Modern pentathlon will celebrate its 100th anniversary as an Olympic sport this year. It was originally championed by the founder of the Modern Olympic Games, Baron Pierre de Coubertin and is based on 19th century lore. The story says that a young French soldier needed to deliver an important message. As part of his mission, he was required to ride, fence, swim, shoot, and run, which represent all five of the events in the modern pentathlon. The Men's event first appeared in 1912, and the Women's event debuted in 2000. One of the most infamous participants in the inaugural 1912 Modern Pentathlon was George C. Patton of United States military fame. Until 1996, the pentathlon took place over 4-5 days, but since then it has been combined into a single day competition. Men will compete one day and women compete the next day. In the 2012 Olympics, each country is allowed a maximum of 4 competitors. There are 72 athletes scheduled to compete, 36 men and 36 women.
The first event of the pentathlon is fencing. Every competitor competes against every other athlete in the event. The first player to score a hit wins the match, but if neither competitor scores in 1 minute they will both be given a defeat. If a competitor wins 70% of his/her matches, they get 1,000 points. Every percent above/below 70% will result in a gain/loss of 24 points.
The next event is the 200m swim. Athletes are seeded based on their performance over the last year. The cut-off mark is 2 minutes and 30 seconds which earns 1,000 points. Every 0.33 seconds above/below that time is gain/loss of 4 points.
The third event is horseback riding. For this portion, each competitor is given 1,200 points. The rider loses 20 points for a jump that is knocked down, 40 points for a refusal or disobedience, and 60 points for a fall from their mount. They also lose 4 points for every second above the allotted time (based on the length of the course). Athletes are eliminated from the event if they take more than twice the allotted time.
The last event of the pentathlon is the combined event. The top scoring athlete up to this point will start the run. Every subsequent competitor begins at a delay of 1 second for every 4 points they trail the athlete ranked above them in standings. Athletes run 1,000 meters, then aim and hit 5 targets in a 70 second time frame with a pistol. This combination is repeated three times (for a total run of 3,000m and 15 successful targeted shots). The first person to cross the finish line earns the gold medal.
---CACHE IS NOT AT THE ABOVE POSTED COORDINATES---
It will require a bit of driving, as it is a five stage puzzle.
You will be visiting four event-related locations to determine coordinates for the cache location. It is the pentathlon after all, so it seemed only fitting to have five stages. (We were going to do a five stage multi but we learned over the development of this series that sometimes you just can't find enough room between caches to do that...hence the five stage puzzle.) You may do the "events" in any order you like. To find the cache, you must go to:
North 42 50.AB8
West 085 47.CD0
Fencing Stage waypoint.
- Determine number of white entry doors on the east side of the building.
- Multiply that by the number of loading doors on the east side.
- Divide this by the number of brick pillars at the front entrance.
- This total equals letter "A" in the coordinates above.
Horseback Riding Stage waypoint.
- Determine the number of navy blue sides of the shape on the sign.
- Subtract the only number in the business' name on the sign.
- This total equals letter "B" in the coordinates above.
Swimming Stage waypoint.
- Determine the number of lights in the ceiling of the entrance.
- Add this to the number of loading doors on the business.
- Subtract the number of glass doors at the entrance the business.
- This total equals "C" in the coordinates above.
Shooting Stage waypoint.
- Determine the number of doors on the north side of the shopping plaza.
- Multiply this by the number of mailboxes at the east end of the plaza and remember this.
- Add number of brick columns on the plaza front to the number of payphones at the plaza.
- Divide the "remembered" number by the above sum.
- This total equals "D" in the coordinates above.
Now you've got the answer. You can check it below, then "run to the cache" to complete the geocaching pentathlon!!! Bring your own pen.
Their training for the various events served them well...
FTF- Gold Medalist- $1 coin- Congratulations to BoxmanCrew!!!
STF- Silver Medalist- 25 cent coin- Congrats to gvsu4msu!!
TTF- Bronze Medalist- 1 cent coin- Congrats to ourfamilyluvscaching!