It seems like a good time to start planning OK's 2000 Sofagoat. The rules haven't been established however, and it will take some thought to get them right so I have sketched out my ideas. Perhaps other OKers would like to share theirs or point out flaws with mine. I have no idea if these rules are sensible, but it's just a starting point...

1) A goat course is set on a map and in the woods.

2) The Sofagoat begins in a relaxed setting, e.g., somebody's living room, probably with various refreshments for the orienteers, and, of course, sofas to sit on. Some of the bigger names in the sport might be permitted to bring their own sofas since they will want to be comfortable and thinking clearly. This initial session is probably conducted in the morning and the second session in the afternoon of the same day.

3) At the start, everyone is given a map of the course and some initial period of time to study it and pick their optimal route choices. They trace their routes on the map and write down what their splits could be for each leg. One or two controls can be skipped. They will need to consider the Sofagoat rules as they pick their splits.

4) At the end of the initial session the group discusses each leg in turn, reporting their splits and each person is allowed to contest any other persons split time if they think the split time is too fast. Someone keeps track of who contests whom on all of the controls.

5) In the afternoon session, everyone goes out to the course and runs the legs with mass starts, but everyone meets up at each control, then rests for 5 minutes before starting the next leg. Everyone is timed on every leg (unless they skip it). The person who has predicted the fastest split on any particular leg must carry a large sofa cushion while running.

6) The winner is the person whose predicted splits add up to the fastest overall time in cases where he matches or beats the predicted splits. For legs in which he fails to beat his predicted splits, the actual split is used to determine his time for the leg. This overall time is modified by penalties or bonuses that are picked up according to any contested splits or other feats/failures.

7) Penalties:

• A penalty of 20 seconds is assessed to anyone who contests anothers split when the other orienteer matches or beats his predicted split time.
• A penalty of 40 seconds is assessed to any orienteer who fails to match or beat his predicted split time if it was contested by another person. If it was contested my more than one other person, an additional 10 seconds of penalty is given for each other person.

8) Bonuses:

• A bonus of 20 seconds is given to the orienteer with the sofa cushion if he matches or beats his predicted split time.

-- Mook (everett@psi.edu), December 17, 1999