Established in 2003 to formally recognize and reward the efforts of members, the Trail Boss and The Tail Gunner awards will be awarded to the persons who organize the most trail runs during the year. In the spirit of the 2008/2009 economy, the 2009 Board decided to implement a "stimulus package", part of which, overhauled the awards requirements and procedures to promote more competition and involvement. Some of the red tape was removed that allows more flexibility in hosting rides that count as well as some of the hiccups of administering the awards were removed. The newly updated requirements, effective immediately and retroactively to cover rides already occuring this year, are bulleted below:

General Requirements:
• The year begins the Sunday following the Holiday Party and will end the Friday before next Holiday Party.
• The winners must be members at the time of the awards ceremony at the Holiday Party.
• You do not have to be a member to have a run eligible, but you must become a member before you can win the award.
• You do not have to be present at the Holiday Party to win the Trail Boss or Tail Gunner award.
• Tail Boss award is for the most eligible runs. Tail Gunner is for the 2nd most eligile runs.
• If, at the end of the year, two or more people have the same number of trail rides, the trail leader with the highest vehicle count will be declared the winner. If there is a tie in vehicle count, then it will be decided from a poll on the OCC Yahoo group list between those that are tied.
• Board members other than the Member at Large (who tracks this) are eligible to win the award.
• Planned events like Big Dogs and Camp Heep are eligible if all the same requirements are met. It is understood that at external events the waivers and medical forms may not be allowed to be collected since OCC is not the host of the event therefore this requirement may be waived if so. It is also understood that in these planned events the database might be pre-setup. This is okay as the rules don't say who has to setup the database, just that it needs to be setup.
• Open Runs and Members only runs count if all other requirements are met.

  
  Procedural Requirements:

• The run must be announced on either the OCC list or MOCC list at least 24 hours prior to the drivers meeting and a sign-up database must be created on either the OCC or MOCC list depending on the Event type.
• There must be a minimum of four (4) vehicles on the run. They do not have to be on the database to count but they all must be listed in the trip report. In the trip report the attendees membership and or list membership status must be listed for each attendee.
• The run must be an official run; meaning, at least two participants must be members and you must adhere to the club policy of Tread Lightly!
• A family member does not count as the second required member on a run if they are family member of the first required member.
• Trips that are planned in advance to last multiple days will count as multiple runs, up to three (3) total as long as all trail boss award requirements are met each day. Trips that last more than three days can only count for up three runs.
• Waivers for non-members must be collected and submitted to the board. Medical forms must be distributed to all who don't have one. They can both be found in the Documents section of this website. To assist in the set up of a trail ride, there is a checklist alsoavailable in the Documents section.
• You must follow-up the run with a trail report posted on the list the run was advertised on. The report must contain a list of who participated in the run (not just "2 TJs, 2 CJ-7s and a Suburban" but the names of the people), each participants membership status (aka. Member, List Member or soon to be list member), and various details about the trip as appropriate.

  
  Recommendations (not requirements):

• Recruiting is now allowed and encouraged since this promotes wheeling within the club.
• Recruits should be members of the Yahoo list or be encouraged to become list members right after the trail ride.
• The vehicles that count should be on the database but this is no longer a hard and fast requirement. See below.
• Last minute attendees that did not sign up on the database now count towards the number of rigs if they attend the event and are listed in the Trip Report as required. The board understands some people don't have the time or the easy/quick internet access to get on the database every time and are concentrating on getting ready for the outing. Furthermore, the Board wants to encourage wheeling and less "red tape" in the procedures. The board thinks recruiting, whether it be from list members or from wheelers right at the staging area, is a good thing that will only help promote the Club and sport of wheeling.

  
  Other Notes about the awards:

• Email the Member at Large for any questions.
• The 2009 Board in their initial meeting and followup discussion decided the following:
  • That the old system, while great, could use some updates to make it even better!
  • That since the awards are not set in stone via the By-Laws that the Board can modify them.
  • That we needed more competition and more rides.
  • That there was too much red tape and that the trips that counted seemed to be too limited.
  • That changes would inspire/spur more involvement.
  • That board members work hard to sponser rides as well, and that they should be counted.
  • That the MAL stil shouldn't count since he oversees the awards.
  • That the recuiting ban should be lifted, since recruiting promotes wheeling and membership, and that's what we do!
  • That the Co-Pilot award is just random and not a "coveted award", and should be removed to make room for new awards yet to be announced.
  • That up to 3 day trips should count on multiday events to promote friday Wheeling and more wheeling in general.
  • That the smaller number of vehicle requirement better represents the more common small trips we are taking in this tougher economy.

Have fun and get out there and wheel!

2013 Award Stats

2012 Award Stats

2010 Award Stats

2009 Award Stats