For our ultimate summer orienteering challenge, I set a course at Lock 7 in Niskayuna, a beautiful park on the Mohawk River with a map recently rehabilitated by Phil Hawkes-Teeter.  How to best take advantage of this physically tough terrain, intricate map, and wonderfully varied beautiful scenery for our orienteering pleasure?   I like the Score-O format: let people go where they want and work against the clock!  And enjoy the unique features by taking nice pictures!  And so the "Phot-O" was born.

For this Phot-O, the rules were:  20 controls (all worth 10 or 15 points each, 230 maximum) with a 60 minute time limit, but you have the option of taking photos while out on the course! (Photos either needed to include the control bag, or be taken from the vantage point of the bag.) You could submit up to 3 photos and earn a maximum of 30 points (photo judges' decisions are FINAL).  It was revealed that the judges have a preference for pictures of flowers, bridges, the river, and kids orienteering.  As an added complication, since sunset was around 7:30, a very harsh penalty of complete disqualification was meted out if you finished past 7:30 pm.  (There was also a typical 10-point penalty for each full minute overtime)

The competition was fierce, and both the wonderfully intricate park topography and the photo aspect worked together to challenge everyone.  In several places you needed to read the contours very closely to see that your first glance route choice definitely wouldn’t work, and that trapped several people.  Doug almost swept the course, but couldn’t quite get them all — but still managed first place.  With some generous help from the photo judges, Jason came just one point away from first place.  There was some interesting strategy with the photos — do you plan to finish late to get an elusive sunset photo? Do you take your kids out; they’ll slow you down, but they’re so cute!  Are there more flowers under the power line?  Check out the results table and see how the competition fared. [Some of the submitted photos appear below the results table.]

Thank you all for coming and competing!

Will Kennerly

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Lock 7 Phot-O	Final Score		controls found	points from controls	start time	finish time	time on course	overtime penalty	photo points	potential final score
Doug Swank EMPO	210		1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  .  .  11 .  13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20	210	5:47:06	6:47:04	59:58			210
Jason Edwards EMPO	209		.  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10 11 12 .  .  .  16 17 18 19 20	185	6:10:30	7:09:04	58:34		24	209
Dave Webber HVO	165		1  .  .  .  5  6  7  .  9  10 .  .   13 14 15 16 17 18 19 .	165	5:38:30	6:33:28	54:58			165
Phil Hawkes-Teeter EMPO	155		1  2  .  .  5  6  .  .  .  .  .  .  13 14 15 16 17 18 19 .	145	5:28:24	6:24:49	56:25		10	155
Bruce Beesley EMPO	130		1  2  .  .  5  6  .  .  9  .  .  .  13 14 15 16 17 18 .  .	140	5:50:35	6:51:37	1:01:02	-10		130
Evan Halstead	128		1  .  3  4  5  6  .  .  .  10 11 12 .  .  .  .  .  . 19  20	110	5:36:00	6:34:34	58:34		18	128
Andy Chillrud EMPO	100		.  2  .  4  5  6  7  8  9  10 11 12 .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .	100	5:45:10	6:43:21	58:11			100
Denbeaux Entourage	50		1  .  .  .  5  6  7  .  9  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .	50	5:58:47	6:44:44	45:57			50
Sue Hawkes-Teeter EMPO	18		.  2  .  .  .  6  .  .  9  10 .  .  .  .  .  16 17 18 19 .	100	5:32:00	6:41:21	1:09:21	-90	8	18
****	****		****	****	****	****	****	****	****	****
Frank Boscoe EMPO	dsq / finished >7:30		.  2  .  .  5  6  7  8  9  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 .  .	180	6:29:53	7:31:03	1:01:10	-10	27	197
Kathy Fisher EMPO	dsq / finished >7:30		.  2  .  .  .  6  .  .  .  .  .  .  13 .  .  16 17 .  19 .	80	6:27:38	had fun anyway	had fun anyway		30	110
Miller Entourage EMPO	dsq / finished >7:30		.  2  .  4  5  6  .  .  .  .  11 12 .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .	60	6:42:17	7:34:51	52:34		28	88

 

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