Pawtuckaway 2005 Canoe-O by Joel

Pawtuckaway 2005 Canoe-o Pictures

Welcome to the official results page for the 2005 edition of the Pawtuckaway, NH Canoe Orienteering meet.

Every year, Daphne and I organize a canoe/kayak orienteering meet in conjunction with the annual UNO (the orienteering club that covers New Hampshire and Maine) orienteering and camping weekend at Pawtuckaway State Park in Raymond, NH. This was our seventh annual Pawtuckaway canoe-O.

The weekend featured perfect weather, and plenty of orienteers showed up for the various events (of which the Canoe-O was only one). This year we had a total of 33 groups compete over the day and a half that the course was available. Attendence was light this year because of competing events. Specifically, the Finals for the 2005 Sprint Series, which was held on Saturday afternoon, and which left the Canoe-O course empty.

The canoe-O is organized in score-O format. There are 14 controls placed around Pawtuckaway Lake, all accessible from the water (except for one land control). Paddlers have 60 minutes to find as many controls as possible and then return to the start.

This year, featured a significant competition for first place. The team of Aims Coney and J. J. Cote, the previous Pawtuckaway Canoe-O champions of the past three years and previous national champions as well, faced off against the 2005 national Canoe-O champions (C2-Men), Steve and Seth Miller. The Millers went first, mid-morning on Sunday, and turned in an impressive performance. They were able to punch all 14 controls and return in just over 50 minutes. But Aims and J.J. had the advantage of knowing the Miller's time, and last year's Pawtuckaway winners were able to coast to victory for their fourth year, punching all 14 controls in 44 minutes and 30 seconds.

Andy Hall put in the best single performace; he punched all 14 controls and returned in only 51 minutes and 38 seconds. In all, only 5 of the teams were able to punch all 14 controls. But everyone has a good time.

2005 Course	Aims and JJ's Route	Miller's Route	Andy Hall's Route	Eric Bone's Route

Continuing in last year's tradition, I have posted a copy of the course along with maps showing the routes taken by four of the teams. As you can see, most of the routes are very similar. (The exact paths between controls is only approximate, since I only recorded an overview of the route choices of each team.) The Miller's and Andy Hall both took a pretty typical route, visting all the controls in a counter-clockwise circle. Both teams also choose to portage their boats across the penisula near the finish, instead of paddling around.

In canoe-o, the best route choice is often across land, as explained in this essay by Aims Coney (which first appeared in the Spring 1999 issue of Canoe News). As an example, I included the route choices made by Eric Bone, one of the solo competitors. Eric choose to skip controls 12 and 7. Since he decided not to paddle all the way to control 12, he realized that the fastest way to reach controls 10 and 11 was to land his boat and run across Horse Island on land.

Aims and J.J. made some interesting route choices of their own. At the start, they split up with Aims carrying the canoe across the penisula to control 7, while J.J. ran to punch control 1. (As shown on the map, J.J. actually started off running in the wrong direction and had to double back.) At Horse Island, notice how Aims dropped J.J. off to punch control number 11, while he paddled the boat in a more direct path across the bay. Most of the other teams had to paddle extra distance to reach control number 11 by water.

After the course, J. J. Cote made the following comments about his winning run.

And here is Aims Coney's analysis of the 55 seconds they saved portaging from control number 6 to the finish.

Don't forget to check out all the pictures that I took at the camping weekend, including shots of the canoe racers as well as foot-O racers. Note: more pictures have been added since this page was originally posted in mid-September.

Here are the final results for the 2005 Canoe-O

Groups were ranked based on points scored. Three points per control punched less one point for each minute (or fraction) overtime. In the case of a tie, the group with the shorter time was ranked higher.

This web page (http://www.gouldhome.com/Pawtuckaway2005Canoe-o.html) was last updated on September 23, 2005. For any comments or suggestions about the site contact Daphne Gould. Contents copyright © 1999-2003 by Joel and Daphne Gould.