Rallyists discover local Erie Canal history while exploring new roads

By John Werner, Rallymaster

One of my main goals in writing WWR-2009 was to use some 'new' roads, roads we don't normally run. To that end, WWR-2009 started at Cheap Charlie's in Holcomb, NY, ran northeast into the drumlin fields that make up the heart of Wayne County, and then continued on to a break at the Geneva exit of the thruway.

Besides being one of the largest drumlin fields in the world, the hills offer some interesting roads that cross over and between them. These 'new' roads, coupled with a slippery snow-sand-ice mixture, provided a good setting for seven of the controls before the break.

As the rally moved south out of Wayne County and heading towards the Geneva thruway exit, the competitors crossed through a reminder of NY State's history of change. Lock Berlin, a mere dot in the middle of nowhere used to lie on the Erie Canal. When the canal was moved, much farther south, the town and the name stayed.

The competitors then continued through two more controls on the way to the break. Checkpoint 9, the last checkpoint on the first section, was actually one of my favorites and presented at least one competitor with an issue. Unlike most of the controls, checkpoint 9 was clearly visible from two turns ahead, two 90-degree turns, one of which was covered in drifting snow. If you were running on time when you first saw the checkpoint, you would have a difficult time making it on time.

From the break at the truck stop at the Geneva Thruway exit the rally turned southwest running down toward Gorham and Middlesex. Major portions of this event actually ran backwards along the course of one of the first rallies I wrote for the FLR Winter Series.

Unlike Wayne County, Ontario County had mostly dry roads, including the dirt ones. The small hills of Wayne County were replaced by with a few larger hills, which added a couple of hill climbs to the 55 miles and seven controls of the second half. Eight controls were originally set out in this section, but at the last minute, with the control crew in position, I decided not to use the last control due to safety concerns. The road was to narrow to safely use as a control and the car claiming ditches on each side of the road only added to the problems. [I learned about the ditches when I inadvertently pulled a little too far over when I stopped during the mileage run to mark the control location.]

By the time the first cars reached Manetti's, scoring was well underway. Beth had entered all of the first half controls into the scoring program. Because of this jump on the work, we were able to publish the first preliminary results shortly after midnight (the first cars arrived at 11 pm, last cars came in around 11:40). By 12:30, the last of the scoring corrections had been made, final results were posted, and trophies were handed out.

Special thanks need to go out to all of the people who helped with the rally: Beth Werner (checkpoint & scoring), Zach Werner, Sharrayah Werner (Tech & course opening navigator), John Walsh, Rich Smith, Barb Lissow, Steve Kittelberger, Alan Blood, Craig McMasters, Carl Dresie (checkpoint & course check), Chris and Jake Bucknam, Larry Wells, Mike Toombs, Lew Giesy, Roy Hopkins & Adrienne Hughes (sweep), Bob VanSice, Jr., Dave Weisbrod, Eric & Debra Hinkston (registration), and Curtis Braun (novice class)