MEA CULPA!

Of all the phrases every meet director hates to hear, the one that brings uncertainty, fear, and self-loathing to one's heart is, "the control isn't there!" I heard it on Saturday at Moreau Lake State Park, where we were hosting our latest meet, only the second at which we were using our new SPORTident electronic punching system, and my fourth attempt at meet direction. Of course, I was sure the control was hung where it belonged.....wasn't I?

Fortunately, it was early in the day, and Phil Hawkes-Teeter was able to leave his computer and go with the Green course competitor to the spot where the control should have been. When Phil returned, I got the bad news: the control was indeed hung at a stream bend, just not the same stream bend indicated on the map! Aarrrgghhh! Again, as a matter of luck, the same control was used as the next-to-last control for the Red runners, but they hadn't had time to reach that spot yet, so it was of no concern to them. Thankfully, the 2 Green runners affected were understanding and forgiving of my error, and did not try to beat me up in the parking lot. Their times have been adjusted in the results, and show what would have been their likely scores. Sorry, Martin and Bill.

The day started out kind of gray and chilly, but brightened and warmed up considerably as time passed. We had a total of 20 cards out on the courses, but many of them were families and groups, including one of seven folks, so we had a decent crowd all told, ranging in age from one to seventy-ish. As our more experienced runners finished, I was able to gain advice and suggestions on course design and execution, all of which was helpful and greatly appreciated. It was also pointed out that there are at least a few spots on the map which were sketchy and/or needed updating.

Setup was assisted by Gabor Bobok and Anika Fellegi, Bob Goodwin, and Phil Hawkes-Teeter; registration was assisted by Janet Tryson; and control pickup was by Phil, Janet and Glen Tryson, and me.

Many thanks to all who helped me, participated, and forgave my blunders.

- Bob Lange

The first control on the Green course was misplaced (it was also the penultimate control on the Red course, but it was fixed before the first Red runner came through). So, I had to modify the Green course entries to show them both as "OK" (not "mp", which is how one of them came out, since he legitimately did not punch the 1st control), and I modified the times to the first control, assigning an arbitrary 10:00 minutes for Bill, and cutting an arbitrary 30 minutes off for Martin (who ran all the way back to the Start to point out the problem, then ran to the mapped location again, then followed me back to where the control had been incorrectly hung and punched it).

Thus Martin's total time was reduced by 30 minutes, while Bill's total time was not changed, but his first two control times were divided. I was not able to make all of these changes on site, but I have now figured out how to do this. If either Martin or Bill wants to quibble with my arbitrary decisions, feel free. I think the final Results are about right, but I'm open to further consideration.

On the Red course, there was some question about the placement of the 2nd control. After a field review, it was determined by the "Protest Committee" (meaning just me in this case) that the flag placement was indeed within the mapped circle, though there were a few ancillary issues which may have made it extra difficult for some competitors to see the flag. So, the two persons categorized as "mp" (miss-punch) stand as such. There was also some question about the placement of Control #78, but there was no "protest", and the consensus seemed to be that any problem was due to the map, not the course.

- Phil H-T