Discussion: How to setup E-Punch for a Rogaine with a Map Exchange

The subject is actually a question but I figured it was long enough already.
The problem I'm having is in setting up an event in OEScore2003 that will be a 6-hour Rogaine with 48 controls and a map exchange. Each map has 24 controls and there will be a mass start. Teams will be downloading at the map exchange as most will be using SI-5 cards.
Just to twist the knife there's a 3-hour version that starts 3 hours later at about the time the long runners will be hitting the map exchange.
The best I've come up with is 2 score-O events. The first event will have Map 1 for the long course and the short course. Event 2 will be Map 2 for the long course. I'm not sure how the different start times will affect the results though.
The meet director will have to do some manual work to put the two long course results together but at least we'll have the stats.
Has anyone tried this before? And succeeded.

Does it have to be in OEScore? Sounds like the kind of thing Geco could be good for, since you've effectively got a very long scatter orientshow event going on.

It does have to be on OEScore but only because the event is this weekend and OEScore is all we have.
We're interested in trying other (simpler) event management applications so I'll take a look at this though.
Thanks for your quick response.

Fair enough. :)

What's your equipment list like? Your two-event solution is probably the best one, but what makes me nervous is if you're going to do this with one computer - it sounds like the long and short events will finish together, and it'll all fall in a heap if you're trying to run two OE events, with finishers interleaved, on one machine.

Good question and the answer is that there's only going to be one laptop. Asking for trouble I know but we're a fairly small club and can't really justify 2 laptops. However I do have a spare one myself... Hmmm.
I'll check on the power supply situation and see if there's a solution brewing.
Thanks again.

You might only need the second computer for the finish window. Netbook supplied by one of those car starter portable batteries lasts for longer than I have needed at any event so far.

Just to set things right, an orientshow is NOT a score event! Au contraire, it's a classic O race in line, just with time penalties for MPs. Currently Geco does not support score events for now. But there are other light softwares which support that kind of race (Ór, Helga...)

The two events set up is good, but I highly recommend to put the Map2 long + the short course in the same event, rather than Map1 long + short. The reason for this is that when people will finish (after 6 hours or 3 hours for the short), they will all rushed back to you and you certainly don't want to switch between 2 OE-events - a guarantee for mistakes and hair pulling.

Just thinking quickly:
- first event with only Map1 long, running during the map exchange
- while runners are in the second half, export the results and start filling your favorite spreadsheet
- switch to the second event to download Map2 long and short courses
- export and merge results...

Also I would set the mass start time to H0 for the Map2 event (and of course H+3 for the short course). This way you will get the full time right from the second event, without the need for an intermediate start and the addition of two times. You just need to copy-paste the scores from the first event in your spreadsheet to get the final results.

That is if I understood your set up correctly of course :)

To avoid having to go to a spreadsheet, I believe you can manually assign Extra Points (score from Map1) in Evaluate Chips in Map2, and these points will get added in after they download Map2.

So in the end we decided to run the 3 hour event (started at noon) and Map 1 of the 6 hour event (started at 9am) on one laptop and Map 2 on a second laptop. The main reason being that it was a fairly small event (about 30 total starts) and the meet director let people in the 6 hour event start on whichever map they wanted.
The changeover times were pretty random as a consequence and I have a 4 port USB hub that made switching the download station and label printer betweeen computers pretty easy.
At the end of the day it was a good exercise in working with SportSoftware to manage an unusual event structure but there just isn't a complete solution. Especially as most people are still using the SI-5 card, which is limited to 30 punches and we had 48 controls.
The meet director ended up using the software to get a quick read out of points totals and recorded the times manually. When I got the laptops back I produced split times for each map and compiled an overall results sheet from the .csv files.
If we do this again next year I'll recommend using traditional pin punches as depoying the e-punches (then retrieving them) for a small event under these conditions is a lot of work.

Thanks for your interest and advice.

We've been discussing the idea of doing a 24 hour event using a 12-hour sized area. Essentially, there would be two overlapping sets of controls, half of which could only be legally punched during the first 13 (maybe 14) hours) and the other half which could only be punched during the last 13 (or 14). So if you follow, it would be score style, but there would be restrictions (overlapping, though) on when controls could be punched. Any suggestions as to software that might be able to handle this?

As a separate idea, what would you think about running in an event like this? It essentially would meant that you'd have to pass through many parts of the mapped area twice. As a visual representation, imagine a figure 8 shaped area with hash house located near the center, but in each lobe of the "8" there would be controls that could not be punched at any given time (except during the overlap when any control would be fair game). I actually think this will make for some very interesting planning of routes and rest, but I'm curious what thoughts others might have on the format.

I think the rogaine format you describe is a fair challenge. There may be personal preferences that will lead some rogainers to avoid this type of event, but I think their percentage is small. I would, however, make triple sure it really is a 12-hour-sized area and not an 8-hour. An enforced long rest break is not a part of the current rogaining philosophy, although there are other formats, such as mountain marathons, for which the break is inherent.

An enforced long rest break is not a part of the current rogaining philosophy

Though you could add a rule that says that if you've gotten all of the controls in the first half, then you can return to the hash house, check in, and then proceed with the second half even though the magic hour hasn't yet arrived.

Indeed so. Why the time-of-day restrictions, then? Just get one map, come back, get the other map. No need to make the controls time-sensitive.

The time restriction would allow teams that have some motivation to not clean the first half still be able to do second-half controls (e.g. a team of relatively inexperienced navigators who are unwilling to try the most technical controls, but who still want to do the easier ones that are on the second map).

... but it seems they can do that anyway without the time restriction? I assume both maps are available for planning before the first half starts. It seemst the restriction should be "cannot punch any Part 2 controls before the last Part 1 control", perhaps supplemented by "and a visit to the hash house"?