Discussion: sportident question

I realize there is a group for this but I couldn't find it so thought I'd post this here to get a quick answer instead.

In Ontario we have many events that are point-to-point then enter a section of the race where checkpoints can be taken in order and then become point-to-point.

Is there a simple way to program this in the SI or OR software. I recall being at some races that a # sign is adjacent to a checkpoint split and recall those being cases where going to checkpoints in any order was permitted.

Thanks so much.

I can't answer your specific question, but I can tell you the the SportIdent group is:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SportIdent/

Yes, there is an easy way to program this in the SI software from Stephan Kramer. From the Help menu in the software OE2003:

Courses without checking the punch order
OE2003 offers the feature to omit the check of the punch order for the whole or parts of a course. This is useful for some kinds of mass starts, or Score events.
Set the code checking type to Mixed. Define a course which is composed of all controls where the order has to be checked. Add all controls at the end which can be punched in any order.
As the divisor, enter the code number of the last control on the fixed course. Normally, this is the last control before the finish. The divisor means that all controls after that one can be punch in a free order. The divisor control can be used more than once within the course. In this case, the last control with this code number will be taken.

Example 1: 1(31)-2(32)-3(33)- now 61,62,63 in free order, then - 4(34)-5(35)- 64,65,66 free - 6(36) - 7(99)
Define the course: 31,32,33,34,35,36,99,61,62,63,64,65,66. Enter 99 as the divisor.
Example 2: All controls can be punched in any order.
Enter all controls in any order and leave the divisor field empty. (But do not forget to set to Mixed code checking.)




OE2003/MT2003 © Stephan Krämer 2007

Excellent thanks Sandy.

This is how vmeyer explained to me how they use SI with Billygoat events:

Hello Tony,
No, I have never come up with an easy way to account for a skipped control. Assuming you are using OE2003, everyone comes in as a MP, and then I go to Competition Day/Evaluate Chips then Actions/Insert Control, and I insert the control number that was skipped. This will insert it to everyone with the same skipped control, so it is a little easier then doing them one at a time if you wait until a bunch of people have come in. Then I repeat the steps for the other control numbers which were skipped.

For the Forking,
I do program the forked controls as two different numbers (example 101 and 201), and then I label them both 101 (or whatever the one on the course is).
In OE2003, I do a replacement control of 101 = 201. Then both are accepted, but a visual review of the data later on shows you which one they went to.

Hope this is helpful. Let me know if you have any questions,.

Valerie Meyer

I used this method for Western Australia's first Billygoat event (The Boomer) last year, and it worked well - except for me using a control as a fork on one course which was not a fork on other courses. This was able to be fixed in the Competition Day/Evaluate Chips screen once we worked out what was happening!

So next time we will make sure the fork controls are not used on other courses. Will also have a look at Sandy's solution to see if it can be used for Billygoat style events.

What I have done for some goats and score races is to just create the course in OE2003 but don't put any controls into it. I've done it both with a start using a start station and with mass starts. After the download, when OE does code checking, it always passes.

What this does is let OE give you a valid finish time and prints a split list for everyone when they download. We usually print another and hang that on the string. The full-page splits report is messed up a little, but still usable.

Obviously, this requires manual checking of the number of controls (score O') or the punches in order and the validity of the skips (goat).

The really cool thing is that it does work for Routegadget if you use the switch that lets everyone have their own course. (The splits .csv export is usable.)

It is a kludge, and it's not particularly convenient as the number of competitors goes higher than, say, 20. I always end up editing the results report to correctly show the finish order. It is very nice in that it quickly gives you a course time and prints a split report for the runner. One goat tradition is to quickly post the unofficial times and sort out the official results afterwards. This conforms to that tradition and is easy to implement.

edit: Simmo---that forking fix is brilliant. I'm going to use that. Although---I'm not sure it'll work for Routegadget. I'd be tempted to just leave out the forked controls and verify manually that they were visited.

one simple way to do Goats (w/skips) and mixed courses in OR

set up the whole thing as score O - with 1 point for each
make sure that the controls needing to be done in order are a nice well defined sequence (101,102,103 , 104 ....)

Then you just need to check 2 things on download
a) the section that is the special sequence is correct
b) the total number of points is correct

Results will be in time of finish order