SuperSeries 2 - Sunny Corner 2009

Thursday, 19 March 2009

By Rowan Bouttell.

Firstly I must confess to experiencing a perverse delight watching competitors receiving their maps and the resultant head spinning it caused for some, if not all. Not just route planning between controls, not just optimising a route to collect as many controls, but also ALL THAT ADDITION and SUBTRACTION!  Plus, what if you altered your course while riding? Would that ruin your planning and result in a punishing penalty ride at the end?

Wisely, many took their time and carefully planned their route. Others took off and planned while riding (Darvo?).  It seemed that about 7 minutes planning was average. Last person out took just under 15 minutes.

I hope everyone enjoyed the ‘different-ness’ of this score event, and understands the harsh punishment meted out to those who were short of points or long on points.  I forgave one or two entrants, so please excuse the inconsistency in my application of the letter of the law. There was definitely a bit to learn in getting the Sportident software to be able to spit out the results we actually needed. Many thanks to Rik for gamely setting it up and being brave enough and patient enough (with me) while we battled to adjust for this new format. Plus there was the frustration of control number 256 which beeped as if it was working but later spat out a Zero reading on downloading at the finish.  What about Alex who collected the entire set of controls - 350 points?  According to my rules this results in a DNF. We still listed his result for comparison, but it should be preceded by an asterisk. Unfortunately for the rest of us, his asterisked placing just shows his impressive strength and fitness. One or two others who were too shattered and red faced to go out on punitive missions were also forgiven, but these poor souls had been out on course for hours collecting extra points and wasting their  own time. At the end of the day they had had punishment enough.

Here are some interesting routes chosen by competitors. I have chosen to highlight where the competitor managed to get the correct score by visiting the least number of controls, or the most. As any american would say - go figure!

For the 80 point short course:

Most controls - Lisa Punzet with 7. (150, 106, 104, 151, 100, 101, 102)

Least controls - Cath Vero with 5. (150, 106, 156, 254, 151)

For 140 point medium:

Most - Raynie McNee with 11. (150, 151, 104, 106, 156, 105, 103, 251, 101, 100, 102)

Least - Michael Roylance with 7. (101, 251, 152, 250, 153, 253, 252)

For 240 point long:

Most - Anthony Darr with 15. (102, 150, 151, 104, 106, 156, 254, 154, 256, 155, 105, 103, 252, 152, 251)

Least - Robyn Simionato with 12. (251, 152, 250, 252, 253, 255, 155, 256, 254, 106, 150, 102)

Thanks to all who participated and I hope you enjoyed it.  And very importantly thanks to those who helped with the setup and those who collected controls afterwards.

ALSO: Check out the results, wrap-up from SS1 and Darvo's report in the "Photos and Stories" (more photos will also be available soon).