An important announcement from your SBCA leadership committee:

Fellow club members, SBCA is committed to an environment in which all our members are treated with respect and dignity, free of any behavior considered harassing, intimidating, demeaning or discriminatory.  We see great examples of exemplary behavior from SBCA members daily.   However, sometimes it is necessary to spell out the behavior that we do not support at any SBCA associated event/activity and in any interactions with each other.  As fellow members of the Club, we must all ensure that SBCA is a safe and welcoming environment for everyone.  Therefore, as a member of SBCA, you agree to abide by the following Code of Conduct:

SBCA Code of Conduct (adopted 6/5/2020):

  • Always show respect to your fellow club members and equally to members of the public at all times, especially during club events and while otherwise out training (and particularly while wearing SBCA gear);

  • Always show respect and appreciation for the volunteers who give their time to help the club and/or help put on event(s) that you are attending;

  • Always show respect to other road users and/or trail users;

  • Never yell, taunt, or threaten physical violence upon another member of the club, a volunteer, an event spectator or any member of the public;

  • Do not trespass on private land.  “If in doubt, stay out”;

  • Gossip/Rumors: Don’t.  Like your mom taught you – “If you don’t have anything nice to say.  Say nothing.”   

  • Never use abusive or vulgar language or other inappropriate gestures, or make racial, ethnic or gender-related slurs or other derogatory comments or gestures while out training, at club events, while otherwise in public, or on social media;

  • Never make inappropriate/unwanted/unsolicited sexual or physical advances, whether in person or electronically/online (including but not limited to email, social media, texts, etc) and/or unwanted/unsolicited physical contact with another club member and/or others participating in club events.  SBCA and all of our events/activities must be a safe and neutral place for all athletes, male and female;

  • Always abide by event/race rules and otherwise engage in fair competition, which includes the use of no PED’s, no course-cutting, no motor-doping, or other means of gaining a competitive advantage that is considered not in the spirit of the event/race.

  • If you feel sick, have a fever and/or an otherwise unexplained dry cough and/or live with anyone that does – do not attend any SBCA events/activities;

  • In summary – whether you mean for it to, or not – as an SBCA member, your conduct (good or bad) can easily be related/attributed back to SBCA.  Consistent with our extensive ‘best practices’ research in developing this code, we want the focus of all our members, as we train towards athletic growth together, to also be centered upon creating a culture of safety and respect - where all forms of disrespectful or unsafe behavior are not tolerated and everyone is equally welcome.  

Complaints process below for members, athletes and parents/guardians for issues that have arisen since the adoption of the above code on 6/5/2020 (for issues that arose before the code was adopted, please contact Kurt Larson, directly):

We hope you will not have cause to complain about your experience with SBCA but we understand that sometimes unfavorable situations can occur.  If this is the case, please note the procedures below:

Stage 1: (Informal stage).  You should contact the club first and discuss your concerns with the relevant committee member.  Your SBC Athletics leadership committee for 2023 include: Bike Shop: Neil Chanter; Social Media: Stephanie Traughber; Team Newsletter: Stephanie Traughber; Recruitment/Membership: Russell Ussery; Tour De Brew: Brian Barr; Cycling: Steve Kastner;  Running: Samantha Hoffman; and Triathlon: Josh Mattix.  Club Secretary is Heather Cribbs.  Club Director is Stephanie Traughber.

Most issues can be dealt with successfully and promptly at this stage.  But if not – proceed to stage 2, below.

Stage 2: To pursue a complaint at this stage you should make arrangements to meet directly with the Club Secretary, Heather Cribbs.  If the Secretary is unable to deal with the complaint straightaway, she should be able to tell you what action will be taken and by when. The secretary will also tell you when and how they will report back to you.  If the complaint is not resolved by the Secretary within this stage, the complaint then moves to stage 3.

Stage 3: You should complain formally in writing to the Club Secretary, who will let you know that they have received your complaint within five working days.  The Club Secretary will then arrange for the leadership committee above (plus, the current Director of Operations from SBC and a non-SBCA athlete/panel-member) to come together to conduct an investigation in the manner it sees fit.  Where appropriate, SBCA’s leadership committee will investigate a complaint on behalf of the club.  They will report back to the complainant the committee’s findings.  You will be given the outcome of the investigation, in writing, normally within 14 days of the completion of the investigation.  SBCA reserves the right to ban any member from further participation in club events, depending on the severity of the findings/investigation.  The club can choose to identify a different member of the committee to act as the contact person for complaints where it appears necessary to do so (i.e. to deal with a conflict of interest, etc).  The leadership committee will be the final arbiter of complaints.  An appeal may be made to SBCA, but only on the basis that the club has failed to follow its own procedures, not as against its actual decision.

Stage 4:  You may believe that your complaint was not handled fairly, according to the clubs own complaints procedures, outlined above.  In this case you can ask SBCA’s independent counsel, attorney Kurt Larson, to investigate your situation by contacting him via email: KLarson@larsonlaw.com