[ARDF] Update on 2006 USA ARDF Championships

[Matthew Robbins]

Charles and Nadia,

    To clarify my earlier message, I don't care how or whether medals
are awarded.  I do think you need to name both overall and US
categories in results lists.  Albuquerque probably awarded more medals
than they needed to, but there is something to be said for photographs
in QST with the winners holding medals.

    Does it save a lot of money?  I know in Orienteering, people seem
to like getting the medals, even if they just throw them in a drawer. 
(I'm assuming Joe Moell would want to strangle you if he didn't have a
photo of the USA juniors with medals...)

    So, to summarize:  I don't care one way or the other.  I'd favor
juniors, though.

    One thought I have is to think of something to stick a brass plate
on and award those in lieu of medals.  I have several of these, and I
like them a lot more than medals.  Actually, my second-most prized
Orienteering award is a Hood Release off a real, wrecked Bluesmobile
that was actually used in the movie.  They wrecked hundreds of cars
for the movie, and the junkyard was across the street from the park we
used in Chicago.  One of the organizers pulled some parts off the six
totalled Bluesmobiles they had.  He said they were "picked clean".  It
was probably '85 or '86. The Hood Release was for second.  (It doesn't
even have a brass plate on it---it's just a piece of paper held on
with scotch tape.)  Two weekends ago I saw some awards that were just
a 5 inch diameter tree trunk sawn into 3/4 inch thick pieces (like a
coaster with growth rings), with a little brass plate for the place. 
It was sanded smooth and polyurethaned.  Creative is good.  Something
to hang on a wall or set on a desk.

Matthew
AA9YH
Cincinnati