Pro-Am Blowout Race Scoring

tonyb · Thu Jul 26, 12 10:47 am **Pro-Am Blowout Race Scoring**

With this year's Blowout being organized as a team event with one Pro level or local Gorge legend rider and three to four amateur riders we've come up with a scoring system that will provide an incentive for the teams to work together and add some strategy to the race.

Basically, the closer together your team finishes the more bonus points are awarded (deducted from the total score). Bonus system:

It goes something like this:

Each rider receives a score for the place they finish in. i.e., first place gets one point, second place gets two points, etc... So, say that team Bison has four riders, one of whom places 1st, another in 6th, one in 10th and one in 17th. The total score for the team would be 34. Then there is team Reinstra and they finish 7th, 8th, 12th & 13th. Their team score is 40. Looks like team Bison has won, but wait, the bonus points kick in:

Team Reinstra finished with Two Pair (7th & 8th, 12th & 13th), which gives them a total deduct of 28 points making their total score 12. The buddy system pays off!

Of course there are multiple ways this could work out or possibly fail completely but we'll never know until we try. I've run a few random simulations and it appears to work. I think we'll see a few single Pairs or maybe a team getting Two Pair but achieving any of the other combos will be pretty tough. But it could be done. It will be up to each team to decide how to approach the race, stick together, one rabbit, two pairs, etc...

We're aiming for as many 4 person teams as we can get. If we end up with one or two odd teams of 5 then we will probably allow the team to throw out their lowest score or use the four best finish combo's to create the best hand for the deduct.

The forecast for Sunday looks good so it should be a blast.

Tony

grom · Since 07 Aug 2006 174 Posts Bolstad Clan

sounds like fun!

buttersmoothcarver · Since 08 Oct 2008 246 Posts Stoked

Tony, This format is really cool, it's not always about finishing dead 1st place, just having an extra rad day on the water is worthly. The Blowout is a long Gorge tradition, way to kick it back in. Unfortunity, I'm at the mercy of my bike guiding season and can't make it.

FYI, I hear the Seattle boys are coming down with "blood in their eyes" this year!

tonyb · Thu Jul 26, 12 8:01 pm

Yeah, we're trying to put some fun in the whole thing and basically open it up so everyone has a chance to conquer the gorge and make it down the river with 40 or 50 other kiters. It's quite a sight to see when there is a big giant pack coming down.

Also trying to get the pro level riders in touch with the amateurs some more and try to show off the local scenery to the out of town folks.

You don't have to be the fastest on the water to participate or even to win. Sometimes the blowout is all about luck and determination.

Tony

carolb · Fri Jul 27, 12 2:28 pm **Blow Out Awards**

We got some awesome awards for the Blow Out this year and with Tony's scoring system, everyone has a chance. There are 4 first place, 4 second place and 4 third place awards, one for each team member. Come on out as we have 2 boats for support too.

holly · Since 09 Jul 2006 440 Posts Hood River Obsessed

when is the blow-out?

tonyb · Sun Jul 29, 12 7:29 am

The Blowout is today!

Registration between 10 and 11:30, teams formed up by noon (or so). Start launching around 1, start around 2.

Will make a run around 11 to drop or return cars to Hood River.

Tony

marina · Since 16 Jan 2006 150 Posts California coast Stoked

so what happened?

tonyb · Mon Jul 30, 12 7:08 am

We'll get the results up in a couple of hours once we have a chance to catch up with our e-mails. But, we got to race and it was an awesome day!

48 kiters started the race (12 teams of 4), 44 finished which is actually one of the highest percentage of finishers we've ever seen. The team assignments and scoring worked out pretty well. We had a couple of Pairs and almost a Three of a Kind at the finish line so deduct points came in to play.

Cory ran it on skis and was first one down, followed by Eric Reinstra then Brandon Scheid. Bambam got the sportsmanship award for stopping to help out someone in trouble near Viento which resulted in him getting his lines wrapped around the marker. Spent over an hour getting things untangled before he could finish the race.

Grom did a great job getting everyone off the beach and then tallying up the scores at the end.

More to follow later today.

Tony

wylieflyote · Mon Jul 30, 12 8:04 am

I'm in love with the Bolstads Smile

specialk · Guest

I had an awesome time yesterday! Thank you Tony, Carol, and all that helped organize and get us all on the water!!! It couldn't have been a better day for that event!

taycar · Since 11 Jan 2010 111 Posts HR Stoked

Nak · Mon Jul 30, 12 9:02 am

The Bolstads definitely rock!!! Thumb's Up

mmac · Since 15 May 2005 93 Posts SC

Great event. The team format gave it a better vibe this year. It was good to meet the pros. Thanks for your efforts Tony & Bolstads!

Mikeb · Mon Jul 30, 12 10:45 am

Tony,
Nice format getting people together and meeting each other, especially the pros. In the past it's just been all for one and one for all during the blowout.

It would have been nice to grill and thow down some dogs at the spit. I'm sure we could get some volunteers to contribute. We did this 5 years ago and it was a big hit. SS contributed some swag and it turned into a fun event.

tonyb · Mon Jul 30, 12 12:10 pm

I'd really like to set up the BBQ afterwards next time; just ran out of time and volunteers to get it all together. The three part event this year has us hopping but I think we've got it figured out so it will work a bit better next year.

Big thanks to everyone who came out and rode. It's a whole lot of fun to see nearly 50 kites coming down than the river! Maybe we can hit 75 next year.

Tony

wylieflyote · Mon Jul 30, 12 4:29 pm

On our ride back to Stevenson, someone in the truck came up with a potential neat idea for next year:
What about a series of challenge elements built into the race at about 3-4 locations?
"chicane" series of buoys at Home Valley?
Jump at Viento?
A beam reach at Wells? (17m kite in 6m winds)