Discussion: Fantasy WOC?

In his blog, Spike brings up the idea of having a Fantasy WOC competition and sketches out some rules, as follows:

"I designed some rules for a fantasy WOC while I was running a few weeks ago. The idea was to come up with a simple way to pick a "fantasy team" for each of the individual WOC races and combine the runners' results.

The rules are simple. Here they are:

1. Before each individual race you pick a team of 4 men and 4 women.

2. You have to pick two of the men and two of the women from this list of nations: Denmark, Switzerland, Great Britain, Czech Republic, Norway, Russia, Finland and Sweden. But, you can only have two runners from a single nation.

3. You have to pick one man and one woman from this list of nations: Estonia, Latvia, Italy, Spain, Hungary, Romania, Austria, Germany, Lithuania, Australia and Ukraine.

4. You have to pick one man and one woman who run for Canada or the U.S.A. (This rule would be waived for any finals if no one qualifies).

5. Your team's score is the sum of the runners places. (For example if you pick a runner who finishes 3rd in the race, your team gets 3 points).

6. If your runner doesn't finish or gets disqualified, you get points based on the number of starters in the race. (For example, if 60 people start the race, any and all DQs or DNFs count as 60 points).

I came up with the basic rules to entertain myself while I was running. I'm not actually arranging a competition, but I might pick a team before each individual race just for entertainment."

I like Spike's idea. If anyone is interested, the start list for tomorrow's Classic distance qualifier is posted at http://www.woc2004.com/bilagor/b131Men.xls for men and http://www.woc2004.com/bilagor/b130Women.xls for women.

Here is my team for the long qualifying race. From the first list of nations: Jenny Johansson (SWE), Simone Niggli-Luder (SUI), Emil Wingsted (SWE) and Mats Haldin (FIN). From the second list of nations: Olle Karner (EST) and Tina Olm-Junegard (EST). From North America: Brian and Sandy.

I think I understand the rules, but I personally would like to select (or to have the option to select) French and Croatian runners.

From my understanding, it is not possible to achieve this. Any thoughts?

I am assuming that France, Slovakia, and Croatia to all be in the second group of nations, as well as the other unlisted countries.

Team Boris for long qualifying: Emil Wingstedt (SWE), Bjornar Valstad (NOR), Marian Davidik (SVK), Mikell Platt (USA); Simone Niggli-Luder (SUI), Tanya Ryabkina (RUS), Anna Garin (ESP), Sandy Hott-Johansen (CAN).

Mary's team for long qualifying: Simone Niggli-Luder, Gunilla Svard, Annika Rihma (ROM) and Sandra Zurcher. Emil Wingstedt, Bjornar Vlstad, Jan Olm (EST) and MIkell Platt.

We should keep the rules as are for the first race (Long qualifier). You can't pick a runner from France or Croatia. But, for other races, we can add France to the first group and Croatia to the second.

For men:
Wingstedt
Lakanen
Davidik (if allowed)
Pompe (if Davidik not allowed)
Platt

women:
Niggli-Luder
Staff
Zsuzsa Fey
Hott-Johansen

Fantasy team results from the long qualifying race:

Spike 59
BorisGr 73
J-man 85
Maprunner 89

For future rounds, include France in the first group of nations and Slovakia and Croatia in the second group.

The middle qualifier is tomorrow. Pick a new team and post it before the race.

Here is my team for Monday's middle qualifier:

Guergiou (FRA)
Oystein Kristiansen (NOR)
Olle Karner (EST)
Hammer (CAN)

Hanne Staff (NOR)
Gunilla Svard (SWE)
Tina Olm-Junegard (EST)
Sandy H-H (CAN)

Men:
Guergiou (Tero)
Waddington (CAN)
Haldin (FIN)
Davidik (SVK)

Women:
Niggli-Luder (SUI)
Staff (NOR)
Alsauskaite (LTU)
James (CAN)

Men:
Ikonen (FIN)
Huovila (FIN)
De Haas (AUS)
Hammer (CAN)

Women:
Johansson (SWE)
Jukkola (FIN)
Garin (ESP)
Olafsen (USA)

Not to be a stickler, but can you pick 3 Finns according to the rules?

Oops, forgot that part. Scratch Huovila, insert Hott-Johansen (NOR).

Men:
Hott-Johansen (NOR)
Wingstedt (SWE)
Waddington (Canuks)
Omeltchenko (UKR)

Women:
Niggli-Luder (SWISS)
Staff (NOR)
Alsauskaite (LTU)
James (Canukers)

Fantasy team results from the middle qualifier:

BorisGr 66
Spike 68
Nev Monster 87
J-man 91

Boris initially picked 3 Finns (which violated a rule). So he pulled Jarko H. and replaced him with Holger H-J. That turned out to be worth ten points since Holger won his heat while Jarko finished 11th. Boris' pick of Troy De Haas was quite good, too.

The sprint start lists are now at www.woc2004.com. Time to pick your team. Since both races are on the same day, lets say the team you pick for the qualifying race carries through to the finals. In other words, pick one team and we'll score it for both races. If a runner you pick doesn't qualify for the final, we'll score that runner as one plus the number of starters in the final.

Sprint fantasy team:
Men:
Andrey Khramov (RUS)
Jorgen Rostrup (NOR)
Yuri Omeltchenko (UKR)
Wil Smith (CAN)

Women:
Simone-Niggli Luder (SUI)
Vroni Konig-Salmi (SUI)
Dainora Alsauskaite (LIT)
KAren Williams (USA)

Sprint team:
Men-
Rostrup (NOR)
Jonasson (SWE)
Bluett (AUS)
May(USA)

Women-
Niggli-Luder (SUI)
Engstrand (SWE)
Dambe (LAT)
Hott Johansen (CAN)

Here are my guesses for the sprint:
Eddie Bergeron (USA)
Martin Bostrom (FIN)
Johan Näsman (SWE)
Edgaras Voveris (LTU)

Sandy Hott-Johansson (CAN)
Simon Niggli-Luder (SUI)
Karolina A Höjsgaard (SWE)
Dainora Alsauskaite (LTU)

My Picks:

Men:
Bergeron (USA)
Gueorgiou (FRA)
Omeltchenko (UKR)
Bostrom (FIN)

Women:
Williams (USA)
Simon Niggli-Luder (SUI)
Engstrand (SWE)
Anu Annus (EST)

Team Boris:
Marten Bostrom (FIN)
Andrei Khramov (RUS)
David Brickhill-Jones (AUS)
Nick Duca (CAN)

Simone Niggli-Luder (SUI)
Emma Engrstrand (SWE)
Zsuzsa Fey (ROM)
Sandy Hott-Johansen (CAN)

Rostrup (NOR)
Eriksson (SWE)
Bluett (AUS)
Hollowell (USA)

Hausken (NOR)
Engstrand (SWE)
Annus (EST)
Hott-Johansen (CAN)

Is Tom Hollowell really running? How can that be?

I guess Tom didn't run (bummer for my fantasy team which otherwise looks pretty strong).

If someone else has a chance today they can add up the scores. I had the misfortune to get a couple of work meeting scheduled today, so I won't be able to sit and watch the results stream across the internet.

After the qualifiers I get:

Boris: 58
Peter: 60
Jeff: 66
Spike: 76
J-man: 76
The Latvian: 79

I think Tom did run.... my understanding of the results is that "Incorrect" means mispunch

I started a new thread for long final teams.

In case anyone was wondering, here are the scores for the final (a pick that did not make the final was considered to have taken 46th place - all finalists +1):
The Latvian 71 (men) + 79 (women) = 150
PG 67 + 83 = 150
jeffw 97 + 46 = 143
j-man 70 + 78 = 148
BorisGr 101 + 48 = 149
Spike 73 + 69 = 142

Qualification + final
Boris 207
Jeff 209
Peter 210
Spike 218
J-man 224
The Latvian 229

Thanks a lot for calculating this guys.