Dragon Boat West

The new Dragon Boat West 2008 team rankings has been posted at http://www.dragonboatwest.net/index.php?page=13.

As rumored, we have a new ranking system replacing the points based standings system of the past couple years. The new system includes all teams that race in festivals and regattas in the BC lower mainland, Vancouver Island and the surrounding region. This new system was developed in conjunction with the Alcan festival ranking team – they came up with the idea and logic behind it, we developed the software that would run through the calculations and produce the results.

How it Works
Other broad ranking systems work based on race time performance. Due to our situation here in BC where we have differing boat hulls and tidal conditions, it is pretty much impossible to accurately compare teams based on time. Instead, this ladder ranking system works on the premise that you can positively compare teams by comparing them to other teams they’ve directly raced. To do this, we look at a single heat, from the lowest placing to the highest placing and compare the two lowest placing teams (last and second last). Then we compare the higher placing team to the team that placed above it (second last and third last). We do this until we get to the top two teams in the heat. Each pair of teams has a “winning” team and a “losing” team. If the losing team is on the ladder and is in a higher rank than the winning team, the winning team simply moves up to the losing team position, pushing the losing team down one spot. Teams that are new to ranking and don’t beat any existing team on it, are added to the bottom of the list. Repeat this comparison for every single heat and for every race, and this is how produce the ranking.

Caveats
While the new ladder ranking system is very comprehensive, there are some quirks which would cause it to sometimes produce unexpected results. An example of one quirk is when a high division team has a bad race (or mid level team having a good race), resulting in a middle level division team taking a high position in the ladder. If that team, by luck, doesn’t race any other higher division teams for a while, it will stay in that high position on the ladder. There’s also the issue of comparing mainland teams to island teams. So far this year, there hasn’t been very much “cross-pollination” of teams between mainland and island races. That will soon change after the Alcan festival but for the time being, comparisons between mainland and island teams won’t be entire accurate, although relationships amongst teams on the same side of the Georgia Straight will be pretty much correct.

All in all, it comes to the amount of race data. The more race data available, the more accurate the ladder ranking system will be.

I notice that there are two Vancity Alpha teams listed in the rankings. There is only one team. What happens when you combine the two?

Thanks for spotting that. To answer your question, in most cases the instance of the team with the most recent racing history will take precedence. it will be the team's highest ranking combined with any changes as of a result of its most recent racing history.

By the way, can anyone clear up for me which Eric Hamber team raced in the regatta today? ;)

Hamber only had boat "s" and "w" at the FCRCC regatta. All the other regattas were just the usual Eric Hamber Eternal Dragon team.

So are there 3 Eric Hamber teams or just 1 primary team that split into 2 for this past weekend's regatta? Will there be 2 teams for the actual RTA Festival?

It's nice to see this ladder ranking listing so many teams. I'm looking forward to seeing how it changes with every festival and see who's moving up and down. Of course every system has some caveats so it will be interesting to see how it works in the end.

I like how it's based on direct head-to-head races. If a lower-ranked team beats you they take your ranking, that's fair enough, that's how a ladder works in other sports.

Thanks for the effort on this.

Hi there - will you include smaller events like the Bill Alley (Lotus Club)?
thanks for putting this together - it's nice to see our name in lights  :shock:

I would like to but the link to the results on the lotus website doesn't work.

there's the primary hamber team that split into two boats for the FCRCC Spring Regatta , and there will be 1 team according to the rta festival website.

I am curious about these rankings.  It seems that Blu BY U finished ahead of the Save on Foods DragonSlayers at the Gorge Super Sprints, but they are behind them in the rankings.  How is this possible?

Because ...
DragonSlayers came ahead of Dog Paddlers in Blue Final B.
Dog Paddlers also beat Westshore Warriors in that heat.
Before that, Westshore Warriors had edged by Xtreme Reach in heat #3.
Finally, Xtreme Reach beat Blu by U in Blue Final A.
*whew!*


In that case, I'll combine the primary Eric Hamber team's results into the "W" team, which is the higher ranking of the two Eternal dragon teams on the ladder currently.

Ok so now my head hurts...This description of the comparisons is a little ambigous...

AuBvwCxDyEzF is the current ranking. Each single letter represents a team.

ABCDEF run a heat, and the results from first to last are as follows:

CAEBDF

D beats F. Ranking-AuBvwCxDyEzF (no change)
B beats D. Ranking-AuBvwCxDyEzF (no change)
E beats B. Ranking-AuEBvwCxDyzF
A beats E. Ranking-AuEBvwCxDyzF (no change)
C beats A. Ranking-CAuEBvwxDyzF

Do I understand?

Yup, that's correct.

Sorry if my explaination of the ladder is not the easiest to understand. I probably went into too much low level detail ;)

I think rb summed it up quite nicely with "If a lower-ranked team beats you, they take your ranking"

Is it always by most recent as well? Let's say there's team A and team B and team A won 3 out of 4 meetings against team B, but in the most recent race between the two teams, team B edged team A and won the race. Team A would be ranked higher than team B right?

I would think that it is based on the final rounds and not the preliminary rounds. It is very much possible that a few teams repeatedly race each other in seeding races but when it really counts is probably where the standings are affected. IMO of course. In other words I would think that final round results should be used. Don't you guys & gals agree?

Ladder rankings are used in other sports and it looks like this is the same principal. If you are ranked 12 and the person ranked 10 beats you then no change, but when you beat 10 then you are ranked 10 and they move to 11 and 11 moves to 12.

When a lower ranked person beats you then you only move down one spot. However if you beat a higher ranked team you take their spot even if they're quite a bit higher. If Granddragons beat Blu By U then Blu By U moves down one spot and Granddragons move up 6 spots.

I think all heats count, that's what Bluestreak's post says about the supersprints.

The finals are the most recent so that should be the last change. If team B beats team A three times but in the final team A beats team B then team A is ranked higher. That seems fair. That's kind of how people look at it anyways, and that's how ladders work in other sports. 

Yes, all heats count. Using final rounds sounds like an interesting idea but that also means far less data for the ladder to work with. Also, remember that new teams to the ladder (that don't beat any other team already on the ladder) are added to the bottom of it. So a few unlucky teams might find themselves way down from where they would expect themselves to be.

Anyways, out of curiosity I ran just the finals only and got this result:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pjeZrHROikIhYa0viWn60Zw

For the most part, teams shift around a few spots up or down but there are a few teams that are in hugely different spots on the ladder. i.e. FCRCC Mixed Red at #78. :)

I will be the first to thank you for putting in all this effort into the Rankings.  That is alot of data that has to be collected in a timely manner.

But i was just thinking, would it be too much work on your part to segregate the different divisions ?  IE: juniors, womens and mixed teams.

Kudos BlueStreak on the Ladder Rankings!
I cant give you enough props for willing to sort through the race data and provide us this service on your free time.

For some reason, Casual Paddler's ranking/site hasnt been updated since last month...so your rankings came in opportune times :D

I like how there are so many teams in the rankings and also your logic of using the head-to-head system and using every heat data to refine the ranking down further.

With that said, had you only used the Final rounds to judge the rankings, my team would jump up from spot #27 to #9...
That's not too shabby after all...maybe u should reconsider using the final rounds only LOL

Clarification: So the three Eric Hamber Eternal Dragons teams in the rankings are going to be consolidated into one?

Cheers.

p.s: having different division rankings as suggested by CCR-MGR sounds good if feasible.

The one main Eric hamber team's results will be merged with only the "W" team. I chose "W" because they were the higher ranking of the two split teams on the ladder. There will still be an "S" team on the ladder.



The ladder ranking database was designed to rank different divisions, but then there was intially some trouble with the data in one division affecting results in another. That has since been solved but in the interests of speed, I've decided to just use mixed division results for now.

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The team ladder rankings (http://www.dragonboatwest.net/index.php?page=13) have been updated with the Billy Alley / Lotus DB regatta results. Thanks to pammywc for sending me them to me!

Great job on the rankings, Blue Streak, thanks.
Just out of curiosity, will out-of-town teams attending local events be included? 
For instance, Calgary Race Club and TopMade will be at Rio Tinto Alcan next weekend, so will we be added to the ladder?

With Saturday seeding heats usually positioning Comp A, Comp B, Rec A, Rec B, Nov A, Nov B in a 6 boat heat - then a collision or DNF race by the Comp A team and Comp B team could result in Rec A team being positioned higher, and dragging everybody else up behind them.

Would it make more sense that if team A beats team B, that team A then moves up 1/2 the distance the teams, instead of taking team B's rank?  This way ranks are earned as opposed to lost.  This would work closer to tennis rankings.  Just because you (the 12th seed) won the French Open knocking out #1 seed, doesn't mean you are now #1.  You proceed on a series of points.

Another quirk that NFW points out is their team moving from #27 to #9 if only Final Rounds were used.

Blue Streak also points out that the rankings are more refined with more races... so how about starting with last year's races as a base... then proceeding from there.  This would be similar to Tennis rankings, which are ongoing, not starting fresh each year.

I think the points system is better... similar to grand prix circuits for skiing etc.  All points are earned.  The more teams or individuals race, the more points they can gather.  But who is to say if FCRCC has a tougher or more plentiful race schedule in Vancouver than Wasabi Mixed in Portland or Gorging Dragons in Victoria?  But teams all have different agendas, some are aiming for national or international competitions, rather than recreational festivals.

But if the point is simply to rank teams' performance, then comparisons should really only be based on final heats.

Yes, any team that races in a mixed heat will be included.


DNF's are ignored in our ladder ranking system. The ranking will be calculated as if the affected team(s) did not race in that heat. This should work fine for the occasional team that has an indiscretion. But if you've got a situation where the top two seeded teams somehow take each other out, wouldn't that be cause for a re-race?

The ladder could work on final heats only, but as I've said it needs more data before the results start to look more realistic. So rather than waiting for more festivals/regattas to run their course, we could go backwards and use data from last year. That's perfectly valid, but I'm content to use the current year's results for now and seeing what happens as we progress forward.


Is this kind of system used anywhere? I'd be interested to take a look at how it works.

For dragon boating I like the ladder system and I like the fact that every heat counts. If you beat me on Saturday afternoon then you're ranked as being faster than me. That seems fair. I'm not going to say that it wasn't a final so please ignore the fact that you beat me. Race every race, they all count. If I'm really faster than you then I'll beat you next time, or I'll beat a team that beat you, and then I'll be ranked higher than you.

I didn't like the old points system, I never referred to it, it didn't mean much. I don't think a different point system like tennis would mean much either. What I want to see is a list of teams from fastest to slowest - the points systems don't tell you that, they tell you how many points the team has which is greatly influenced by the number of festivals a team is in.

IMO the ladder system should give the best overall list of all teams from fastest to slowest. Jericho outrigger paddlers use it and everyone views their ladder as a reliable list of fastest to slowest.

Of course no system is perfect and there will be some quirks and strange results when we're talking about hundreds of teams and hundreds of heats, but I think the logic is sound and I'm sure Bluestreak will continually tweak it to make it better (I hope he has some help, I'm sure it's a lot of work).

I also want to say Thanks for the ranks. I've been hoping for a list of teams from fastest to slowest for a long time and I think this is great.

Coach

Ok after reading what the rest of you had to say I will say that it makes sense to include all rounds regardless if they are finals or semis or just seeding. It seems other sports do that and it seems to be more a true reflection of who's on top and so fort. So I too agree with the logic and criteria that this system uses this year.

Now on a personal note it occured to me that I never ever actually thanked BlueStreak publicly. I know I did it privately in the past in PM's but now I want to do it out in the open! So KUDOS BS! I do appreciate what you have done and you continue to do.

I too surely hope he has some help in doing it because doing it himself seems to me that it might take more time than one would care to put into for no compensation at all!

Now that Bernman is finally in the mood to tell people publicly his feelings.  I wonder what else he will come out and tell people?   :shock:

Ummmm good luck to all teams next weekend at the RTA Festival??? :shock:  :x  :?

I agree. Teams who score high in the first 3 Alcan races and low in the last would be a bit ticked at this system, if that was the case.


"slowest"? How about... accelatorily inhibited. hahaha.


Overall I like the list too. It shows a comparison as to "what's in our league" as well as... well what's not.

Hurray we aren't last!

I see the ladder rankings have been updated. A big jump for Starbucks (must be powered by frapaccino). Also Xtreme Reach and Blu By U are way up now that they raced a big festival.

This system is so much more fair than last year.
I hope some of the 1-15 teams are in Vernon this year so that we get an opportunity to "climb the ladder".
And, yes, the Fat Finger will be there on the beach, too...

Just a note about the newest ladder rankings I wanted to mention: There were a few women and junior teams that raced in mixed heats before Alcan and were included in ladder. But for festival, these teams ended up racing in their respective divisions, so their ranking was unchanged even though they had raced. To fix this, I'll be seperating them out into seperate women's and junior ladders. Look for these new ladders posted sometime next week. Hopefully, I can get them up at the same time I'll be updating the mixed ladder with post-Whistler results.

We've had Whistler, Nanaimo, Harrison and Richmond pass us by already and I was wondering..Any news on when the update of the rankings will happen?

Thanks BlueStreak! :D

Yes... its time to time to update those rankings. They'll be up soon.... For real this time. :)

Rankings have been updated with Whistler, Nanaimo and Harrison results. *whew* (Richmond results don't seem to be out yet).

If there are any teams out there that combined for one of the recent races but would like their results be counted under one of their original team's ranking, let me know.

Next update will most likely be after the Victoria festival.

Sorry, haven't had the time to make a seperate women's division standings yet

----

Update : Fixed a couple of errors.

Richmond reslults should be on their website to-day.

That was fast BlueStreak!  :D
Awesome job on sorting through the raw data!

Many thanks!

Thanks Bluestreak for all your work in this.  One suggestion?  Would it be possible to include a column with the number of races a team has been in?  I think this would add some context and provide a better picture of a team's ranking.

Yes?No?Maybe?

Thanks

I second that idea! 
Listing the number of events raced would definitely give a better picture of a team's ranking.
(it also helps to see which teams raced only 1 events such as RTA only)

Pretty please BlueStreak? msn(:P)

Actually, I was planning on adding a 'number of races' column for the next update! So there's no need to plead... (well, maybe a little is ok ;))

The Richmond results are up on their website. It might change the rankings somewhat...

Ok ... I know there is no such thing as a truly recognized ranking system but Blue Streak has done a great job gathering all the information out there.  That said what does a team have to do to move up on this ladder!!!  We came in first at Harrison and now at Vernon.  That has to stand for something ... doesn't it?

 :lol: ... As I once read "no one has to tell you how good you are ... you either know it or you don't."

Great job BlueStreak!

Digger,

You gotta beat a team that is above you to take over their spot. That is how one moves up on the standings. I think at the beginning of this thread it is mentioned. I know I saw an explanation on here somewhere. So yea you beat some pretty decent teams at Harrison but you were already ahead of them. You should have gone to where ever those 9 other teams ahead of you race and see if you can leap frog them in the standings.

Although in the alternative at Harrison you are the team that teams below you would like to get ahead of. Had you not placed first in the grand final you would have been bumped down 1 spot and the team ahead of you would inherit your spot and be in 10th place. So in essence you defended your standing at Harrison.

I hope this explains it right. If not I am sure someone will definitely say how it really works.

And Digger, good luck to you and your crew in climbing up the rankings the rest of this season.

BernMan is absolutely correct.

Had Magnum beaten you in the final race, we would have taken SI Black's #10 ranking and you would have been bumped down to #11.

DiggerPig, your team needs to beat Kai and get ranking #3  msn(:P) (or alternately, if you beat Without Warning, you'll move up to #8)

Fair Enough!  Although something should be said for consistency.  That being said I take it for what it's worth.  Now we have to go get Kia ...  :shock:  :lol:

Yes Bernman has it right.

It's like at some of the paddle clubs... they rank the individual paddlers based on time trials.  If you want to move up, then you challenge somebody above you.  You beat them, you take their place.

By having Sudden Impact go to Harrison, where none of the 9 higher teams were... Sudden Impact could NOT move up.  But if they lost, they would set themselves up for moving d-o-w-n.

If you want to move up, you have to go after the higher ranked teams, by entering the same races they are entered in.  "CRUSIN' For a BRUISIN'"

But if Sudden Impact goes to Victoria, it sounds like they will be going up against a Gorging Dragons/Kai Ikaika loaded team.  This rankings system doesn't take into account team roster consistency, as Dragon Boat Canada is trying to do, by having a certain percentage of your roster attend each of the races, as you work to qualify for worlds or nationals.

I agree with the roster inconsistency issues, but sometimes it just cant be helped.
The more important issue however would be when a whole new team is created for
the purpose of one specific Regatta/Festivals from 2 or more other teams
(ie. Pemberton Baldies, VOS, and whatever name the GD and Kai infused team will have)
Unless those teams request to credit their results into their original teams rankings.

Imho, that messes up the overall rankings more than the roster inconsistency.
(I guess it helps a little, once the # of races column gets incorporated at the next update)

Bluestreak: When do you anticipate adding in the Victoria results into the rankings. Should be interesting..

Rankings should be up a day or two after Victoria puts out their results.

Edit: Oh hey, they're out. Guess I better get on it... :)

Rankings have been updated!

There are a few things to take note of:

• The number of races column has been added.
• I recorded Dragon Hearts at the Victoria Festival as Dragon Hearts Magnum. If this is error, let me know.
• QF Blu by U was recorded as a separate team from the "plain" Blu by U.
• Gorging Dragons' 2nd place result in Victoria was ignored, so Without Warning will not take their spot in the rankings. The reasoning for this being that it wasn't really the full Gorging team that raced last weekend.

You can combine the Blu By U and QF Blu By U. Quality Foods is our sponsor and we use both names interchangeably.

Thanks for all your work on the standings BlueStreak!  :D

Now this is really screwy. How the heck can teamw that was ranked in the upper 20's or even higher all of a sudden get bumped all the way down into the 60's and lower?? If race organizers are going to rely on website info for possible race/team seedings they sure as heck better not rely on this one! This is not right. FFS!  :x

I also have a question??  How is it that teams who have raced in only one event get to maintain a high and untouchable ranking if they are never in another competition and so cannot be "dethroned?" I believe that teams who compete more often may be penalized in this system.

If I were a race organizer I might say that S.I. Black, who has raced in 7 events has earned its higher ranking...but has "Mauna Hale earned its spot with one event under its belt?

Meaning no disrespect, Blue Streak!  This is an ambitious undertaking and I know that every system will have its flaws. 

Bluestreak: I think you will find that the Vancity Alpha team and the VanCity Thuderstrokers are one and the same. Just a name change.

I just want to make note of something that is outstanding in the rankings. Six of the top 100 teams are Seniors teams, over 50, and some of them average 72 years of age. Some have paddlers in their 80's. So, all you guys out there contemplating your "grey" years, there's hope for you yet. Keep paddling hard, I think we hear banjo music...

"Gorging Dragons' 2nd place result in Victoria was ignored, so Without Warning will not take their spot in the rankings. The reasoning for this being that it wasn't really the full Gorging team that raced last weekend."

Another question...are these ranking objective or subjective?  Every team struggles from time to time with finding paddlers who miss the event for some very good reasons. So, the team you face in an event may be enhanced or diminished based on who is able to paddle.  Not meaning to be unkind to Gorging or to Bluestreak...  but at what point does a team become the "full team"?  Gorging very nearly took 1st.  If they had would their win have been witheld because they weren't the full team?   I'd say that if a team enters an event under their name, they need to be accountable for their result...even if the dragon boat community knows the result would have been different if......

Well put mustbecrazy!  :werd:

If I understand the ladder system correctly....it looks like Legacy didn't place well in one of the recent festivals. This bumped them and the teams ranked below them. So to move up in the standings, your team has to race and beat another team that's ranked ahead of them.

I'm a little confused why Edgewater Casino didn't move into GDs spot, though...would it have something to do with the heats in Victoria?

What usually happens is if a team beats a team that is place higher than them then that winning team takes over their spot thereby dropping that team by just 1 spot. So the rest of the teams below them could technically be bumped down just 1 spot. However after the addition of the number of races column I think it all got screwed up. There are teams way ahead of some of the teams there that have no business being ahead of them. No disrespect but really take a look! There are lower rec teams ahead of lower comp teams! LOL :?

First off, Thanks BlueStreak :D

WOW, The rankings looks so butchered up...

Why are Topmade fusion, TCC dragoneers, Starbucks and Extreme Currents in the top 25? I dont get it.

I've always thought that if you were beaten, you would only drop down one spot. And everybody else below you.
So wouldn't Phat Phish and RGL be right below Magnum??


I agree completely. Obviously Gorging did not anticipate losing, otherwise they might have named their team differently...or they just dont care about the DBWest rankings, in which case Without Warning should take the spot to which they've earned.

As for the Mauna Hale/Kai (Top team with one race) issue, i also agree on it but have no viable solution to offer in terms of the fairness of the rankings, short of going over to their territory and competing with them.

Question: Is Pemberton Eagles and Pemberton Baldies a completely separate team?

p.s: The Dragon Hearts in Victoria was Dragon Hearts Magnum, The organizers at Victoria seems to have missed that.

I believe the Victoria organizer dropped the Magnum on our team name because our full team name was way too long for the roster. (3One Media Dragonheart Magnum) So yeah, that's a hassle

I also have to agree that the ranking looks slightly butchered at its current state, as it doesn't make the top three look very reliable with Ika and Mauna Hale having only one race, and the only team better than them at ranking happen to be the dear FCRCC A. =\ Not to mention the Blu By U Caffeinated by Starbucks, I believe that was a merger solely for one festival, but it's ranked higher than the real 'full' team. If you're not going to count Without Warning's victory over Gorging Dragon at Victoria, why count Blu By U Caffeinated by Starbucks, since neither GD and Blu By Starbucks are technically their respectively full teams.

The system is fine, but at the current state I'd say it need a cleaning up.

Hey Bernman. Yes, I do realize that there were a few strange results in the rankings - yet I published them this morning because it had been a week since the Victoria festival and I thought that there would some very anxious people out there waiting for the update. I just figured I'd take a look into it later. I always have to make a few corrections after I publish the rankings anyways...

Anyways, I have been digging through the results trying to figure how some rec level teams jumped in the standings so much and I believe I've found the culprit. But I'll still need a day or so because I want to double check a result so that I come back to you with a complete answer.


Yes, that is an inherent quirk of the ladder ranking system. After a while a while the ladder would get clogged up with a bunch teams that one raced once. I figure some sort of results expiry method could be used to clean up the ladder, but the only expiry period that makes sense would be a full year. And with that, Mauna Hale would have returned to Alcan, kicked some a** to retake their high ladder ranking and then jetted off away again for another year. ;)


There rankings are quite objective. All I do is click the "Generate Ladder" button, and it just goes off - making hundreds of ranking calculations per second. There's very little I can do manipulate the final results with the exception of ignoring individual heat results. That being said, invalidating Without Warning's win over Gorging was requested by a member of Without Warning... Maybe I should have mentioned this in the first place. :)

One way to move past the "one time only teams" is to incorporate a "points system" for "additional races" similar to grand prix circuits.  If you want to keep your ranking... then you have to keep racing!!! 

This would reward actual teams that compete together over a season, rather than teams assembled for only one race.  But I doubt anybody is really keeping roster records for this list.

Ranking systems for tennis, world cup skiing etc give points for top finishers, which accumulate.  The former DBWest ranking system seemed to  include medal wins at every category instead of a percentile ranking, so a team that won lots of medals at lower rec divisions, could almost do as well getting points as comp teams who cleaned up with medals. 

If the ranking system is simply "look who's strongest on this list" - then we are comparing a World Club Crew depleted Gorging Dragons team in August to a Mauna Hale team specifically stacked for the Rio Tinto Alcan races (which also included Canadian outrigger paddlers).  Unfortunately it seems Gorging Dragons doesn't get points for racing in Penang. 

But it would be fun to ask, hypothetically - who would be stronger?
Gorging Dragaons in Penang?
Mauna Hale at RT Alcan?
or FCRCC in Sydney (not quite a year ago)?

Hint for moving up:  Go after a higher ranked team who will be fielding a weaker team at a race.

It seems mercenary - but this is how ranking systems at some of the paddling clubs work.  If you challenge and beat a higher ranked paddler for a time trial when they are having an off week - you move up.

This ladder ranking is designed to be FUN, incorporate the latest race results, and doesn't quite bear complicated scrutiny for lots of team and event variables.

So Thanks for your efforts Blue Streak... you have generated lots of interest and conversation.

Ok, I've found the cause of wierd results in the rankings. Take a look at the Vernon festival (http://www.vernondragonboat.com/pdfs/2008_VernonResults%5B1%5D.pdf), heat #40 : you will see that in this race, Calgary Race Club finished last amoung teams that were mostly Rec level. This caused a chain reaction of the teams that beat CRC and the teams that beat the teams that beat CRC and so on... to jump way up in the rankings.

I've done a bit of asking around and have confirmed that CRC experienced some kind of problem during this race which caused them to finish last (their time of 3:40 also looks suspiciously wrong). So I have striken that result out of the ranking ladder calculations and the new rankings look much more realistic.

Great job!

On a going forwards basis, it might be good policy to exclude from calculations the presence of a team from a race when they have a serious steering/equipment issue that generates an anomalous result.

It definitely looks more realistic now lol
Thanks for fixing it BlueStreak!

Keep up the good work!  :D

Yes Blue Streak...

Calgary had steering problems in Calgary in their semi-final.  They spun around in the middle of a race in those darn Dynasty boats in a windy chop.  Gung Haggis had some problems too!  :shock:

Calgary recovered in the B finals... and won gold - but in a division lower than they expected to be in.

But some rec teams can now claim they beat Calgary in their semi-final... and that's racing. :P
It really should be the final that should count, as the teams should all be of equal or close ability. This will limit chances of the quirks that you speak of.

Anyways... it was fun having Gung Haggis Fat Choy at #59 for a bit (until you found that Calgary glitch), now we are at #201. :(
Glad I was able to copy a picture of it.  hee hee... I have to show the team tomorrow.

As for our ranking...
Guess we will have to stack our team for Taiwanese races, and go after a high placed team to steal their position!  :D

I very strongly agree with this.
We had an unfortunate mishap in our Vernon semi...and it happens in dragon boating.  We wanted to race against the Sudden Impacts and Pac Reaches of the world in the "A" final.  Instead, we ended up depriving a rec team of gold in the "B" division.  We were not very proud of that.
Similarly, last year we were struck by Gorging Dragons in the A final, resulting in us (and 4 other teams) finishing ahead of GD. 
We know it is not realistic to put us ahead of GD based on that result...you gotta beat them in a clean race!

In case anyone's wondering, the next rankings update will be after the Kelowna festival. It will include results from the Taiwanese, Seattle, Penticton and Kelowna festivals.

When will this be updated? Not that I am impatient or anything....is it ready yet?  :o

Still working on it... Sorry, work's been very busy. ;)

Hey folks. Just wanted to let you know that I have entered the results from the Taiwanese, Seattle and Kelowna festivals into the database, but I'm getting a small bit of "wierdness" in the ladder results. So I'm going to need a day or two more to figure out what's causing these wierd results before I publish the last ladder ranking.

Another case of division discrepancies? What teams are involved this time?

Take your time, and thanks for working hard at it!  :D

Um, not meant to be a hassle...

But it's been a good while, hadn't it be? :) So how's the ranking coming along?

for those who havent noticed, BlueStreak updated the rankings

Woohoo! awesome stuff haha

Thanks again for your work all season long BlueStreak!  :Cheers: