Kenduskeag Meeting

[C Cole]

Our open house meeting drew over 60 visitors- member and non-member.

Thanks to the members who helped - you know who you are!

TSK TSK to those who did not bother to come - you know who you are ;-)

Signed up at least a dozen members.

[johnalsop]

Many thanks to Clayton, Jeff and the rest of the Mackro crew for putting on our meeting which i understand was a great success. I regret bitterly not being able to attend but i had to return home with urgency to look after my many children who were running amok! and what a great day for a race with water level and weather. i am a little curious about the timing of the event which is often a challenge. did anyone else note a discrepancy between their own personal timing effort and the offical time?

we are getting our tuesday night paddles in waterville underway. 530pm is start time . next week. i can provide some loaner boats, (alas, not paddles)

cheers John A

[Ray Wirth]

Apr 22, 2008 15:31:58 GMT -5 johnalsop said:

Many thanks to Clayton, Jeff and the rest of the Mackro crew for putting on our meeting which i understand was a great success. I regret bitterly not being able to attend but i had to return home with urgency to look after my many children who were running amok! and what a great day for a race with water level and weather. i am a little curious about the timing of the event which is often a challenge. did anyone else note a discrepancy between their own personal timing effort and the offical time?

we are getting our tuesday night paddles in waterville underway. 530pm is start time . next week. i can provide some loaner boats, (alas, not paddles)

cheers John A

I also had to get back to my two (but often seems like many more than that ;D ) children and could not attend. Maybe I'll bring the children next time!

I'd like to think I was faster than my recorded time . . . . but unfortunately, I have no evidence to support that notion. ;D

[fred]

Both Rob Lang and Trevor MacLean kept their times; they both timed themselves at 2 minutes faster than "official time."

[johnalsop]

exactly! my offical time was two + minutes slower than what my watch would say. same with barry and lori.dont know whether they can fix this up but probably doesnt make a differece if the error is applied equally. cheers ja

[paddlechic]

I thought the same thing about the times, though I did not look at my watch when I finished. After you go under the bridge and round the corner towards the tunnels I looked at my watch and what it was then to the time they said I finished was 6 minutes. I would think that would be more like 4 minutes tops. Anyone know how far that would have been?

[michaelalden]

Interesting discussion. I've often wondered about the accuracy of timekeeping for events like this. Seems inevitable that errors and discrepancies will occur. Many casual paddlers won't mind or notice. But for people who are serious about tracking the minutes and seconds there seems to be a "vague unknown"which calls into question the "real" numbers involved and this of course undermines the confidence one can place in the value of the recorded race results.
I read about some technological advances in the field of GPS tracking a year or so ago. Some firms were playing around with the idea of trackable "tags" you could place on a child's knapsack, or perhaps a pet's collar, for example. Paying a fee much the same way you might pay for XM satellite radio, you could (ideally) track your child or pet at any given time from your laptop, mobile phone, etc. Privacy concerns? You betcha. But how about a trackable GPS "tag" on each boat for large race events? I'm daydreaming here, yes.
I guess it might be cheaper to call up some Swiss race director and ask a simple question, "how do you achieve accurate results and timekeeping at your races?"

[Jeff Owen]

The discrepancies in times are the reason the awards ceremony was canceled. The results in the BDN are unofficial, and the official results will be available in a few weeks. It does seem as if it was a two-minute error made consistently to all boats, but we'll have to wait and see. Sure was a fun day. Please bring a friend to the Machias races this weekend!

[Gifford]

Uh, it took them 3-4 weeks last year, too and there was no claim of errors.

I really appreciate Parks and Rec putting on an awesome event but I just don't understand what takes so long every year. People put paddling, running, biking, etc. races on all the time that have instant or even next day results, even without fancy chips they use in some triathlons.

what gives? How can volunteers and racers help Parks and Rec streamline their operations to make the event even better?

[loganfeeney]

I agree, 3-4 weeks seems ridiculously long to post the "official times." Out of curiosity, which day were the results printed in the BDN?

[loganfeeney]

Apr 22, 2008 15:31:58 GMT -5 johnalsop said:

we are getting our tuesday night paddles in waterville underway. 530pm is start time . next week. i can provide some loaner boats, (alas, not paddles)

cheers John A

Where do you meet?

[john alsop]

there's a put-in right across from maine general (thayer) hospital on north street with decent parking