A crisp fall day, perfect for orienteering, brought out a stunning 118 participants. Clearly, there's no lack of interest in orienteering in Western Mass, just a lack of quality maps and volunteers to put on meets. The Mt Tom map, however, is in very good shape, having been recently updated for a Billygoat; and the terrain at Mt Tom is spectacular, especially in late fall with the leaves down and the vegetation thinned out.

Other than a white course for kids and first-timers, everyone used the same map (preprinted on my Canon S900) under the following version of "Western Mass Rules."

The map had 22 control circles numbered 1 through 22. Roughly, the higher the number, the more advanced the control. For Western Mass Rules, like a score-o, one can get controls in any order; but unlike a score-o there is no time limit and each control counts the same as any other. There were four competitive categories.

   Novice: get any 8.
   Intermediate: get any 12.
   Short advanced: get any 16.
   Long advanced: get any 20.

One didn't need to decide in advance which category he or she was competing in. Finishing place in a category depends only on the elapsed time: no credit is given for getting extra controls beyond the minimum needed for a given category.

The advanced "get any 20" category had a non-obvious decision as to which two controls to skip. I present an analysis of the various skip options after the results.

Thanks to Peter and Gail Gagarin, Steve and Gail Richardson, and David Posluszny for invaluable assistance at the meet.

Best Skips:

19-14. 6.84k. 4-3-5-15-16-18-17-6-2-1-13-12-20-22-21-11-10-9-7-8.

The shortest "get 20" route, and a very good skip, but others avoid a lot more climb for a little more distance. Getting 7 between 1 and 13 is probably better: it adds only .03k and trades the not so fast 7-8 for the fast 1-7.

22-21. 7.15k. 4-3-5-15-16-18-17-6-19-14-13-12-20-11-10-9-7-8-1-2.

A good skip. Doesn't save much climb, but makes 20-11 a trail run. Doing 7-8-1-2 means running around the marsh and past the finish to pick up 1 and 2, which adds about .18k of fast running. If instead one does 8-7-2-1, one adds .14k point to point of slightly slower running. Seems about a wash.

16-18. 7.06k. Route as above with obvious changes.

A good skip. But doesn't save much climb, since almost all the climb on the south side is getting to 15.

6-13. 7.06k. 4-3-5-16-18-17-19-14-12-20-22-21-11-10-9-7-8-1-2.

A very good skip, probably my favorite. Climbing up to 6 is 4-5 lines, and the best route 13-12 climbs steeply over rocky ground, so that skipping 13 saves 7-8 lines.

6-8. 6.96k. Route as above, adding 13 and dropping 8.

Nice not to have to do 7-8 and running past the finish, which saves a lot of distance, but probably not as much time as skipping 13 above.

Some other plausible skips:

6-22.   7.05k.
6-18.   7.03k.
14-22.   7.0k.
14-18.   6.98k.
20-22.   7.18k