Discussion: Nice race and writeup - Mid Ri...

Nice race and writeup - Mid Rivers Adventure has a good ring to it too.

what does it mean to plot co-ordinates? (arrgggh, I have revealed my ignorance!;-)

Generally, maps for adventure races are USGS quads, 1:24K or 1:25K. Sometimes they are custom maps from MyTopo or other similar providers (still 1:24 or 1:25k).

The maps are divided up into 1K squares based on the UTM coordinate system. Take a look at Maptools.com. They do a good job explaining UTM's.

Sometimes, the maps have a printed UTM grid, others have only the grid intersections printed, but most often, the maps will only have UTM tick marks on the border of the map. If the grid isn't there, I add it with a straight edge and a fine tip permanent marker. I suppose that with just the corners marked, you could plot the coords, but a small mistake can cost a lot of time (a lot more than it takes to draw the grid!).

The (CP locations are usually provided as a list of UTM coordinate pairs which must then be plotted on the map(s). You use a UTM corner tool to pinpoint the position within the 1K block.

Nice race and writeup -

Thanks!

so you plot it (deciding how much time you wanna fool around with paper N pencil) and then you skedaddle over there as during a normal-ish O-activity...yes?
that's devilish fun!

You almost always have to plot all the coordinates, no matter how long it takes. There are exceptions. For example, you know there's a ropes section and you want to get there ahead of the crowd. In that case you plot up to the ropes CP and then plot the rest while you are waiting at the ropes...

I guess the O-meet analogy would be copying controls from a master map while you are on the clock.

Most of the races I've done, they give you at least a portion of the maps and coordinates at the pre-race meeting. Then you plot what you have and do route planning 'off the clock', but usually at the expense of sleep.

hey great write up

nice to hear some of the different ideas for AR in other parts of the world. In NZ we generally plot all our co-ordiantes at the start of the race and navigation isn't very important...I like the sound of that race you did...

The Mission has been one of my favorites except for two things: 1) they always have a misplaced control (or two) and 2) the ropes are screwed up. It sounds like they at least fixed the second problem this year. I hope they go back to Memorial Day so I can do it again next year.

Mission involved a lot more strategy than other races I've done because of the route choices that the rogaine format allowed.

I would say that navigation is important in most races, even if it's trivial, because you still have to get to all the CP's. A lot of teams, experienced teams included, make big mistakes even with simple navigation.

It's the availabilty of route selection that I find to be lacking at many races. Seems like a lot of directors 'want' you to take certain routes so they limit the choices with the placement of controls, especially on the biking sections.