New! Maps by Event Type

[This post refers to functionality that has been removed.]

I’ve been working on this for a while and finally found the time to figure it out this weekend.  Any of the #hashtagged event types listed in association with an event can be clicked on to bring you to a page listing upcoming events of that type.  This is nothing new, but NOW you get an interactive map of those events!

Check out the example below, which can be accessed here.

If you want to quickly search by event type with a map, mouseover the ‘Event List’ menu item up at the top and select from the dropdown menu.

One quick note on maps: Basemaps shown on Northern Plains Athletics use OpenStreetMap, the world map that can be edited by anyone.  If you prefer base maps from Google or somewhere else, you can select a different base map by clicking the  icon in the upper right of each map.

Got #Results?

I’ve dabbled in hosting results before, but it became a big mess very quickly, so I set it aside.  I’d still like to incorporate a regional athlete ranking system someday, akin to that on crossresults.com, but that won’t happen until there’s a little more user interaction.

Results are important, however, so I’d love to at least link to them on the site.  There being a lot of races, this becomes difficult unless you (the race director!) send them in.  Skinnyski has a great writeup on results and Google Docs/Drive and how to get things in the right format.  Ship your results to me in any format (even including snapshots of the results sheets) and I’ll get them up under the right event.

Results will be accepted in the following manner:
– in an email to matt@northernplainsathletics.com
– in a comment on the event page (this will get them out there the most quickly)
– in a tweet to @nplainsathletes, with the hashtag #results
– in a post on the Northern Plains Athletics Facebook page

Thanks for the help!
– Matt

Uniting the Climbing Community

Attention climbing gym managers!  Let’s collaborate and schedule next year.  I’d like to see two regional series, one each in the spring and the fall.  This doesn’t have to be formal, but the fewer date conflicts there are, the more climbing everyone gets to do.

This plan is focused on the North Dakota-South Dakota-Minnesota-Manitoba region, but obviously if there are competitions that are outside the edges of this region that will pull climbers away, we need to take that into account as well.

What you need to do:
1.  Look over this list.  If you see a comp I missed, mention it in the comments (and provide a link if you know it).
2.  Grab a weekend in the comments.  Make sure to include your email address so we can all contact each other.  If there is another kind of event near you that might draw away your climbers, keep that in mind.
3.  Comment about what you think will work and won’t.
3.  Send other managers to this page to do the same thing.

Obviously, none of this is binding, but again it seems silly to have comps within weekend travel distance that fall on the same day.  I’m posting this to get the momentum going before next year rolls around, but if someone wants to jump in and be “in charge,” feel free.  I’ll keep this page updated as I find out more, or you can check the official list of future comps here at NPA.

– Matt

Comps that happened in 2012:
February 11 – SDSU (Brookings) (toprope)
February 17-19 – Festiglace (Winnipeg) (ice)
April 14 – NHRG (Grand Forks) (toprope)
April 21 – Vertical Endeavors (Minneapolis) (toprope)
April 28 – UND (Grand Forks) (toprope)

October 20 – NDSU (Fargo) (toprope)
October 20 – Boulders (Madison) (boulder)
October 27 – Vertical Endeavors (St. Paul) (boulder)
November 10 – NHRG (Grand Forks) (toprope)
November 10 – Vertical Adventures (Winnipeg) (toprope)
November 10 – MN Climbing Coop (Minneapolis) (boulder)

Comps scheduled for 2013 (when other things are happening):
Jan 5 Sat
Jan 12 Sat
Jan 19 Sat
Jan 26 Sat
Feb 2 Sat
Feb 9 Sat
Feb 16 Sat – Vertical Endeavors Passion for Flashin’ (St. Paul) #toprope
Festiglace (Winnipeg) #ice
Feb 23 Sat
Mar 2 Sat
Mar 9 Sat
Mar 16 Sat
Mar 23 Sat – SDSU Spring Cling (Brookings) #toprope #boulder
Mar 30 Sat
Apr 6 Sat –
Apr 13 Sat – NHRG Escape the Horizontal XIII (Grand Forks) #toprope
– Vertical Adventures Brass Monkey (Winnipeg) #boulder
Apr 20 Sat – Vertical Endeavors Spring SCS Comp (Minneapolis) #toprope (comment)
– NDSU Rocky Balboulder (Fargo) #boulder (email 2012-12-12)
– UND Dirty 30 (Grand Forks) #boulder
Apr 21 Sun – UMD’s 22nd annual Concrete Smorgasbord (Duluth) #toprope (comment)
Apr 27 Sat – Boulders (Madison) #boulder
May 4 Sat
May 11 Sat
May 18 Sat
May 25 Sat
Jun 1 Sat
Jun 8 Sat
Jun 15 Sat
Jun 22 Sat
Jun 23 Sun
Jun 29 Sat
Jul 6 Sat
Jul 13 Sat
Jul 20 Sat
Jul 27 Sat
Aug 3 Sat
Aug 10 Sat
Aug 17 Sat
Aug 24 Sat
Aug 31 Sat
Sep 7 Sat
Sep 14 Sat
Sep 21 Sat
Sep 28 Sat
Oct 5 Sat
Oct 12 Sat
Oct 19 Sat
Oct 26 Sat
Nov 2 Sat
Nov 9 Sat
Nov 16 Sat
Nov 23 Sat
Nov 30 Sat
Dec 7 Sat
Dec 14 Sat
Dec 21 Sat
Dec 28 Sat