Huddart Results

July 19, 1998

by Brian Moore, meet director

Since the park rangers require that we stay on trails, this was a trail-only event. There was a typical White course, but the format for the other courses was a variation on a Score-O called "Western Mass(achusetts) Rules." Below are the complete results.

Western Mass. Rules

There were 30 controls scattered throughout the lower slopes of the park. The 'courses' were divided into any 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, or 30 controls. Participants didn't have to decide how many controls to visit until they were on the course. If they found 5 and were feeling good, they could go get another 5 - although they might plan a more efficient route by deciding in advance how many to find. As in a score-O, they decided which controls to go to and in what order.

Scoring was by time in each of the categories. There were no bonuses for finding extra controls (e.g. 14 was no better than 10). Unlike a score-O, there was no time limit other than the standard 2:00 pm course close.

How NOT to Direct a Meet...

This was the first meet I have directed for BAOC. (I directed 2 for EMPO in NY.) Everything was going fine until I scheduled a 16-day vacation which included the 3 weekends preceeding the event. I was frantically busy at work for a couple of weeks before that getting ready to be gone for 2 weeks, and the first week back was frantic catching up. Fortunately I had done some scouting of the park and control locations months in advance, making a rough draft of a course.

Friday night before the event, when I finally had time to finish planning (thank goodness I wasn't intending to have premarked maps), I could not find any of my drafts. (Monday after the meet they turned up at my office, where I had made some photocopies.) I panicked, pulled out a blank map, and started from scratch with what I remembered from long ago. Fortunately Huddart required us to stay on trails, which cut down on my options.

Saturday started early; I had a lot of ground to cover in the park, scouting control locations and map corrections. Since there are water fountains throughout the park I had not planned on having any water stops, but as I was dying of heat on Saturday, with an equally hot forecast for Sunday, I decided that the part of the park far from fountains needed a water stop. I also decided that the course I had planned would not be long enough for the fastest runners. There was a lot of unused park way up toward Skyline that I could use.... By the time I got there it was early evening, and I decided there was no way I would have time to hang the controls in the morning, so I set out 3 controls Saturday evening without worrying about putting them on trails since it was late, and they were well off the popular trails.

Back home, I made a couple of master maps and map correction maps. Then I got out the controls to check their codes, and start making clue sheets. Clue sheets came off the printer late Saturday night, and I got a few hours of sleep.

As the sun rose on Sunday, I was jogging through the park wearing a big backpack containing 4.5 gallons of water and a whole lot of controls. Since Huddart requires us to stay on trails, I could not have set the controls on previous days even if I had been ready to. The park was, of course, closed at sunrise so I parked up towards Skyline and dropped down into the park...

About 8 am I had set most of the controls, drove into the park, said hello to Ev and Jean who were setting up registration, and drove away to go set some more controls. Finished those, then did a quick run through the White course setting that. By then lots of people were arriving. (Note to future meet directors: lots of people arrive early.) I started making more copies of the master control and correction maps. (There weren't enough to begin with, and a couple wandered away somehow.)

Help was sparse; my post to BayOnet and attempt to recruit people at a Wednesday evening training session didn't result in many volunteers. Fortunately, Scott volunteered to work the entire time, and I called in emergency backup helpers: my parents. A few more helpers were recruited during the meet. Thanks to everyone who helped; I'm sorry that it's been so long I can't name you all.

About 2 pm I discovered a drawback of providing a course format that let everyone, even the fast runners, run themselves into the ground. Help for control pickup was sparse, understandable considering the heat and that the Western Mass format allowed everyone to go as far as they could on their course. Setting and picking up controls on Sunday I went to 54 control sites, after covering the whole park on Saturday too. I don't want to think about how many miles I covered that weekend. I have done three 24-hour rogaines, but that weekend felt like a 36-hour rogaine. Fortunately, I like rogaines.


Results

WHITE COURSE

Lauren Wolfe                    12:40
Jaakko Karras                   19:20
David Doberurch                 19:28
Dao Le                          25:39
Troop 1694/Group 1              27:24
Troop 1694/Group 2              27:43
Westerdorf & Wilbourn           30:32
George, Janet, & Jillian Hamma  35:08
Allen & Erica Denison           36:14
Jan Wolfe                       36:51
Gardner Group                   37:49
Timber Wolves, BSA              42:05
Wildcats, BSA                   55:28


SCORE-O: WESTERN MASS. RULES

0-4 Controls

George, Janet, & Jillian Hamma  39:45 (4)
Malcolm Wyatt-Mair  		81:40 (3)

5-9 Controls

Elsa & Robert Carvalho      60:59 (6)
Dox Doxiadis, Sarah Edwards 65:07 (6)
Galina Shakhnovsky          69:54
G.S. Troop 1694/Flaherty   100:31 (9)
Dave Ward                  126:14 (6)
Bill Bryant                135:09 (9)
Linda Bagnall, Carlos Sobi 142:43
Rotom & Hanoch Raviv       156:30
Ofer & Tomer Grossman      161:00

10-14 Controls

Julia Tussing, Kathryn Lesh 55:30
Clem McGrath                58:38 (14)
Ian Ramsey                  62:10 (12)
Scott Aster                 62:10
Phillip Hoare               67:42
Matt & Patrick Rabuzzi      80:10
Rosemary Johnson            82:20
Digumarthy/Allen            96:04
Julia Zaks                  98:45
Michelle Dick, Hee So      102:09
Judy Koehler               113:09
Roy's Rovers               119:50
Don Gee                    130:56
Andy McGugan               134:22
Lise/Vaurs                 135:27
Rizzi                      145:43
Lans Taylor                 24:54 (2nd course)

15 Controls

Tapio Karras                56:58
Terry Gleason              101:03
Mike Fleishman             102:46
Jeff Lanam                 107:01
Anne Stubl, Trvitt Cooper  110:40 
Jon Morse                  116:38
Chelsea & Lans Taylor      119:06
Allen & Erica Denison      120:15
Vic Revenko                130:47
Daniel Semier              131:20
David Meredith             147:41
Nancy Lindeman             170:18
Dudley Kenworthy           198:09

20-24 Controls

Michael Poulsen             90:51
Steve Jankowski             98:30
Doug Stein                  99:28
Hugh Wright                103:45
Aileen Abernathy           118:12
Trevor Pering              121:48
Steve Richardson           139:13 (23)
Oleg Shakhnovsky           151:23
G. Cracker/M. Pac          195:00

25 Controls

Bruce Wolfe             85:40
Syd Reader              96:21
Thorsten Graeve         98:25
Dan Stoll-Hadayia       98:50
Dan Greene              98:58
Kent Ohlund            108:24
Werner Haag            114:10
Ulrich Egede           126:59
Bob Cooley             127:04
Angelica Riley         128:20
Russell Green          157:20
Gavin Wyatt-Mair       161:52
Sean Daley/Pete
  Kebofski/Gim Gibson  184:04
Steve Beuerman         195:45

30 Controls

Wyatt Riley            121:59
Steve Gregg            132:20
Steve Haas             152:55