A bit of a recap....
This was the fourth year in Mike's Maze. The first year we did it in October, late afternoon midweek between the Classic Champs at Moreau and a CSU/NEOC A meet in Boston, so lots of out-of-state participants. The second year also in October, midweek. Both times it was nip and tuck getting done before dark.
Last year I moved it to late August, but still midweek, because it seemed the weekends were already spoken for, at least for a couple of the most important protagonists (Ali and Alex). Late August was much better -- the corn was green, the maze hadn't yet opened officially so no conflicts, and a lot more daylight. This year the same late August, just moved to a Saturday afternoon/evening instead of midweek.
The first two years we used the place for free. I've known Mike and Will for years, and they were happy to let us do our thing. But by the third year I felt a bit guilty, so I asked for donations of 5 or 10 bucks a head, and gave that all to Mike. That seemed like the absolutely right thing to do, so this year I made it more official.
I asked Mike what his normal charge was. He said $10 for adults and $8 for kids. So I set the entry fee at $15 for adults and $10 for kids. That's for the whole event, three races, not per race.
And the finances worked out perfectly.
I collected a bunch of cash, which went in my back pocket. When Mike showed up, we did the math and $380 of the cash got handed over to him. I put $80 in my wallet to pay for what it cost me to print the maps, plus $7 in my wallet to cover the cost of some cups and water. That left $108 in my back pocket.
But there was still the OUSA head tax to account for. We had a total of exactly 100 starts, so $100 will go to OUSA at the end of the year. And that left a fine profit of $8 for the host club, WCOC. Excellent.
Incidentally, regarding various OUSA rules, this was the first year I actually got a club involved, WCOC, just to put it officially on their schedule. Mike didn't care about insurance certificates, so I could dispense with that. There was a waiver form, a sheet of paper with the waiver printed so small that I don't think you could read it, not that anyone tried. Got folks to sign that. I guess it gets filed away someplace. And then very easy to count the number of starters in each event, just look at the results, and that gave the head tax. It all seemed pretty simple, though maybe I was just doing it wrong....
I know some would strongly disapprove of such a meager "profit," ought to be charging $50 at least, get all the cheap orienteers used to pay proper entry fees -- since when did insulting your customer base become part of a business marketing plan? -- otherwise we just get closer and closer to the day when all the volunteer organizers are burnt out and orienteering fades away.
As if I do this to make money?
The point is to have fun. And if having fun is hard for some people, well, that's their problem.
And this was certainly fun. The night O' especially, first hanging out with Mike and his girl friend up on the tower, then as more and more came in, and they migrated up to the tower, until it seemed everyone was up on the tower, cheering on the last few arrivals. You had to be there. The only part that was not fun was when I was talking to Mike in the parking lot, I didn't notice that his dog had moved in right behind me, so when I turned to walk back to the maze, well, down I went. My wheelchair days are getting closer and closer.
If there is a maze next year, and I gather there probably will be, there most likely will be
orienteering there the weekend before Labor Day.