Round 2 - Panglossian Rally
I've had a busy week on the forum and the results are now FINAL.
Congratulations to Chris Towers our
overall winner, who scored an excellent 95 without having to put forward
any queries to the forum between provisional and final results to try to
raise his score. This time the winner showed that taking time to get
things right was a better approach than aiming for high speed
completion. It was close though, with Gavin Rogers
in second place, just one point behind and many days shorter on time,
followed by David Bell in third place,
surpassing Peter Davies on time taken.
Steve Barber was close in 5th place, only
three points adrift from the winner but with a time faster than all four
competitors above him.
Jon Lunn was again the clear Expert
winner with another satisfying maximum 50 points.
Paul Megretton was three points behind and
Richard Strawson was another two points adrift in third.
Grantley Cleaver headed the Novices
once again, this time even better with a maximum 25.
Jonathan Forrest was second with 23 and
third place went to Sarah Harmer, competing
on her first internet TTR!
Commendations are due too.
Chris Bean a relative newbie from the US
excelled again with 7th overall.
Peter Robertson and
Dee Rampling Lee for very helpful comments with their answers
throughout.
Monica Dawson for her heart-felt comments
and sense of humour.
Bart den Hartog who was responsible for
clarification of some key points via the forum, in the first throws of
the competition.
Our top ranked contenders of Iain Tullie, Gavin
Rogers, Robert Owen, David Bell and Steve
Barber came home in 6th, 2nd, 14th, 3rd and 5th.
"Crow" will be contacting the category winners about their awards
shortly.
I again used the new plotting and puzzle methods introduced in Round 1.
However, the established grid line crossing and helicopter puzzles were
the best liked. This time you hated the footpath challenge but I feel I
should take responsibility for that, for choosing a map with just too
many footpaths!
My route cards requiring the Masters to find shortest routes probably
showed by non-Master ability. When I competed on these TTRs years ago, I
was only at Expert level, but we all strive to keep improving, don't we?
Having rarely picked up a map between the last TTR (two years ago) and
now, I gave you quite a challenge on some of the routes and I'm keeping
all of my paperwork so IF I do this again, I will have improved. Believe
me, I get more agitated by all of my hapless mistakes and the comments
they attract than you do trying to cope with them.
In the links below you can access each Route card to study the
solutions. This covers: the required answers, a commentary about
marking, a display map and a PDF map of the model route(s). Some of the
display maps show extra clickable markers for the location of the
(difficult) Route Checks. Showing the location of all the Route Checks
would an onerous task. The PDF maps just show the route.
You kept me busy on the forum, with the last message being posted only
five minutes before the 22:30 deadline on Sunday. The Panglossian
section has been locked since then but will be re-opened soon if you
want a second look. Then the forum stays open for another seven days so
that you can add more comments in the Feedback section if you wish.
The Schoolfrenz Rally starts on June 2. Gavin Rogers is in charge for
Round 3. He's a fellow competitor so is likely to produce a better
structured challenge than I could, without the need for multiple route
answers.
Look out for the next Bulletin, yet to be published, which will announce
a few tidy-ups to the regulations for the next round.
"Chick"
11 May 2010 @ 13:00
Here's a few handy links:
... Only old stuff below ...
After four days of very hard studying of comments and maps I've got RSI, but I
have managed to complete the Panglossian TTR Map Solutions and provisional
results are now available.
Provisional congratulations go to
Chris Towers (Masters leader with 95 points),
John Lunn (Experts leader with a magnificent 50/50) and
Grantley Cleaver (Novice
leader with a full 25/25). Enjoy the splendour for 7 days whilst your fellow
competitors pour over the results to see if they can improve their scores.
It's been two years since I last tackled this TTR business and didn't I say
"Never again!" last time? Maybe, but doesn't memory have a habit of forgetting
the worst experiences? Having rarely picked up a map between then and now, I
gave you quite a challenge on some of the routes and I'm keeping all of my
paperwork so IF I do this again, I will have improved. Believe me, I get more
agitated by all of my hapless mistakes than you do trying to cope with them.
I am very grateful to all of you who submitted constructive comments which
allowed me to see why answers differed and pointed out all of the missing spot
height dots, letters, number, green circles and red diamonds which might or
might not apply! I might wish for "better" printed OS maps, you might wish that
I selected "better" route checks. Comments are always useful and result in more
points for you where you are illustrating a dodgy feature or an alternative
route which I have not seen.
Thanks also to those who ranked the enjoyment level of each card. This gives you
the chance to guide the future content of the TTR, although I hope we will still
come up with new ideas to tease you. Perhaps one of you has an idea you'd like
us to try? Feel free to make suggestions.
So now it's over to you for seven days. There were lots of very detailed remarks
submitted with your answers, so please be kind if you feel I missed something
and you are repeating yourself. You've got until 22:30 on Sunday 9 May 2010 to
review the published solutions and submit any further comments via the Forum.
After that, the final results will be declared.
Best wishes
"Chick"
2 May, 2010 @ 22:30
A few words from me to express my appreciation for "Chick's" enormous effort
in bringing the Panglossian Rally to you. It's a tough job slaving over maps,
route cards, solutions and answers, and I sympathise with the despair an
organiser goes through in trying to be as fair as possible to keep the majority
happy. Well Done!
"Crow"
Welcome to The Panglossian Rally, the second round of the
2010 Championship. After much effort (when I should really be in the garden
preparing for the growing season), I have 12 Route Cards for you, which I
hope the Masters will find thought provoking and the Experts/Novices just
taxing enough. No serial killer voices this time to test your hearing but
sharp and lubricated eyes will be necessary.
You may have noticed already that we have now raised over £2400 for charity,
so thanks again for your support.
Remember to make sure you read the Route Card Status page before you start
any Route Card.
Don't panic if you your score is less than expected. Last time some of you
had great fun pointing out the error of my ways! No doubt I'll be spending
more time measuring various routes to verify the shortest one.
If you have queries please ask them against the appropriate Route Card
number in The Panglossian Rally section in the forum. Very specific
questions will receive an answer of "No Comment", so please generalise so
that you don't give away information to other competitors.
Just to remind you of Crow's original sound advice:
-
Make sure you understand the meaning of the legends for
the Route Check answers and enter your answers in the correct format.
Common mistakes from the past are not separating lists of
numbers/letters with just a comma (e.g. a spot height list 12,34,67) and
using the wrong case for, say, an answer requiring yes/no - just enter Y
or N. Take a few extra seconds to check your answers before hitting the
Submit button. It's not possible to mark each set of answers manually -
the computer does most of the work and has rules to follow.
-
When you enter your answers there is a new field for you
to rate (scale 1-10) how much you enjoyed the Route Card. This has
already provided valuable feedback for guiding the content of this
second round, but more feedback is always helpful.
And note below:
The Panglossian Rally 2010 Login will open at 22:00 on
Wednesday, March 31.
Best of luck.
"Chick"
27 March 2010
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You have to be mad to organise table-top rallies. This photo proves it.
"Crow", masquerading under his geocaching pseudonym of
"Schoolfrenz", recently found time to navigate to his 500th geocache.
A fellow geocacher presented him with a prize of a handsome
plastic crow to which "Crow" has become rather attached.
He's even threatening to take his new bird with him on the next
real rally he does.
Of caws, he's quite insane! |
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