Mother Lode Expedition Race 2012
Mother Lode Expedition Race
8/8-12/2012
XXX, CA
DETAILS:
The 2012 Gold Rush Mother Lode was a five day unsupported Expedition Race running from August 8 to 12, 2012. The event took place in the Sierra Mountains of central California with check-in on August 7. The event included hiking/running/orienteering, mountain biking, paddling and rope work. The winning team in the co-ed 4 person class received a free guaranteed entry into the ARWS World Championship event in France.
RESULTS:
We have taken considerable time and care in reviewing many factors to ascertain the results of the Gold Rush Mother Lode 2012.
The primary factor was to judge the correct response to the forest fire encountered on the final trek after TA5 which split the field. We judged the correct response was to omit the results of that trek. Unfortunately one of the results of that trek was that Team Sole/GRML arrived at the end of the leg with insufficient time to tackle the final section of the race, a climb, trek and pack-raft orienteering section. The last point unaffected by the fire was TA5 and the final race scoring will be based on team positions to that point.
The second major factor involved is the application of penalties for Team Sole/GRML’s missing passport at 3 CP’s (26, 27, 28) between TA4 and TA5. Proof of visiting the check points was provided by the team, just not in the passport. Ambiguity between the written rules and directions given at the official pre race briefing, have prevented a black-and-white situation. At the pre race meeting it was stated that teams should punch their map or similar in the absence of a passport. This was during a discussion of what to do if a checkpoint was missing. In settling this point, we have erred on the side of performance over paperwork and issued the lesser penalty to Team Sole/GRML. This lesser penalty is that of missing mandatory equipment and totals 4 ½ hours.
We congratulate all the teams on their efforts on a very difficult course and hope that every team can accept results based on performance up to the point that the course was equal for all, which was TA5.
The final results of the Gold Rush Mother Lode 2012 are as stated at the awards ceremony on Sunday 12th and are as follows:
Notes:
During the final trek of the 2012 Gold Rush Mother Lode expedition race all but one team encountered a fire on the course that changed how we needed to score the event. The fire occurred after all teams had departed the final transition area of the race. Team Columbia Vidaraid passed the site of the fire before it started and completed the entire course as intended. The rest of the teams remaining on the course encountered the fire and each had to choose whether or not it was safe to proceed. One team chose to press ahead, the rest chose to return to the transition area and they were shuttled to the next checkpoint beyond the fire. This created a two group scenario:
Group A did the original intended course, a very difficult and physically demanding section of the canyon trek.
The course director believed that this section should take 12-18 hours and knows first hand that it is an exhausting full body workout.
The course director anticipated that teams would miss the confluence of the N. Fork Stanislaus and Highland Creek. 50% of the teams that did the section missed it and travelled up Highland Creek.
Group B believed it was unsafe to pass the fire and returned to TA5 where they were picked up and shuttled to CP 31.
They arrived at CP31 several hours ahead of when they could have reasonably expected to arrive under their own power.
They did not suffer the physical demands of the entire canyon.
They had more time to collect cp’s than if they’d not been shuttled.
They did not have to correctly navigate the junction of Highland Creek and N. Fork Stanislaus in the dark.
There are many questions that deserve answers. Essentially, we consider the fire a natural disaster or an uncontrollable act of nature (with the help of an idiot camper.) Once racers encountered the fire, not all teams were doing the same course. We were challenged to find a fair way to compare the results of the teams that trekked up a very difficult canyon with the results of the teams that were shuttled ahead. TA5 was the last place that everyone was racing on the same playing field and the final results reflect the standings at that control point. Any other solution involves educated guesses about what might have happened, for example:
If all teams went into the canyon how many would have made the same easy mistake as ? The answer is a guess. Only Sole and Columbia Vidaraid had the opportunity to make the mistake and 1/2 of them did.
What time penalty should be added to the shuttled teams times to be fair to the 2 teams that did the last canyon? Our fast team estimate was 12 hours, slow teams 18+ hours. Columbia did it in 12 1/2 hours, mostly in daylight. Some of the teams may have taken 24 hours. Any blanket time adjustment would be arbitrary and would also not reflect the skills and abilities of each team, or the wear and tear that the canyon trek would have taken on the teams who shuttled had they done it.
The shuttled teams would have reached the ropes several hours later than they did which allowed those teams more time to get more mandatory and optional CPs than if they'd completed the canyon trek. How can that be made fair?
The decision to go with TA5 standings negates the errors and penalties that took place after TA5. If Team SOLE/GRML had raced the final leg perfectly the reasoning behind the decision would be easier to understand and seem more fair.
