By: CS Danielson

I have been routesetting since 1994 and have been a part of organizing and/or setting over 100 competitions all across the country at numerous facilities, in various formats, and with all different levels of competitors. One might think with a fairly serious degree of experience, a number of successful high-level events in the past, and a solid team of professional setters – all of whom I have worked with before – that I might have had a good shot of hitting an A grade as Head Setter for ABS 8 Adult Nationals this year.

Unfortunately I did not, or at least not in the realm of accurately gauging the ability of competitors and using that knowledge to divide the field fairly in competition. There were no injuries or technicals in the competition which can always be deemed a success, but there were numerous ties in the final onsight round and that reflected an inexcusably poor performance on my part.

So now I am faced with the challenge of disappointment, and what to do with it. Disappointment among the competitors, some of whom are my friends, among the spectators, who would like to have seen a better show, and my setting peers. For years now, I (and the setters with whom I have worked) have had high expectations for our performance, our discipline, and our ability to judge ability levels and determine successful competitions through effective coursesetting.

This event has been perhaps my biggest failure as a setter and I have concluded that my choices are to either walk away from the pressure of big events, or learn from it. I am going to try to learn from it and improve, and figured it might benefit the setting community if I shared this experience. What follows constitute the reasons (not excuses) for the less than desirable conclusion at ABS 8 Nationals, but first I will lay out what some of the goals were for the event.

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