CRCA elections for next year’s Board are underway. Please review the candidate statements below to learn about the members running for board positions and their plans for our community in 2027.
President (One Candidate)
Matthew Vandivort
I care deeply about Century Road Club Association (CRCA) and our broader racing community, having served in multiple roles across the CRCA Board and the Development Foundation over nearly a decade. CRCA is a backbone of bike racing in New York City, and I am running for President because we have an opportunity and a shared responsibility to strengthen and ultimately grow our Club.
If elected, I will focus on several core priorities:
(1) Communication - It is imperative that we improve communication and transparency throughout the club. From the Board perspective, we will provide consistent updates to members on Board meetings and Club priorities. From the member perspective, we will create regular opportunities to relay feedback to CRCA leadership. And from the team perspective, we will establish a Teams Council that meets regularly to discuss ways to improve the Club. I hope these efforts will drive more collective ownership and engagement in everything the Club does. In addition, I want to get back to CRCA.net serving as a regular home for news about the Club and the amazing things our teams and members are doing, while exploring an online venue where members can connect on everything from CRCA updates to training and race schedules (could be WhatsApp, Discord, etc).
(2) Community - Being part of CRCA should come with a genuine sense of community. Alongside a better online space for members to interact, I want to build out more social opportunities for all Club members. This could be post-race coffee/bagels, organized happy hours, scheduled group rides, or other ideas, but I want to focus on building up the CRCA community both on-and-off the bike.
(3) Growing the Sport - As our recent data project on the state of NYC road racing showed, we face a significant new racer retention challenge that must be addressed. Better communication and a stronger community will help, but we also need targeted initiatives for riders entering the sport. In particular, I’d like to explore hosting new racer Zoom info sessions ahead of open races so newcomers can ask questions of race directors or experienced racers. I also want to explore launching a CRCA racing team focused on new riders entering the sport - filling a void created by recent changes in local development teams on the Men’s side.
Beyond these three focus areas, there are a plethora of other priorities. We need to move the Club toward a sustainable financial position after several years of significant losses. Given that rebuilding membership and sponsorship revenue will take time, this won’t be a one-year fix, but we also can’t keep burning cash in perpetuity. At the same time, we need to invest time and resources in our Open Race calendar to ensure CRCA continues to host the best and most prestigious races in NYC. And we must continue fostering strong external relationships: with teams across NYC (including those that have not historically participated in CRCA), with the Parks Department and Central Park Conservancy, and with other local race directors and stakeholders, all while maintaining a safe environment for all of our community members.
Some of this work won’t be easy, parts of it won’t work as well as intended, and much of it will rely on getting more of our membership engaged and volunteering to help chart this path forward. But with that renewed engagement, I believe we can stabilize, improve, and grow CRCA for years to come.
VP of Rider Development (One Candidate)
Tara Parsons
I have been a CRCA member since 1997 and a CRCA coach since 2011. I was an active racer between 1995-2006; 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 mentors; they’ve made the CRCA coaching program what it is today: one of the best club-level programs there is. These coaches have been a true inspiration to me, and I enjoy helping CRCA continue its legacy of developing strong and skilled riders that have included racers who have gone on to become professionals and even Olympians.
As a board member for CRCA for ten 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 and I also know what’s needed to improve our program to keep our racers succeeding, including strengthening the opportunities in our Development race fields. This long tenure on the board also brings historical knowledge to an ever-changing volunteer board.
I look forward to adding coaches to our coaching program this year, coordinating with the CRCDF on having our veteran racers mentor the juniors, and working with the teams director to create sub-team meet-and-greet socials at the beginning of the season. I will continue the work to keep the largest racing club in the United States inclusive and accessible to all racers in this great city!
VP of Club Racing (One Candidate)
Greg Hruby
In 2013, I raced my first categorized event in Central Park and was hooked. I came up through the sport during good times for NYC racing. Times are less certain now, and the goodwill that holds our community together has been tested. I believe most misunderstandings can be fixed with better communication. As my generation steps back, I want new members to have the same experience I had.
As your VP of Club Racing, I will focus on three initiatives:
Redundancy. Central Park racing has many points of failure we have been lucky to avoid. I will remove single points of failure so that no race day depends on one person or one system.
Community growth. Our recent report shows we are not keeping new members the way we used to. I will focus on retention by connecting new riders with the many ways to race and ride in our community, and we will track participation to see what’s working.
Faster, more accurate results. Basic membership and a la carte racing have slowed our resulting. I will work to get results out on race day and feeding accurately into our individual and team series.
None of this happens with one board member alone, and I will work with my fellow board members to build consensus and get it done. This club has given me a lot. It represents a fun and inclusive community, and I will work hard to ensure we are able to pass this on to the next generation.
I appreciate your consideration.
Secretary (Two Candidates)
Jason C. M. Atkins
Hi, I'm Jason Atkins. I've been racing bikes in life and in nyc for the past 4 seasons with Major Taylor. My involvement in the cycling community can best be described as encourager and historian. I am the person who comments encouragingly on your strava workouts and I am also the guy with the mounted camera who records and posts races to youtube with telemetry overlay and the occasional voiceover.
I am interested in joining the CRCA board as secretary because I care about racing in NYC and I would like to serve the crca community with my organizational and problem solving skills.
I have served in volunteer roles in community organizations over the past 20+ years including my block association, local community board, local churches and the brooklyn democratic party county committee.
I also think it is important to note that this candidate summary was not written with AI. Here are the top 3 ways you can tell:
1. Here's the deal - it's not the structure, it's the substance. Jason does a good job getting to the point of why he should be secretary.
2. Hot take - it's not the substance, it's the structure. Jason also does a good job of making this statement easy to read. He's not just telling you why you should vote for him, he is demonstrating care for you - a member of the cycling community - by making critical information easy to digest
3. And honestly? I mean - just read it. If you delve into the crucial meat of what he's saying, you'll see - that he's a quality candidate
Michael Kuehn
I've been an active CRCA racing member since 2010 and a donor member for the past several years. I'm deeply committed to the health and longevity of the CRCA community and would welcome the opportunity to give back by serving as Secretary.
Outside CRCA, I'm the board president of a small co-op in Chelsea and the kit master for my team, Veselka. For more than four years, I've also co-led a weekly solidarity ride for Ukraine on Zwift, supported by Veselka Restaurant. These roles have given me experience with the practical work of keeping groups organized, communicating with people, and helping a community function well.
Professionally, I've spent more than 20 years in leadership roles in consulting. I would bring that experience, along with a detail-oriented and pragmatic approach, to maintaining accurate minutes and policy records, communicating the outcomes of meetings, and making the club's governance accessible to its members.
My goal is to help CRCA remain a club where racing is fun, competitive, safe, and inclusive, and where members can support one another's development as racers while getting as much out of cycling personally as they do competitively. As Secretary, I'd aim to serve the entire membership fairly, contribute to a constructive club environment, and help ensure that our processes are clear, consistent, and transparent.
Treasurer (One Candidate)
Clara Warmath
Hi, my name is Clara Warmath! I came to cycling after rowing at Brown, and I’ve been an active racer in the CRCA for three years. I currently serve as Treasurer for CRCDF, the non-profit foundation that supports CRCA’s junior development team. I am running to bring clear insight into the financial health of both organizations and to strategize with each board about how the two organizations can best support each other.
Since joining CRCDF as Treasurer, I have implemented a new fundraising platform to make the donation process simple for donors and free for the foundation, which was previously paying a 2% processing fee on every transaction. I have also facilitated the transition to a new Registered Agent, reducing annual administrative costs by upwards of 60% long term. As Treasurer of CRCA, I hope to create similar positive change.
Professionally, I work with financial reports and evaluate financial decisions regularly. As CRCA Treasurer, I will maintain accurate records, ensure timely payment of expenses, identify funding opportunities to support club initiatives, and maintain fiscal transparency with the board and membership. I am highly organized, detail oriented, and committed to fulfilling my responsibilities as Treasurer if elected.
Communications Director (One Candidate)
Álvaro Soltero
I have been racing with CRCA for almost 10 years. It is where I started racing, and it is the club I consider home: I feel a direct, personal connection to it, and getting to race in Central Park is extremely cool. The cycling community in New York City is growing, but awareness of racing is not necessarily growing with it. There is a lot CRCA can do to both increase membership and get more people interested in the sport, and I see the Communications Director role as a key part of that: not just keeping existing members informed, but taking a greater role in outreach to the wider cycling community.
Public Relations Director (Two Candidates)
Lucie Vágnerová
Hi, I’m Lucie, and as your 2026 PR Director, I've been in charge of sponsor relationships and the club's public image. Here is the record I’m running on:
• I built a new club website that's easier to use and offers more visibility for our sponsors and partners <https://www.crca.net/our-partners>.
• I designed and disseminated flyers advertising the club in bike shops across the city.
• I kept our club series sponsors visible, negotiating a fiscal sponsorship increase for 2027.
• I brought in product sponsors: Enve for the season-long Boyd Cup competition, Bivo and Pissei for podium prizes, and BIKE SHOP the musical for the Racing Clinic. I also secured a fiscal sponsor, New York Cycle Club, for the Racing Clinic.
• I invited Inerro <https://www.instagram.com/inerronyc/?hl=en> to provide free tech support on a flat-filled day at Grant’s Tomb.
• I worked with Pissei on the design of a pretty cool Grant’s winners’ jersey.
• I set up year-round club kit ordering <https://www.crca.net/order-club-kit>, so we are no longer limited to discrete order windows, and I launched a form for submitting result corrections <https://www.crca.net/results-standings>.
• I contributed content for the club's social media and represented <https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2026/10/22/an-interview-with-central-parks-most-storied-competitive-cycling-club> the community <https://gothamist.com/news/bikes-get-a-lane-illegally-parked-cars-get-the-boot-in-downtown-brooklyn-redesign> in the press.
• I joined the CRCDF <https://www.crcdf.org/> board and recruited twenty junior and U23 racers for CRCA / Century Development <https://www.instagram.com/centurydevelopmentfoundation>, investing in the club's future.
Vote me in again, and my generational run continues. My priorities for 2027 are deepening new sponsor relationships into title sponsorships, delivering on CRCDF’s mission to win support for both of our organizations, and doing whatever else I can to keep our community competitive, accessible, and inclusive.
Mitch Jacaruso
Fellow CRCA members,
I'm running for Public Relations Director because I am deeply committed to the health and longevity of the CRCA community. My goal is to make CRCA racing fun, competitive, safe, and affordable, and to bring in the funding that makes it last. It is more critical today than ever that we manage the CRCA’s public image and its relationship with the broader New York Community.
I am a long-time CRCA member who has raced for several club teams and has competed in every type of race that CRCA has sponsored over the years, so I know our events from the start line to the finish.
I co-founded, developed, and managed New York’s first professional UCI cycling team, Champion Systems. For four years, I handled the public relations, fundraising, rider selection, and logistics for the team. I helped raise over $250K per year while cultivating partnerships with equipment manufacturers, race directors, and community leaders. I'm most proud of our efforts to support young American professional cyclists.
Closer to home, I raised the sponsorship funds and negotiated the contract that kept the Floyd Bennett Field race series running and affordable. We're hopeful the series will continue this year. I have served on the Century Development Foundation Board, and I am joining the Star Track Board, where I have been raising money for youth cycling for many years.
My goals are:
• Strengthen Community Partnerships: Build relationships with Central Park and local organizations.
• Deliver New Sponsorship: Already secured a major new sponsor for 2027!
• Grow Sponsor Relationships: Strengthen existing partnerships and attract new sponsors.
• Ensure Financial Stability: Leverage my CPA and finance experience to support CRCA’s long-term financial health.
• Eliminate Mandatory Marshaling: Secure additional funding to remove member marshaling requirements.
• Champion the CRCA Experience: Keep racing fun, competitive, and safe.
Thank you for your consideration, and I would be deeply honored to serve the CRCA as your PR director.
Sincerely,
Mitch Jacaruso
Membership Director (One Candidate)
Kevin Hsieh
I'm looking forward to returning for another season as Membership Director. For the 2027 season, I'm looking forward to working with the rest of the board to determine the best membership model to drive engagement and retention, continuing to improve the Member Portal to make results and other functions more efficient, and making the new member experience as exciting and engaging as possible. As always, I feel strongly that everyone should be able to race and ride bikes without their identities being questioned.
Marshal Director (One Candidate)
Elizabeth Tobey
I am honored to submit my nomination for Marshal Director of CRCA. I served as Marshal Director on the board last year, and am eager to take what I learned from the experience to continue improving the experience for members in 2027. Marshalling is the backbone of a safe race experience: Every morning, we have over 60 people lining Central Park in order to keep the roads clear and other park users safe as we race. This takes coordination with all CRCA members, teams, our marshal staff, and the Parks Department - who noted to us several times throughout the 2026 season how organized the club was getting marshals to their spots early every race. My focus for 2027 will be on continuing to help the rest of the board streamline the marshal process (huge shoutout to Kevin for his work making the marshal framework in our CRCA portal easier and more accessible for all) and, most importantly, finding ways to keep safety high while also trying to increase participation, understanding of the importance of marshals to our club's success, and finding new ways to keep costs down while still achieving those goals.
Teams Director (Two Candidates)
Hannah Stambaugh
My name’s Hannah Stambaugh, and I’m running for Teams Director. I’ve been a CRCA member for three seasons. Over the past two years, I’ve led the growth of the crca/Continental-Ostroy women’s team from three to twelve. We’ve focused on developing new racers and have flipped a lot of triathletes to road racing. I have two years of previous experience on the board of Brooklyn Triathlon Club, with my responsibilities spanning sponsorship, communications, and acting as a coaching liaison.
I’ll bring that same enthusiasm for growing the sport to this role, encouraging teams to join CRCA and serving as a point of contact for anyone hoping to start a team.
Outside of cycling, I’m an attorney working in the housing and tenant protection space. My work requires patience, diplomacy, professionalism, and kindness - qualities I’ll draw on to build stronger relationships between CRCA and its subteams and ensure teams feel heard and supported.
Etsu Taniguchi
Dear CRCA Members,
My name is Etsu Taniguchi, and I'm running for Teams Director on the 2027 CRCA Board of Directors. I'm committed to strengthening our teams, supporting our racers, and building a more connected cycling community.
I've been involved in NYC cycling for more than 20 years. After starting with NYVelocity, I founded what is now the Veselka Cycling Team, which helped launch the professional career of Evie Stevens and supported UCI rider Eri Yonamine.
Throughout those years, I've worked to grow local racing and bring our cycling community together. That work includes helping establish the first dedicated women's field at Floyd Bennett Field (FBF) in 2018, supporting the return of the FBF race series, organizing cycling events for CRCA and beyond, and advocating for safer streets with Transportation Alternatives.
Beyond cycling, I've spent more than 30 years coaching and managing competitive women's soccer teams, including leading the New York Athletic Club to a national championship. Professionally, I manage international partnerships for a Japanese media research company. Both experiences have taught me the importance of communication, collaboration, and strong leadership.
Over the past several months, I've spoken with more than 30 racers from over 15 local teams to better understand their priorities. Their feedback has shaped my vision for CRCA: more racing opportunities, a growing membership, greater transparency, and better support for teams. I've also engaged extensively with USAC since last year to understand their position and look for ways our club and USAC can work together to meet our members' desire for a more inclusive club.
As Teams Director, my priorities will be:
1. Improve communication: Hold monthly meetings with team captains and individual racers to encourage open dialogue with the board.
2. Simplify team responsibilities: Streamline race-duty assignments to make them fairer, clearer, and easier to manage.
3. Build community: Organize social rides, post-race gatherings, and race watch parties to bring members together.
4. Share resources: Create a central hub where teams and racers can exchange recommendations and knowledge.
CRCA has been a cornerstone of New York City cycling since 1898. I'd be honored to help our teams thrive and shape the club's future.
My full platform is in the attached presentation, and you can also view it online at https://claude.ai/artifact/Bt6f7KGTjanimCuBt2Nea2
I'd appreciate your support and consideration.
Sincerely,
Etsu Taniguchi Candidate for Teams Director 2027 CRCA Board of Directors
Open Racing Director (One Candidate)
Emily Singleton
I am Emily Singleton, and I hope you’ll vote me for CRCA’s 2027 Open Racing Director. I have been a CRCA member since 2014; since then, I have been on the Board for 6 seasons in various capacities, including Membership Director, Communications, and President. This past year, while shepherding the club through a sanctioning transition, I gained in-depth knowledge of the logistics required to operate a successful racing series (ask me about liability insurance!). In addition, I have experience racing at a high-level which I will draw from to enhance CRCA’s open races, particularly the CRCA Grant’s Tomb Criterium. Grant’s Tomb should be a marquee event for the community, and I am looking forward to focusing my energy on building it out. I will also work cohesively with the Board to improve season-long processes and member experiences.
Over the years, I have proven to be a reliable, committed, and honest representative of CRCA. I remain passionate about bike racing and keeping the sport accessible and inclusive for all.
Advocacy Director/Community Director (One Candidate)
Youngin Lim
My name is Youngin Lim, and I joined CRCA this season as a basic member after doing my very first road race in an open dev field race. Though I am relatively new to road racing, I have a background in track racing and fixed gear crits with Bad Pony Racing, whose mission is focused on growing WTFNB and queer fixed gear riders and racers. I joined Inerro Racing in the off-season, and I'm looking forward to racing with all of you next season.
I'm interested in contributing to CRCA and the broader cycling community by serving as the Director of Advocacy. Like all of you, I love riding and racing bikes. I want to share this passion for bikes and help the NYC racing scene grow. I hope to take my experience with the fixed gear scene and Bad Pony Racing - where we strive to keep the fixed gear scene open and welcoming by building a supportive community - and apply it to road racing. Since participation and rider retention is declining in NYC road racing, my priority will be focusing on recruiting new riders to participate in CRCA races and partnering with the VP of Rider Development to retain them. As someone that first started in CRCA through an open dev race this year, I hope to bring a fresh perspective on what might attract new riders and keep them in the system.
