Anyone aware of a single elimination bracketed glider contest everbeing held?

For the 2017 Nephi OLC Games we will be offering a multitude of daily flying tasks/games for the pilots to choose from and enjoy. One of them that I am really excited about is single elimination bracketed glider racing. I'm wondering if anyone has ever tried this before? It seems like it would be really fun - at least in my imagination...

Here is the basic structure I'm thinking about (please comment and help plus these ideas):

1. Nephi is way over subscribed so we will have the maximum 65 gliders insurance allows. This allows us to start with up to 64 glider brackets. My guess is about half of the pilots coming will want to at least give it a try so we will likely start with 32 spots. If most of the 65 pilots want to try this kind of racing, we could do a 32 bracket FAI class (ballasted) and a separate 32 bracket sports class (non-ballasted) and have two final class winners at the end.

2. We give a daily single racing task per class for anyone who wants to fly it.

3. The pilots don't know who they are racing against that day until after they land. I think this will be part of the real fun of this type of racing. You don't have to beat everyone else up in the sky, just one other pilot for the day. You just don't know who it is.

4. Starting with 32 brackets, it will take 6 days to get down to a winner. We could also have awards for the daily fastest flight to highlight the stud/studdess of the day's task.

5. Pilots that are eliminated don't go home of course. They are at an OLC camp so there are plenty of other daily tasks and "games" to try such as Grand Prix races and they can always choose to fly their own OLC flight or personal tasks at any time.

Those are the basics. What do you think? Any suggestions to make it better? I'm thinking blind racing could a fun change to knowing who you are racing that day. Like this, don't like it, other ideas?

Thanks!
Bruno - B4

On Monday, February 13, 2017 at 5:37:06 PM UTC-6, wrote:
For the 2017 Nephi OLC Games we will be offering a multitude of daily flying tasks/games for the pilots to choose from and enjoy. One of them that I am really excited about is single elimination bracketed glider racing. I'm wondering if anyone has ever tried this before? It seems like it would be really fun - at least in my imagination...

Here is the basic structure I'm thinking about (please comment and help plus these ideas):

1. Nephi is way over subscribed so we will have the maximum 65 gliders insurance allows. This allows us to start with up to 64 glider brackets. My guess is about half of the pilots coming will want to at least give it a try so we will likely start with 32 spots. If most of the 65 pilots want to try this kind of racing, we could do a 32 bracket FAI class (ballasted) and a separate 32 bracket sports class (non-ballasted) and have two final class winners at the end.

2. We give a daily single racing task per class for anyone who wants to fly it.

3. The pilots don't know who they are racing against that day until after they land. I think this will be part of the real fun of this type of racing. You don't have to beat everyone else up in the sky, just one other pilot for the day. You just don't know who it is.

4. Starting with 32 brackets, it will take 6 days to get down to a winner. We could also have awards for the daily fastest flight to highlight the stud/studdess of the day's task.

5. Pilots that are eliminated don't go home of course. They are at an OLC camp so there are plenty of other daily tasks and "games" to try such as Grand Prix races and they can always choose to fly their own OLC flight or personal tasks at any time.

Those are the basics. What do you think? Any suggestions to make it better? I'm thinking blind racing could a fun change to knowing who you are racing that day. Like this, don't like it, other ideas?

Thanks!
Bruno - B4

Where can i fill out a fantasy bracket??

On Monday, February 13, 2017 at 4:37:06 PM UTC-7, wrote:
For the 2017 Nephi OLC Games we will be offering a multitude of daily flying tasks/games for the pilots to choose from and enjoy. One of them that I am really excited about is single elimination bracketed glider racing. I'm wondering if anyone has ever tried this before? It seems like it would be really fun - at least in my imagination...

Here is the basic structure I'm thinking about (please comment and help plus these ideas):

1. Nephi is way over subscribed so we will have the maximum 65 gliders insurance allows. This allows us to start with up to 64 glider brackets. My guess is about half of the pilots coming will want to at least give it a try so we will likely start with 32 spots. If most of the 65 pilots want to try this kind of racing, we could do a 32 bracket FAI class (ballasted) and a separate 32 bracket sports class (non-ballasted) and have two final class winners at the end.

2. We give a daily single racing task per class for anyone who wants to fly it.

3. The pilots don't know who they are racing against that day until after they land. I think this will be part of the real fun of this type of racing. You don't have to beat everyone else up in the sky, just one other pilot for the day. You just don't know who it is.

4. Starting with 32 brackets, it will take 6 days to get down to a winner. We could also have awards for the daily fastest flight to highlight the stud/studdess of the day's task.

5. Pilots that are eliminated don't go home of course. They are at an OLC camp so there are plenty of other daily tasks and "games" to try such as Grand Prix races and they can always choose to fly their own OLC flight or personal tasks at any time.

Those are the basics. What do you think? Any suggestions to make it better? I'm thinking blind racing could a fun change to knowing who you are racing that day. Like this, don't like it, other ideas?

Thanks!
Bruno - B4

Bruno,
Very interesting...Will there be any sort of seeding methodology? For example in a tennis tournament, the players are seeded and then depending on the seedings, brackets are worked out and then the 1st round pairings are determined. This also happens in the NCAA basketball tournament. I do not know if this would be even possible or even desirable, but how you pair folks up would be an interesting exercise.

Now, you do not necessarily want to pair the # 1 ranked pilot against # 2 pilot and I am not sure if # 1 should be paired against # 64 (or #32), but regardless it sounds like a very interesting idea....so go for it!! Thx - Renny

On Monday, February 13, 2017 at 3:51:53 PM UTC-8, Tony wrote:
On Monday, February 13, 2017 at 5:37:06 PM UTC-6, wrote:
For the 2017 Nephi OLC Games we will be offering a multitude of daily flying tasks/games for the pilots to choose from and enjoy. One of them that I am really excited about is single elimination bracketed glider racing. I'm wondering if anyone has ever tried this before? It seems like it would be really fun - at least in my imagination...

Here is the basic structure I'm thinking about (please comment and help plus these ideas):

1. Nephi is way over subscribed so we will have the maximum 65 gliders insurance allows. This allows us to start with up to 64 glider brackets. My guess is about half of the pilots coming will want to at least give it a try so we will likely start with 32 spots. If most of the 65 pilots want to try this kind of racing, we could do a 32 bracket FAI class (ballasted) and a separate 32 bracket sports class (non-ballasted) and have two final class winners at the end.

2. We give a daily single racing task per class for anyone who wants to fly it.

3. The pilots don't know who they are racing against that day until after they land. I think this will be part of the real fun of this type of racing. You don't have to beat everyone else up in the sky, just one other pilot for the day. You just don't know who it is.

4. Starting with 32 brackets, it will take 6 days to get down to a winner. We could also have awards for the daily fastest flight to highlight the stud/studdess of the day's task.

5. Pilots that are eliminated don't go home of course. They are at an OLC camp so there are plenty of other daily tasks and "games" to try such as Grand Prix races and they can always choose to fly their own OLC flight or personal tasks at any time.

Those are the basics. What do you think? Any suggestions to make it better? I'm thinking blind racing could a fun change to knowing who you are racing that day. Like this, don't like it, other ideas?

Thanks!
Bruno - B4

Where can i fill out a fantasy bracket??

In aisle 14 next to the angle brackets.
Jim

Beside handicapping gliders in sports class, what about handicapping pilots on a race too so that the best pilot also has to have one of his best days to win?

On Monday, February 13, 2017 at 3:37:06 PM UTC-8, wrote:
For the 2017 Nephi OLC Games we will be offering a multitude of daily flying tasks/games for the pilots to choose from and enjoy. One of them that I am really excited about is single elimination bracketed glider racing. I'm wondering if anyone has ever tried this before? It seems like it would be really fun - at least in my imagination...

Here is the basic structure I'm thinking about (please comment and help plus these ideas):

1. Nephi is way over subscribed so we will have the maximum 65 gliders insurance allows. This allows us to start with up to 64 glider brackets. My guess is about half of the pilots coming will want to at least give it a try so we will likely start with 32 spots. If most of the 65 pilots want to try this kind of racing, we could do a 32 bracket FAI class (ballasted) and a separate 32 bracket sports class (non-ballasted) and have two final class winners at the end.

2. We give a daily single racing task per class for anyone who wants to fly it.

3. The pilots don't know who they are racing against that day until after they land. I think this will be part of the real fun of this type of racing. You don't have to beat everyone else up in the sky, just one other pilot for the day. You just don't know who it is.

4. Starting with 32 brackets, it will take 6 days to get down to a winner. We could also have awards for the daily fastest flight to highlight the stud/studdess of the day's task.

5. Pilots that are eliminated don't go home of course. They are at an OLC camp so there are plenty of other daily tasks and "games" to try such as Grand Prix races and they can always choose to fly their own OLC flight or personal tasks at any time.

Those are the basics. What do you think? Any suggestions to make it better? I'm thinking blind racing could a fun change to knowing who you are racing that day. Like this, don't like it, other ideas?

Thanks!
Bruno - B4

To keep up interest, you should have a "losers bracket" as well. After your first loss, you feed into the losers bracket. It's not much extra effort to run, and keeps the competition going for everyone till they have lost twice.

On Monday, February 13, 2017 at 3:37:06 PM UTC-8, wrote:
For the 2017 Nephi OLC Games we will be offering a multitude of daily flying tasks/games for the pilots to choose from and enjoy. One of them that I am really excited about is single elimination bracketed glider racing. I'm wondering if anyone has ever tried this before? It seems like it would be really fun - at least in my imagination...

Here is the basic structure I'm thinking about (please comment and help plus these ideas):

1. Nephi is way over subscribed so we will have the maximum 65 gliders insurance allows. This allows us to start with up to 64 glider brackets. My guess is about half of the pilots coming will want to at least give it a try so we will likely start with 32 spots. If most of the 65 pilots want to try this kind of racing, we could do a 32 bracket FAI class (ballasted) and a separate 32 bracket sports class (non-ballasted) and have two final class winners at the end.

2. We give a daily single racing task per class for anyone who wants to fly it.

3. The pilots don't know who they are racing against that day until after they land. I think this will be part of the real fun of this type of racing. You don't have to beat everyone else up in the sky, just one other pilot for the day. You just don't know who it is.

4. Starting with 32 brackets, it will take 6 days to get down to a winner. We could also have awards for the daily fastest flight to highlight the stud/studdess of the day's task.

5. Pilots that are eliminated don't go home of course. They are at an OLC camp so there are plenty of other daily tasks and "games" to try such as Grand Prix races and they can always choose to fly their own OLC flight or personal tasks at any time.

Those are the basics. What do you think? Any suggestions to make it better? I'm thinking blind racing could a fun change to knowing who you are racing that day. Like this, don't like it, other ideas?

Thanks!
Bruno - B4


A couple of ideas.

1) Do a regular contest day for day 1. After the first day, pilots racing against each other would be determined by their prior day win/loss. Winners fly against other winners and losers against other losers. That process continues until you get a full ranking.

2) Alternatively, you could match people up based on PRL seeding (you probably want to deliberately put a bit of spread between competitors, but not totally top vs bottom). This generally ensures that people end up properly ranked at the end since good pilots have a chance to bubble to the top and less skilled pilots sink down, so the later rounds are a reasonable indicator of who is the best.

3) You can either do the above matching 1:1 so you know who you are racing against (I'd prefer that), or in groups to leave it a bit more of a mystery.. The advantage of doing it in this sort of way (no matter which specific method you choose), is that you could group competitors by just the pilot or pilots they are racing against and grid/start them that way, so you spread groups out on course and people can get up and going rather than waiting for the start to open.

4) Another alternative is to do small group races to start and then re-group the 1,2,3,4, etc finishers from each together the next day. You could do this the first day with two groups of racers to set the initial brackets instead of using seeding.

5) Pilots can always drop out any time they don't want to keep in the contest and you can adjust the matching system accordingly. You could even allow pilots to skip a day (counts as a loss and you end up with a tougher seeding)

Just some ideas. I like the idea of giving people the option to keep racing through to the end, even if they can't win it all, rather then being eliminated from the contest with a single loss.

Andy Blackburn
9B

Thanks everyone for the ideas so far. I am open to anything. I just threw out my first version. Ultimately, we want to create something that THIS particular group of pilots will be most interested in.

If this were a "contest" where many of the nation's die hard racers were attending, I would for sure say we would want traditional seeding. We would also want losers to keep flying against each other in one form or another.

This group, however, is coming to fly an OLC event first and not a contest. This is just one part of the event - not the main event itself. My guess is most of the registered participants don't even know yet we are thinking of doing this. I am pushing for the concept that once you lose your day, you are out (free) to now go do other types of flying such as Grand Prix daily races, person best long distance flights, state record attempts, even just fun flying with friends, etc. A Nephi OLC event is an amazing experience and I don't want pilots to get pigeon holed into just racing the whole time.

Again, if the pilots coming want to do it another way, I am all ears. This is for them. I hope we get some more thoughts and ideas. Great ones so far.

Bruno - B4

I flew single elimination contests in hang gliders in the 1980s. When the task is not, fly as fast as you can, but beat this particular glider -- no matter how fast or slow you both are -- "interesting" strategies emerge.
John Cochrane.

On Wednesday, February 15, 2017 at 10:02:00 AM UTC-5, John Cochrane wrote:
I flew single elimination contests in hang gliders in the 1980s. When the task is not, fly as fast as you can, but beat this particular glider -- no matter how fast or slow you both are -- "interesting" strategies emerge.
John Cochrane.

We fly a double-handicapped contest in the spring at my club; both glider and pilot (determined by P1 flying time) are handicapped. It's very difficult for a highly experienced pilot to win - which challenges them, and keeps it interesting for the rest.