If Geocaching Was An Olympic Sport

[+Ambrosia]

If Geocaching was an Olympic sport, what would be the rules, and how would it be set up? Who should be sent to play in the games, and why?

[+Renegade Knight]

Rule one.

 

No log, no find, no exceptions.

[+Ambrosia]

I just realized, Geocaching could be in the summer AND the winter games!

[+CYBret]

In an Olympic sport you have a level playing field with people of similar abilities who have the same opportunities to practice, play and compete.

 

In Geocaching you have people from all walks of life, all ages, all of them differently-abled from each other. You have people in cities who have access to many micros hidden everywhere, you have people in other settings who have to drive for miles and hike to the middle of nowhere just to get one more smiley face.

 

As I've said before, the only person you can actually compete against is the lazy version of yourself who doesn't want to get off the couch, away from the tv or computer and find a cache. As long as I can beat that guy I'll take the gold.

 

Bret

[+Ambrosia]

Well, in an Olympic sport, they actually would have to set up fake geocaching runs. Like when they did white water Kayacking in Tennessee for the Olympics, they changed the whole river around, set up berms on the sides, and made fake holes and eddies for the competitors.

[+The Leprechauns]

The marathon: competitors vie for the gold along a 24-mile power trail of microcaches in Southern California.

 

The sprint: contestants are timed for how long it takes to drive from the entrance to a Nashville Wal-Mart parking lot, stop at the appropriate lamp post, and remove and sign the micro-log.

 

The relay race: on a standard track surrounded by a highway guardrail, four micros are magneted at random spots along the guardrail. Each member of the team finds a hide-a-key, runs the rest of their lap, and tags the next runner, handing them the GPS "baton."

[+Ambrosia]

The sprint: contestants are timed for how long it takes to drive from the entrance to a Nashville Wal-Mart parking lot, stop at the appropriate lamp post, and remove and sign the micro-log.

[+Team Perks]

The marathon: competitors vie for the gold along a 24-mile power trail of microcaches in Southern California.

 

The sprint: contestants are timed for how long it takes to drive from the entrance to a Nashville Wal-Mart parking lot, stop at the appropriate lamp post, and remove and sign the micro-log.

 

The relay race: on a standard track surrounded by a highway guardrail, four micros are magneted at random spots along the guardrail. Each member of the team finds a hide-a-key, runs the rest of their lap, and tags the next runner, handing them the GPS "baton."

So...are stickers allowed in lieu of signing the log?

[ju66l3r]

In an Olympic sport you have a level playing field with people of similar abilities who have the same opportunities to practice, play and compete.

 

In Geocaching you have people from all walks of life, all ages, all of them differently-abled from each other. You have people in cities who have access to many micros hidden everywhere, you have people in other settings who have to drive for miles and hike to the middle of nowhere just to get one more smiley face.

 

This is a poor comparison. You are limiting the "olympic" sport to only those people playing the game in the stadium at that one time and then trying to say that geocaching can't be the same way. That is poor logic. The correct comparison is to look at geocaching versus any sport that is also played in the olympics like bike racing and you would see that there are people from all walks of life and ages, all differently-abled that choose to race/ride a bike to different degrees.

 

In other words, geocaching and bike racing are comparable and you'd see that only the best of both worlds would be the actual olympic atheletes. The level playing field with people of similar abilities can be created for geocaching the same as it is for bike racing and every other olympic sport. Poor Central African nations still send runners who may not have had the training centers and coaching staffs of the USA or European track teams. They get to compete just the same and some nations even send their atheletes to another country to train, but still represent their home country in the games. If there were an Olympic level geocaching competition, you'd see the same thing. For example, if the goal of the competition were as many as fast as possible...then a good finder from Backwoods, MT would go to Nashville, TN to train in an area rich with many close caches and compete in the national competition to hopefully be selected by the Olympic team recruiters.

 

Just because nobody does it this way now (and there's no olympic level definition for geocaching) doesn't mean that geocaching couldn't be an olympic level competition and to compare it lop-sidedly the way you have is not fair to the original hypothetical question.

 

As I've said before, the only person you can actually compete against is the lazy version of yourself who doesn't want to get off the couch, away from the tv or computer and find a cache.  As long as I can beat that guy I'll take the gold.

 

No, you can establish whatever rules you like and compete against anyone who wants to do so within those rules. All you have to do is look to gpsgames.org or any event cache games to see people having fun doing this. The answer to is it possible is "yes".

[+Jeep_Dog]

 

For example, if the goal of the competition were as many as fast as possible...then a good finder from Backwoods, MT would go to Nashville, TN to train in an area rich with many close caches and compete in the national competition to hopefully be selected by the Olympic team recruiters.

 

Just imagine the excitement the training, or perhaps even the national trials to determine the team, could be! If the olympic committee utilized GC.com, geocaching could be the only sport where the world class athletes get trampled by locals going for a FTF!

 

 

you have is not fair to the original hypothetical question.

 

Ouch. Your thesis hurt my head. Hyper what?

Edited December 1, 2004 by jeep_dog

[+CYBret]

Well, poo...I'd hate to be accused of poor logic...especially in such a heated discussion.

 

Fine..it's a competition....first person to find them all wins...everyone else is a LOSER.

 

 

Bret

[+Ambrosia]

I didn't mean that geocaching was a competition! The Olympic sport thing just entered my head, and I thought, "Why not post it, and see what sort of interesting, fun things the idea will spark?"

[CoyoteRed]

Setup a 25 cache course in some medium sized town. Cachers are staged at a nearby town and they run the course head-to-head two teams at a time. Teams are two person. Any mode of transportation is possible, but only one. Teams can split up, though. The team is given a piece of paper with cache locations and descriptions. (They will have to hand-enter the coords.) Up to 6 stages could be "missing" determined randomly and weighted so an average of 3 missing. Time penalties awarded for caches not returned properly or not found. Cachers pay their own traffic tickets.

 

The head-to-head requirement forces a team to be aware that the other team is not observing to simulate not being observed my muggles. The "missing" cache forces decision making to determine if they should continue looking or take the penalty.

[+vree]

Heck, if they can include any "sport" where the winner is determined by a person's subjective opinion and made into a "score", they could include geocaching.

 

(not really)

[+CYBret]

Geocaching Related Olympic Competitions

• The 200 meter dash while changing batteries and re-acquiring signal log
  
• The "I don't need a boat for this hydro-cache" swimming competition
  
• Synchronized Drunken Bee Dancing
  

That's all I can think of right now

 

Bret

[+Renegade Knight]

Teams would have navigators & finders.

 

Kick in equipment handlers, key grips, pit crews, drivers...

 

No cell phones or radios for sneaking in clues.

[+Planet]

There would have to be 25 competitions:

1 terrain/ 1 difficulty

1 terrain/ 2 difficulty

1 terrain/ 3 difficulty

1 terrain/ 4 difficulty

1 terrain/ 5 difficulty

 

2 terrain/ 1 difficulty

2 terrain/ 2 difficulty

2 terrain/ 3 difficulty

2 terrain/ 4 difficulty

2 terrain/ 5 difficulty

 

3 terrain/ 1 difficulty

3 terrain/ 2 difficulty

3 terrain/ 3 difficulty

3 terrain/ 4 difficulty

3 terrain/ 5 difficulty

 

4 terrain/ 1 difficulty

4 terrain/ 2 difficulty

4 terrain/ 3 difficulty

4 terrain/ 4 difficulty

4 terrain/ 5 difficulty

 

5 terrain/ 1 difficulty

5 terrain/ 2 difficulty

5 terrain/ 3 difficulty

5 terrain/ 4 difficulty

5 terrain/ 5 difficulty

 

That would take a month! I think the TV ratings wouldn't hold up. Not until you got to the 4/5's and the 5/5's.

 

But I like what Cybret said in his first post in this thread. I have to stay ahead of the lazy me.

[+Nurse Dave]

Of course the people that use a Garmin would be in the "special" olympics.

[+flask]

and magellan users would be in the boomerang contest.

 

...but seriously. if you WERE competing there'd be a number of ways to play it. since "in the wild" you can't be assured that a cache is correctly rated, or that it's correctly rated for YOU, a random sampling might be a suitable choice.

 

the way i look at it, geocahing is as viable a sport as archery and certainly as much as figure skating.

 

then again, i was pretty good in the potato peeling biathlon and the eleven-legged race.

[+Robespierre]

I think the marathon is one cache, 13 miles from the parking lot.

Or else one cache in each of 26 states?

[+5¢]

Geocaching Related Olympic Competitions

• The 200 meter dash while changing batteries and re-acquiring signal log
  
• The "I don't need a boat for this hydro-cache" swimming competition
  
• Synchronized Drunken Bee Dancing
  

That's all I can think of right now

 

Bret

Just wanted to let everyone know that the U.S. Olympics tryouts have contacted me to try out for Synchronized Drunken Bee Dancing team. They have seen me in action and am looking forward to me being on the team. They said I have to tryout, but I am a shoe in.

[+tabulator32]

Geocaching Related Olympic Competitions

• The 200 meter dash while changing batteries and re-acquiring signal log
  
• The "I don't need a boat for this hydro-cache" swimming competition
  
• Synchronized Drunken Bee Dancing
  

That's all I can think of right now

 

Bret

How about "muggle avoidance and general stealth"

 

(Can you replace the cache after signing the log without the judges noticing?)

[+CachingCubmaster]

Who says it can't be?

[+Oxford Stone]

What drugs can I take to enhance my geocaching performance?

[Keystone]

I would ban Ryan Lochte from drunk posting in the forums.

[+barefootjeff]

The geocaching pentathlon -

 

1. Swimming - swim out to the island in the middle of a shark-infested bay to find the T5 cache.

2. Fencing - find the bison tube on a fence.

3. Cross-country running - complete a power trail on foot (bonus points if barefoot).

4. Equestrian - find the nano concealed in a horse statue.

5. Shooting - shoot the muggle standing between you and the cache.

[+Joe_L]

Another event to include: the hammer throwdown.

[+Manville Possum]

Power walk a power trail, and send the French team.

[+wimseyguy]

It would look something like this, but in cargo shorts not the short runner shorts.

[+BlackRose67]

The geocaching pentathlon -

 

1. Swimming - swim out to the island in the middle of a shark-infested bay to find the T5 cache.

2. Fencing - find the bison tube on a fence.

3. Cross-country running - complete a power trail on foot (bonus points if barefoot).

4. Equestrian - find the nano concealed in a horse statue.

5. Shooting - shoot the muggle standing between you and the cache.

6. Football - Full contact, tackle FTF race.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

The geocaching pentathlon -

 

1. Swimming - swim out to the island in the middle of a shark-infested bay to find the T5 cache.

2. Fencing - find the bison tube on a fence.

3. Cross-country running - complete a power trail on foot (bonus points if barefoot).

4. Equestrian - find the nano concealed in a horse statue.

5. Shooting - shoot the muggle standing between you and the cache.

6. Football - Full contact, tackle FTF race.

 

200 meter dash - Usain Bolt gets the FTF every time.

 

 

[+hzoi]

I've seen competitive ammo can hurling and nano log rolling at events.

 

At our first event, we had film can relay races, balancing the film can on a butterknife.

[+niraD]

The first US gold medal this year was in a shooting event.

 

At a geocaching event, I've seen what happens when a potato gun is fired at an ammo can.

 

Therefore...

 

How about a potato gun shooting event, starting with large size targets, then regular size targets, then small size targets, then micro size targets, then nano size targets?

[+Manville Possum]

The first US gold medal this year was in a shooting event.

 

At a geocaching event, I've seen what happens when a potato gun is fired at an ammo can.

 

Therefore...

 

How about a potato gun shooting event, starting with large size targets, then regular size targets, then small size targets, then micro size targets, then nano size targets?

 

Sounds like you are on to something. Maybe launching a matchstick container no less than 528 feet into a wooded area with PI from a potato cannon, then score on the FTF?

[+CachingCubmaster]

The first US gold medal this year was in a shooting event.

 

At a geocaching event, I've seen what happens when a potato gun is fired at an ammo can.

 

Therefore...

 

How about a potato gun shooting event, starting with large size targets, then regular size targets, then small size targets, then micro size targets, then nano size targets?

 

Sounds like you are on to something. Maybe launching a matchstick container no less than 528 feet into a wooded area with PI from a potato cannon, then score on the FTF?

 

+1

[+pingurus]

There is actually a German Championship in Geocaching.

http://www.gc-meisterschaft.de/

[+Ambrosia]

This thread tickles me. When it popped up again at the top of this forum, I saw that there was a thread that I had posted to, but I didn't recognize it. I thought, "ah, a zombie thread from the good ol' days, that I posted to a long time ago!".

 

Then I clicked on it and realized that I was the one who had originally started it.

[+thebruce0]

We have local car rally geocaching events that can be fairly Olympic-like Good opportunity to incorporate some great puzzles, tasks, locations, mental and physical challenges; ..while not necessarily focusing on speed for the whole event (maybe a safe non-driving portion of it )

[+DragonsWest]

At one event I witnessed target shooting of an ammo can - with a potato gun.

 

I'm certain there are competitive FTF hounds who could qualify for some sort of steeplechase race.

 

And then there's the most prolific hiders and finders, people who kept going well after the finish line.