Discussion: Billygoat results

Splits are posted. Note that because of the controls near the end of the course that had old firmware, several people look like they had additional skips that were really not. We may be able to reconstruct that data - not sure yet. Unfortunately, this means the skip analysis feature isn't very useful at the moment.

Working on getting maps posted.

Thanks to everyone who came!

Thank you, Sandy!
Super day, super course, map and all together experience. Special thanks to J-man, all who helped.

I second that. Thank you, Sandy and Clem, for the excellent course and a great atmosphere, as well as for taking care of the myriad organizational details. What an incredibly fun experience this was.

We've (well mostly Valerie really) fixed the splits to the controls with the old firmware, so the skip analysis should have reasonable data.

One of the most enjoyable Billygoats I can remember running in. Part of that is naturally because of the weather and the nice woods and seeing the usual group of old friends, but a major part is the work that Clem, Sandy, and the huge group of other volunteers have put in. Thanks!

Here some pictures. Apologies for lack of skill and decent photo equipment.

With the interesting twist that the #3 split meant that going right had a rather shorter leg for that, and a compensatingly longer leg on #4, almost all runners registered a loss of time on one or the other of those two legs Looking briefly at the list, it seems that AJ Riley was perhaps the only finisher showing no lost time on at least one leg. It is also not clear how the time saved on skipping #3 altogether was calculated. I imagine it would be possible to tabulate separately the people taking short 3 and long 4 vs. long 3 and short 4, and see how many people really lost time on one of these legs, and also to reveal which of the forks was the better one to have taken, as well as how much time was saved by taking the #3 skip. I'd be quite entertained to see the results of such a re-tabulation, but I'm not skilled enough to do it myself! It seems that for most runners, though, that this pair of legs counts for about half of the "error" time on the course, and probably should not.

The pdf files of the maps are posted here:

http://www.dvoa.org/pdf/BGoat-2015-all-variations....
http://www.dvoa.org/pdf/BGoat-2015-kid.pdf

Thanks, Clem and Sandy! My first kid goat and I had a fabulous time.

It seems the only logical controls to leave out were 11 (first choice) or 22. Am I right?

I don't know of anyone who skipped 11. I think 22 was very, very good. 15 and 18 were also popular. 6 and 3 were skipped by some too.

See who skipped what!

Billygoat Routegadget
Kidgoat and Babygoat Routegadget

Also, in case anyone missed it: AP's skip analysis (linked from splits page)

I'd guess the calculated gain for skipping 3 is wrong (too low) for the reasons Eric mentioned.

Not sure if it is worth anything, or if it is even the proper thing to do, but I posted additional splits separated by the two forks.

Thanks! I was thinking about doing that but never followed through.

Thanks, Valerie!

Here are some more (unedited) pictures: (new link)
2015 Billygoat https://www.flickr.com/gp/18115983@N00/0B3gi0

I've got the statistics largely together, still have a few more items to gather before posting it all on billygoat.org. However, one piece of news has emerged: on the Men's "cross-country-style" lifetime points list, Greg Balter has at last overtaken Eric Weyman as the all time leader, 186 points to 185. Note that there was no overlap in the point-scoring portions of their careers: Eric's were all earned between 1981 and 1993 (although he did also earn a shirt in 2003), while Balter's first shirt came in 1993, but his string of points began in 1994.

(On the Women's side, Peggy Dickison continues to slowly eat away at Sharon Crawford's lead, but there's still a 15-point gap.)

Do you have any corn maze stats? :D

Congrats Greg!

Yay Greg!!

Congratulations Greg!
If memory serves, in your non-scoring 1993 debut, I still have a vivid image from the mass start, of you running into a parked car right in front of me, funny for me, probably painful for you, and possibly contributing to your non-score in our only overlap event(?)

I also remember that impact vividly. I wonder if that is what made Balter what he is today?

Clem. you can not remember that, you were a baby than. Thanks for congratulations. The first goat start was not that bad: yes, I was pushed into a car by speeding goats, that happens. I had no clue of the ranks of people, I was racing against, EricW, Swampfox, Rick Oliver - no fear. Me and Piaras de Cléir pulled ahead of the main train by ~ 30 sec on a straighter route thru mountain laurel by control #4 and on my way to #5, I managed to step on a bow shaped log and it ricocheted right into my eyebrow. Bleeding like hell, I turned to Piaras, and he confirmed that my eye is OK, so we continue to 5. Naturally we got caught by the train of grand orienteers by 5, and I pulled a 90 degrees error right after that ( should'v followed). Anyway, finished 21st, I think, that day.
At the finish, Eric, looking at my bloody face, asked if I lost conscious, I looked under my feet and said - I do not think, I lost anything.
On points and records - PG scored 4 points in 2006, he was 62 y.o. than, that the record I am after. :)
Also this goat race was one of the cleanest races I had in recent history, also I usually do well on Mark Dominie's maps, so it is not getting any easier.

On points and records - PG scored 4 points in 2006, he was 62 y.o. than, that the record I am after. :)

I believe I was 15th last year, 13th male, which is good for something? If that is the case, then your goal is 7 years farther off than you thought. :-)

@PG - Actually, you were 13-th man, that super impressive. Still a goal, tougher one for sure. May be some records are meant to stay unbroken. :-)
@J-J - would you sent data to billygoat.org master, please!

Yes, I'll be sending the information as soon as I have it complete, should be in the next day or two. It's 97% ready

Cumulative Billygoat stats are now up to date at billygoat.org.

Thanks for the posts. Corinne was quite proud of her daughter's accomplishment.

Yes, thank you! And another congrats to Balter for becoming the all-time men's points leader!