I'm not a frequent poster on the forums..normally just lurk around. With this one I thought I might add my 2 cents worth. Before sticking my foot in my mouth I did a little research on this to find out what happened and who was involved. Part of what happened might have been my fault. At a break in the action (lunchtime) I went out and downloaded the scores from the palms at each stage. When I did this I also checked batteries...would hate to have a battery die you know. When I did this I neglected to put the palm back on the stage number that it was being used at. When the RO's came back to the stage (not knowing that I had pulled scores) they pulled up the shooter and started scoring. Not until they got to the end of scoring the stage when the target count didn't add up did they become aware there was an issue. I also understand that they did everything humanly possible to keep the competitior from having to reshoot. Sometimes just can't avoid it. I have had to reshoot for less reasons. Reshoots are just part of our sport.
After researching this a little I found out who was running the palm. It was one of our locals and a person that is very familiar with the palms. He scores on them very frequently and is very good with them. So the conclusion I have come to was it was an honest mistake. I would like to say that I am so perfect that I have never made a mistake before. Maybe there are some of our shooters that are that perfect but it sure isn't me. This RO had been on that range for 7 days setting up and running this match in 105+ heat indexes. I'm sure that didn't have any bearing on this. Oh did I mention he was trying to make a living at the same time.
Looking at how the palms performed on the range during the match. The mistake referenced here and one missing score sheet were the only issues with the system and the hard working, dedicated and over heated RO's that were working this match. I would say that is a very low number for a 4 day match, 12 stages and 230+ shooters.
3 weeks before the Area match we did the GP/Iowa sectional championship on the palm system. There wasn't a single hickup at that match and everyone at that matched loved the system. Oh and some of the same RO's were working that match in the heat also.
I want to thank everyone that came to the match and I want to give a special thanks to all of the dedicated staff (RO's and setup crew) that stuck it out in that heat and put on a very good match.
Chris Davies
Match Director
Area #3 Championship