Control Descriptions Poll

[andy]

How about the control descriptions on a perforated strip at the edge of the map

love it
wonder if any of the map printer people have considered it (or if anyone has asked)

[EddieH]

If you are going to reveal relay gaffles before the start RIP yet another technical aspect of the sport.

Printing a purple dot on ISOM is a disaster - I've had a planner decide to do it. Everyone was looking for non existent knolls

[NeilC]

Or technology moves on and your next control description is displayed on your e-card, followed by a smiley face when you punch the right control.

[mappingmum]

No one suggested that having loose control descriptions is synonymous with revealing relay gaffles before the start.

[EddieH]

If you can devise a way of providing loose descriptions at a relay without revealing the gaffles and without a large increased risk of errors occuring I'd be all for it.

[mappingmum]

Well, what about a second "secure" taped area guarded by an official containing all the loose CDs. Secure second pen is located in the middle of the run-out lane so that it is "inaccessable" to others in Assembly. If anyone attempts to compromise the integrity of the competition they are reminded of the rules by the official. The secure second taped area has all the CDs in pockets and labelled. After opening their map people read their gaffle from the CD table on the map and pick up the appropriate list from the secure taped area. It's obvious to the official who is a compliant runner because they have just seen the tagging.

Those who don't want CDs run past the second pen.

Only limitation I can see is people running in groups and all taking CDs would reveal their hand ie "I've got the same/different gaffle to runner X"

Another option is the loose CDs are contained in the map envelope, but this is onerous for the organising team and leaves them open to the "I was given the wrong CDs" complaint articulated earlier.

Or what about the incoming runner taking the appropriate CD sheet (as indicated on their CDs) from a similar secure area before changeover. Bit like the map boards you see on youtube. Hmmm . . . starting to get a bit of an administrative overhead now.

However, the point is there are always options/workarounds available.

[70plus]

In these days of pre-marked maps but rare pre-entry the stock of maps will always be finite. The loose CDs are a good way of cross-checking that registration does not sell more entries to a particular course tham there are maps.

Ah yes - but one more small thing that can go wrong ... there may be more DSs than maps (or fewer), two can be issued by mistake, ...

Best just to use uncoded controls. Then runners would need to be dead-sure where they were

[Scott]

If you can devise a way of providing loose descriptions at a relay without revealing the gaffles and without a large increased risk of errors occuring I'd be all for it.

Well, given that the standard UK practice appears to be to issue the relay map inside an envelope/paper bag, it probably wouldn't be that difficult to put some loose descriptions in there as well. Not that I think it would actually be a good idea - definitely a big risk of getting the wrong combination of map-descriptions-envelope.

[70plus]

Well, given that the standard UK practice appears to be to issue the relay map inside an envelope/paper bag, it probably wouldn't be that difficult to put some loose descriptions in there as well. Not that I think it would actually be a good idea - definitely a big risk of getting the wrong combination of map-descriptions-envelope.

When the organisers of JK and BOC have computerised the whole business of gaffling, and then devised an efficient way to stuff brown envelopes, that should be a doddle.

[Scott]

The gaffling business has already been pretty well computerised. It's the increased risk of human error when stuffing your 700th brown envelope of the evening that is the issue.

[mharky]

All some people were asking for was the codes to be next to the control number on the map at relays, like they do in Scandi. Not a whole reevaluation of control descriptions.

[NFKleanne]

I like having CD's on the map, but also in start lanes as there are often symbols I and the children did not know - not so much now, but when we were new to them. Having loose CD's we could ask what they meant problem solved!

[Roger]

Well, what about a second "secure" taped area guarded by an official containing all the loose CDs...

Have you ever been in a big mass start? It would be carnage.

We used to have separate pieces of paper glued onto the maps and the organisers (nearly always) managed to get the correct descriptions for the relevant gaffle, so marrying up the two can be done. But I'd agree that it's a hostage to fortune and is best avoided.

Perforated descriptions, on the other hand, are a great idea. Just make sure though that there's an unperforated set somewhere else on the map, so that when you fumble the set that you've just torn off and they're whipped away on the gale, you're not navigating with no descriptions at all.

[Adrian]

Examples of control codes on the map
http://reentrant.wordpress.com/2009/08/ ... park-maps/
http://reentrant.wordpress.com/2011/07/ ... ink-alike/

[seabird]

Loose controls at relays = disaster.

But why do we still get loose descriptions printed on ordinary paper at some events? They become impossible to place well once damp.

It costs next to nothing to have them printed on waterproof paper along with the maps.

Chris