2022 Board of Directors Election period has begun

If you are an active CRCA member, you should have received an email in your inbox regarding the 2022 Board of Directors elections. Please vote by December 3 to ensure that your vote gets counted.

Additionally, there are two names that are misspelled on the ballot

Secretary - Josh Sakofsky
Director of Teams - Elizabeth Tobey

2022 Board of Directors Candidate Personal Statements

The 2023 election email mistakenly linked to this post. To find the 2023 candidate election statements, please click here.

It’s the beginning of a new season, CRCA Community!

The 2022 CRCA Board of Directors nomination period has concluded. By next week, you should receive an e-mail from our online election service to cast your vote. Further instructions will follow on that.

Below are the candidates for each position on the 2022 Board of Directors along with their personal statements. We appreciate you taking the time to read through to get to know each candidate before it is time to vote.

Some of our seats are still vacant. When the new board is voted in, we will appoint the final seats to round out the 2022 board. If you are interested in one of the open positions, please reach out to a board member between now and January so we can start a conversation.

Thank you to everyone who nominated themselves or others for the board this year. Without all of you, CRCA would simply not be able to continue running.

If you have any questions please feel free to email secretary@crca.net or reach out to any of the current board members directly.

President

Randy Locklair

My name is Randy Locklair. I’ve been the membership director of CRCA for seven years, and I am excited to be a nominee for board president in 2022.

Every year there is a moment late in the season where the CRCA Board of Directors all look at each other and say, “Wow, I can’t believe we pulled off another successful season of racing in New York City.” (That is a paraphrase because there are usually a few expletives involved.)It is an incredible challenge for a small team of volunteers to put on 15+ races each year. It was especially so this year, navigating back to a new normal after the life-changing events of 2020—the start of the COVID pandemic.

I’m so proud of what the 2021 Board did in the face of the pandemic. We took steps to safely return to racing while also standing up to injustices and failures caused by our governing body USA Cycling. We took these steps with the protection and appreciation of our membership in mind. We wanted to provide our members with the racing and coaching they expect. We tried to do so while making sure every individual member was safe and respected.

The events of the last two seasons took their toll on our board of volunteers. I am running for President so that as an elder member of the board, I can support our other returning and new board members. I am running to make sure we continue to have a safe and inclusive racing environment. Bike racing can be an environment of entitlement and gatekeeping—we have made strides to change that, and we will continue to do so. We will offer you as full of a schedule of racing as public safety allows—following the best practices that similar sporting events have established—and we will do so in such a way to make all feel welcome.I will do my best to make sure we are good citizens of Central Park and NYC. I will do my best to make sure that we are ambassadors for our sport and street safety.

I will do my best to foster a sense of community within CRCA because we are at our best as a club when we can also gather as friends and volunteers.

I am looking forward to kicking off that first race in the… “spring.” Hope to see you all there!

Director of Teams

Elizabeth Tobey

Hi! I’m Elizabeth, and I’m running to be the Director of Teams for CRCA in 2022. 

I’ve been a member of CRCA for the past four years with KruisCX and am proud to be manage the f/t/w squad for our team. I’ve been on or helping the board for the past three years, first as Director of Communications, then as the Women’s Development Coordinator, and finally last year as Director of Teams. 2021 was an interesting year with a lot of logistical challenges, and I feel that we set up a strong foundation for our new and existing teams, setting us up for a fantastic 2022 (which I hope will have even more races than our past season!) 

I have greatly enjoyed the operational and detail-oriented work that goes in to being the Director of Teams, which is why I’m running for re-election. This year, I want to spend more time helping team managers and their full squads find roles within CRCA that are fun and fulfilling. Director of Teams is integral to keeping our sub teams organized and helping assign team duties throughout the year, a crucial task to ensure our club keeps running smoothly and a difficult one to ensure every team gets a duty they can fulfill and enjoy completing. After having gotten to know all the teams in 2021, I feel like I have a strong handle on what people love to do, what they don’t, and how to make racing a positive experience across the board as we head into 2022. 

Thanks for considering me for Director of Teams again this year. I’m excited to continue work on the CRCA board and grow the club as we continue to bring back road racing in NYC.  

Public Relations

No candidates for voting.

Vice President of Rider Development

Tara Parsons

I have been a CRCA member since 1997 and a CRCA coach since 2011. I was an active racer between 1995-2005, and a few years later I began coaching. I love bike racing, and I love helping others to love bike racing. 

During my time as a rider, and later as a coach, I’ve had the opportunity to work with other amazing coaches—they’ve made the CRCA coaching program what it is today, one of the best club-level coaching programs there is. These coaches have been a true inspiration to me, and I want to help the CRCA continue its legacy of developing strong and skilled riders. 

As a board member for CRCA for five years, as well as a veteran educator and cyclist, VP of Rider Development is a role that I know well. I am familiar with the scheduling and admin work with USACycling and I also know what’s needed to improve our program to keep our racers succeeding. 

I am looking forward to the continued challenge and the opportunity of serving the CRCA community in the position of VP of Rider Development. 

Vice President of Club Racing

No candidates for voting.

Treasurer

Mitchell Napolitano

I have served for 3 seasons as Treasurer for CRCA. Through my experience as Treasurer I have mastered the various tools used to manage the clubs finances, and expanded on the toolkit used for payments and billing. I was responsible for managing the clubs overall budget, handing out prize money, and paying the many contractors and vendors that help make races happen. Managing the accounting for reimbursements, USAC officials, Central Park Conservancy, marshalls, etc took up a large chunk of the operational time of the position. At the conclusion of each season, I spend time reconciling the books, filing taxes for the club, and drafting the next season's budget.

I am seeking reelection to the CRCA Board of Directors in 2022 as Treasurer. I am looking forward to continuing to serve the cycling community of New York City and specifically our CRCA members. In 2022 I plan to focus on further digitizing CRCA's financial accounting, continue creating sources of recurring revenue outside of membership/sponsors, and expand the CRCAs digital footprint for billing and payments.

Membership Director

Emily Singleton

Hi! I've been an active racing member of CRCA with Rockstar Games for
eight years, and I've served the past two seasons on the BoD as the Director of Communications.

Professionally, I work in operations and logistics, and I am organized and detail-obsessed. As Membership Director, I will ensure technical processes run as smoothly as possible, find new ways to add value to your membership, and grow membership by promoting our Club to the community. In particular, I will continue to focus on making CRCA appealing to a more diverse set of riders and encouraging participation from new women/trans/femme racers.

Sincerely, my teammates and friends in the cycling community have really pulled me through these past few challenging years. The dedication and care from my fellow Board members to creating a safe, welcoming environment and pushing for change on a national level continues to inspire me. I would be thrilled to return in this new capacity to keep this special club running for all of us. Looking forward to a full season in 2022!

Communications Director

David Shirzad

Hello! My name is David Shirzad and I have been a CRCA member for 3 years. Growing up, I got into cycling when I was in middle school and my dad and I would go mountain biking together all the time. When I graduated from college and moved to New York City, I was looking for ways to meet people and be active. I heard about CRCA when one morning I biked through Central Park and saw all of these people who looked like road racers. After doing my research, I got myself signed up, did my first race in 2019 and after a year, joined Rockstar Games. From that first race to now, I have gotten to meet people from many different backgrounds who have become some of my closest friends. I believe that I could do a good job as CRCA's Communication Director, because through my work in sales and experience from my time as the Student Body President of my university, I understand the importance that communication plays in building a strong community.

As Communication Director, I hope to build engagement with the club by finding ways to profile our members on social media, provide race recaps across our platforms, celebrate the NYC racing scene and increase communication from the Board around different areas of focus for the club. Through these ideas, I hope to create excitement around the CRCA community as a whole, and increase community engagement.

My motivation for serving is that when I moved to NYC, I didn't have any close friends who lived here, but in the three years since then, I have found community in CRCA members across multiple sub-teams. I have gotten to be a part of so many great races and meet so many great people, that I would hope that by focusing on the stories of our different members, sub-teams, races, and the Board, we can share our community with even more people.

I am excited for this opportunity and hope that you will consider voting for me!

Marshal Director

No candidates for voting.

Director of Open Racing

Alex Klafehn

Hey! I’m Alex; I’m a Brooklyn-based rider on NYCC Racing with five competitive seasons on my legs. Since I started riding regularly over a decade ago, I’ve become a daily bike commuter, worked as a bike messenger through my first NYC winter, raced at the Kissena velodrome, volunteered with Transportation Alternatives, and current co-captain of NYCC’s A-Classic SIG program, a three month intensive training program. Every group I’ve been privileged enough to have been a part of has their own unique culture & qualities, providing a rich set of experiences that have made me grow as a better cyclist. I'd like to continue to give back to the community by returning to my position as Director of Open Racing.

For the 2022 CRCA open racing season, my goals as the Director of Open Racing will be to ensure that any events in 2021 are safe for everyone involved; continue the tradition from past seasons of developing races to be more inclusive & supportive for underrepresented groups within the cycling scene; and explore alternative racing venues to provide new opportunities for CRCA.

Secretary

Josh Sakofsky

Returning to the board for the first time since 2014, Josh Sakofsky is running for the position of secretary. He has been a long time member of CRCA (since 2011), and can make a better cup of coffee than any other secretary you know. In his own words: "I am very excited to come back and work with this amazing board and be of service to the CRCA community.”

Director of Advocacy

Nathan Brauer

I would be honored to continue to serve as the director of advocacy for our club.

Much of this season figuring out how this position would best serve the club. In 2022, there will be better communication regarding advocacy, with more opportunities for members to participate in events that make NYC a better place to ride. Additionally, I will continue to support the board in our effort to put on great races and make CRCA an admirable member of the larger cycling community.

Thank you for your continued trust.

We Stand Together

Earlier this year, the CRCA Board issued a statement on inclusivity and a call to action to make the sport of cycling more safe for traditionally marginalized athletes, particularly those in the LGBTQIA+ community. Our longtime member and friend of the club Marco Quezada was inspired by this statement and created the below PSA to reiterate our stance on inclusivity. As CRCA representatives, New Yorkers, cyclists, and humans, We Stand Together against hate and intolerance. We Stand Together in creating a safer future for all, within the sport of cycling and beyond.

From Marco

…Please don’t just watch. Here are a few places you can educate yourself and maybe get involved. Like I’d say It’s just not about participating in sports. (Which everyone has a right to.) It’s about health care.

And a special Thanks to Mary Sabo for letting use her fab space Lily+Horn Acupuncture to finish this project.

If you're interested here are some links

https://www.glaad.org/transgender/resources

https://www.nytag.org/

https://gaycenter.org/recovery-health/health/tgnc/

https://transequality.org/

We are still working towards achieving our goals on a national scale, but CRCA remains committed to creating a safe and inclusive space for all at our races. Discrimination or harassment of any type on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, or any other characteristic protected by law will not be tolerated at our events or in relation to our events. If you want to race bikes with us, you are welcome here!