Discussion: Laramie Daze Klagomur

Life may not be perfect, but Laramie Daze is! : )

However, just in case you think there was something that wasn't quite perfect, maybe a very minor blemish or some fairly trivial matter of concern, here is the official online Laramie Daze Klagomur--where we pretend to listen, and you pretend that something positive might actually happen because of your complaint. So file all your complaints here, and be sure to go to great detail--almost as much as if you were filing a trail orienteering protest would be about the right amount.

And to start things off, I will point out that it was entirely too nice at The Unfair Race Finish area this afternoon. Couldn't there have at least been a threatening cloud or two, or maybe some Texas Crazy Ants? Well, we can always hope for a less favorable day tomorrow.

Rasberry.

First batch of photos from the Unfair Race are out there. Taking photos while racing ain't easy, but hopefully these give you a sense of today's nonsense...

The Most Exalted Punch Card Investigation Committee, having examined all the punch cards from The Unfair Race, has determined that:

the following did not punch several controls:
Duprey
King
Johnson, C
Lehman
Blake
Drumm
Davis
Almsted, Markus
Almsted, Ann

And the following mispunched:

Colcannon - wrong first control
Levin - wrong first control
Leggett - wrong first control
Shahbazian - wrong first control
Pluto - wrong first control
Hall - no control #4
Lennon, K - no control #4
Bersvendsen - no control #14
Winston - her punches were all over the place and I couldn’t find all of the ones she needed

In The Unfair Race we must be ruthless and show no mercy. The first batch of people above are DNF, and the second batch are MP. By the way, I would like to point out in this particular circumstance “MP” does not mean “Mikell Platt”, while in many other circumstances it could potentially mean that.

Normally I would be inclined to show someone like Jim Hall considerable mercy because he is so nice and such a gentleman. However, in his case we can not do so because he attempted to make the outlandish claim that he had gone to the correct bush (the control feature) and there was no control there, while nearly all others somehow were able to go to the correct bush and find the control that was there.

This thusly is my ruling, by the powers I have granted to myself as the Grand Master of The Unfair Race.

Additional information which can be shared: The Podium for The Unfair Race was comprised of the following runners--who correctly punched all controls and even found the now notorious supposedly missing bush control:

1) Eric Bone, who was gracious in his win
2) Brandon King, who was also gracious
3) Brian Johnston, who was Canadian and we didn't even know it, and also gracious
4) Tristan Smith, who was unknown to everyone or at least to me, and who was gracious
5) Carlo Giacometti, who has a difficult last name, and who was also gracious
6) Ted Good, who was not only gracious but also humble and who expressed much surprise upon learning he was in the top 6 finishers.

Conceivably there could even later be published an order of finish with official race times, but the certification process apparently requires additional officialdom, not to mention more time.

Finally, no runners who were tested flunked the Doping Protocol for The Unfair Race, which is quite admirable considering doing something as patently unfair like that would have been deemed permissible given the overall illicit nature of the race itself.

--Swampfox

Does it not go BEYOND unfair to call a competitor for MP when you are using pin punches and possibly the only orienteering races she has ever done have been those using SI e-punch? And have unfairly not explained to the younger participants from more 'advanced' parts of the country how pin punching works?

The Färgblind Klubben would like to express our thanks for this fine event featuring not enough unfairness, really, despite the intricate rough open and slow run areas having been printed with (as far as we can ascertain) exactly the same color of ink.

@gordhun: it ain't rocket surgery.

Neither is putting one's tongue in his own cheek, jj, but it seems getting some people to understand it is just a bit harder.

I don't know about Jim Hall's bush, but it seems to me that control 9 (44) was hung on one of the mushroom rocks marked on the map by the black triangle rock cluster symbol, within the circle, but slightly northeast of the bare rock highpoint in the circle center. Probably just a map printing error.

The control picker-upper agreed with me, however, enough to compel me at 4 p.m. to drive out to the bend in the side road 200 m north of the control for another look. I trudged south through the swampy green to the digit "9", seeing the cliff, rock, and two dot knolls nearby, then on to the black triangle. Sure enough, there was the telltail stick still leaning against one of the mushroom rocks that the flag had been tied to.

I then went to the two gray areas in the center and south of the circle, and to the rocks to the west above the swamp, seen when coming east from control 8 (43, knoll, Course variation 4). The map is incredibly accurate in this area.

However, I note that Course variation 1 (as posted on Facebook) had a different control 8, namely 42, spur, which was northwest of control 9, not slightly southwest as was control 43, knoll, on Course 4. People on course 1 had a different approach angle to 9, so it seems easier to have found it on the black triangle rocks without noticing it wasn't quite correctly located. (Sigh, the luck of the Unfair Race!)

This whole ramblings is quite nitpicking; I hesitate to even post it. Sure, I lost a minute, maybe. But in reality I really enjoyed Mikell's new map and area and course setting. Thanks a lot - it was really fun. I am looking forward to the remaining five Laramie Daze events.

It was incredibly fun to see half the people approaching my control number 1 (32) hesitate, check their maps, and look around in apparent befuddlement.

For those staying in Laramie, if it hasn’t been mentioned elsewhere, Univ of Wyoming has a home football game, Saturday at 6:30 pm. Expect traffic, congestion getting to restaurants, etc.

The main thing to expect would be a lot more Texans than normal.

Results are posted here.

In the interest of giving credit where credit is due, I wish to acknowledge that Sharon is entirely correct, and that #44 was hung--by me--on the wrong feature. And thus The Unfair Race was even a little more unfair than intended. A good thing the race format was what it was!

Just to be contrary to the stated intent of this thread, I'd like to say thank you to the RMOC team for a wonderful Laramie Daze. I missed the unfairness of the early part, but I found the maps, courses, organization, awards, opportunities to socialize, and total enjoyment of the event to be top notch. A special thanks to everyone who helped us get down to Denver in time to make our mid-afternoon flights. It was a real treat to see everyone in such beautiful terrain, doing what we all love to do, and a reminder of why I enjoy this event so much. Thank you!

I'll second Victoria Cambell's sentiment--it was brilliant. Hats off to everyone involved from the people behind the scenes all the way to the participants. Laramie Daze 2023 was a superb.

I want to jump on the praise bandwagon, too. In my situation, this annual event (even when it is not tied to NREs) is the only practical option for me to get orienteering experience and repetition to help skills sink in. No other regional clubs host anything other than single day/single map events and all are farther away from me than Laramie Daze, which is already ~5 hours from home. This year's event was well organized, had an interesting mix of formats, and packed a lot into a short amount of time, all of which made it well worth the time and financial investment. Thank you very much to Swampfox and the RMOC volunteers for the immense amount of effort to make this event happen, even if there was a bit of unfairness here and there.

I would like to point out that Doug Berling was the Event Director, and had he not raised his hand and taken on this task, none of this would have happened. For all that went well, he deserves huge credit.

Doug was event director, equipment hauler, volunteer recruiter, map printer, e-punch chief, and probably many other roles that I'm not even aware of!

Thanks to Mikell and Doug (and everyone else) for making an amazing event happen. It was great to be back orienteering in the Laramie Range after a few years' absence.

Are there any plans to put the events on Routegadget / Livelox?