city teams and sports clubs. A business model was created to support a paid staff and provide vital services to gay and lesbian sports organizations.
During the week and over the following weekend, delegates attended Le Rendezvous d’Or. The four day event included a fundraising gala at Montreal’s hilltop Chateau Mont Royal and a sports festival in the gay village.
GLRF representatives met with Montreal World Outgames organizers to discuss special registration programs for rowers and to review plans for the 1st World Outgames Regatta.
Officials of the City of Copenhagen announced a partnership with the Gay and Lesbian International Sports Association (GLISA) to deliver the 2nd World Outgames in 2009. A formal partnership agreement is to be concluded by year-end. Mr. Martin Geertsen, Mayor of the Committee of Culture and Sport of Copenhagen, was said to be thrilled by the news. He indicated that the event would be a warm up prelude to a possible 2024 International Olympic Games bid.
Copenhagen officials, meeting in Montreal with GLRF representatives, declared without hesitation that rowing would be one of the core sports offered in the 2nd World Outgames. Rowers around the world need only remember the wonderful 2003 Copenhagen Mermaid Regatta to understand that the rowing venue and organizational capacity is already in place and ready to go.
The news of the selection of a city for the 2nd World Outgames was welcomed around the world by athletes and sports teams wondering if the World Outgames would be a one off event. Two cities have already declared their intention to bid for the 2013 3rd World Outgames: Manchester, UK, and Sao Paulo, BR. It is rumored that Berlin is preparing a bid for 2017 4th World Outgames.
Members of the GLRF Regatta Advisory Group visited the City of Chicago for an up close and personal look at the unique challenges to rowing and hosting regattas in the Windy City. For crews, there cannot be a more scenic place to row. The Chicago River offers a spectacular view of the city’s wonderful architectural skyline. Hosting a rowing regatta presents a unique set of challenges: commercial barge traffic, amplified wave activity from vertical walls, narrow waterways, and limited launch and recovery areas. The advisory group spent the entire day with the Sports Director for the Chicago Gay Games, visiting potential sites, discussing the needs of rowers and rowing, and outlining what could work given the planned boat categories and events.
The group submitted a number of recommendations on the duration (2 days max), timing (of regatta week or weekend), lanes (min. of 4 lanes preferred), length (not less than 1,000 meters), buoys (yes please!), held starts (much preferred), launch/recovery location (adjacent to finish vs. start), practice days (1 day min), regatta structure and organization, age categories, rowing rules and sanctioning, medaling, boat rental, boat storage and security, and refund policies.
Several sites were identified as potential locations for the regatta and are being evaluated. An additional rowing event was also discussed to help showcase rowing in Chicago.
