Let the Games Begin...Canoe/Kayak
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The Summer Olympics begin on July 27, 2012, in London, England. In their honor, we have created a series of caches to highlight the Olympic sporting disciplines. We will release a new cache as the first medal is awarded in each discipline. In each cache, you will see a code for the Closing Ceremony cache. The first 26 cachers who log all 26 sporting, Opening, and Closing Ceremony caches will win a special Olympic prize.
The Olympic Canoe/Kayak discipline is composed of two different sports, Canoe Slalom and Canoe Sprint. Despite canoes and kayaks being noted in history for hundreds of years, the first official races using such were not recorded until the middle of the 19th century.
Slalom is inspired by its namesake Slalom Skiing. When Canoe Slalom was first introduced, competition took place on smooth water. Over time it has evolved to competition on white-water rapids. It made its first Olympic appearance in 1972 but did not become a permanent addition until 1992. This year there will be 4 medal events: Men's Canoe Single (C1), Men's Canoe Double (C2), Men's Kayak Single (K1), and Women's Kayak Single (K1). Depending on the event, the boat may be a canoe (where competitors kneal and use single bladed paddles) or a kayak (where competitors sit and use double-bladed paddles). Slalom boats are smaller and easier to maneuver than those used in Canoe Sprint. Eighty-two athletes are participating in the Slalom events (61 men/21 women). Each country may only send 5 athletes (enough to fill each boat in each event).
There are 2 colors of gates on a slalom course, red (negotiated upstream) and green (negotiated downstream). There are 25 gates on the course. Scores are based on the time to run the course, plus any penalties for missing a gate (50 seconds) or touching a gate (2 seconds). Humans judge the gates and penalties are noted by colored bats. Besides a chief judge, there are timekeepers, equipment controllers, and starting/finishing judges (who can award penalties for incorrect starts/finishes).
Canoe/Sprint is the older of the 2 sports under the Canoe/Kayak discipline. It first appeared in the 1924 Olympics as a demonstration sport. In 1936, it was officially added in distances of 1,000m and 10,000m. The 10,000m event was dropped after the 1956 Olympics. Sprint requires athletes to race head-to-head over still water, often resulting in close, action packed competition.
There are 12 medal events for Sprint, over distances of 200m, 500m, or 1,000m. Events are solo, pairs and crew (4 athletes). The 200m Sprint is making its debut at the London Games. The canoe races include Men's Single (C1) and Men's Double (C2). Kayak events include Single Men's (K1), Single Women's (K1), Pairs Men (K2), Pairs Women (K2), Men's Crew (K4) and Women's Crew (K4). There are 246 athletes set to compete (158 Men/88 Women). Each country may be represented by only one boat in each event. Athletes will be penalized if their boat moves out of the center of their lane.
This traditional cache is found near the Grand River but placed with a land approach in mind. We do not have access to a canoe or kayak or we would have made this more theme related....
Additional waypoint- Trailhead can be found at N 42 58.056 W 085 52.989
When parking near the trailhead please obey all parking signs and use parking meters if needed. The roads to the trailhead entrance are a little unusual, so make sure you are following the One Way signs. It would be wise to avoid night caching, as the trail starts behind housing and the nature trail (covered with tree roots, rocks, etc.) is not lit.
These cachers prove they will go anywhere for a find!
FTF - Gold Medalist - $1 coin- Congratulations jonnytarr on FTF!!!
STF - Silver Medalist - 25 cent coin- Congratulations Tom Kat on STF!!
TFT - Bronze Medalist - 1 cent coin- Congratulations laker91 on TTF!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Fznyy YAY pbagnvare jvgu n cra.