Just registered for the event. We competed in the 2012 event (which was awesome) but skipped the 2013 event do to its location. I think you guys made a good choice choosing the location that you did this year over last years. The geography looks interesting and the relatively close location to bigger cities is a plus. Also, I love that you are doing this in September. Although it will interfere with my elk hunt, the possibility of milder weather will be a plus. I'm having flashbacks to carrying 100 pounds of rocks down a freshly paved road for 3.5 miles...not my favorite memory!
Here are some suggestions that I have for the event this year (I emailed them to CD too, but I thought I'd throw them on here for discussion)
1) Eliminate the point deduction for skipping a mandatory check point. Instead, institute a rule that determines race placement (1st, second, third, etc) on who completes the most mandatory checkpoints. For example, if 10 teams out of 50 finish all mandatory checkpoints, then those teams automatically get 1st through 10th placement to be determined by points earned. A team that does all but one mandatory check point can at best place 11th. If you have a situation where nobody finishes the race, then the winner is determined by who finished most of the race. Afterall, this is a race and I have never heard of a racer being beaten by another team that didn't complete the race. This seemed to be a major contention over the last two years with teams skipping mandatory checkpoints and still being placed higher than those that did not. This simple rule change will eliminate the possiblility of a team skipping a checkpoint and placing higher than those that don't.
2) If at a stage there are multiple people waiting to do the challenge, those who have skipped previous checkpoints have to yield to those competitiors that have completed all mandatory checkpoints. This was a big issue in 2012 where teams skipped checkpoints but "arrived" first at some of the final stages and were given preference to those competitiors who did not skip. We had to wait 45 minutes at one of the final stages to allow skippers to go ahead of us. Again, this simple change will help speed things along for those who put the effort into completing the race.
3) Allow for an audit period before announcing winners. Let teams look at their final scores before announcing winners. In 2012, winners and prizes were given out before players knew their scores. We happened to find a mistake on our score card which would have had us jump a place, but it was too late to say anything so we didn't bother.
Aside from these suggestions, keep everything else the same. You guys run a great event. I can't wait for September!
