WHAT THE HECK ARE PRIVATE PONDS ANYWAY??

While twenty-nine (29) cars took off from the starting block at Applebees in Mt. Kisco, NY, only fifteen (15) "officially" finished. As we anxiously waited the first car to cross the finish line or rather the 2nd 'check point', we realized that certain cars were destined not to finish. Several calls came across the wire (which made us rather nervous) but when all of a sudden Car # 16 - the overall winners - appeared out of the darkness, we became re-assured and excited.

Certain trigger points - some planned and some not - really tripped up our experienced rallyists. Perhaps the least auspicious was "private ponds". This neighborhood, called "Old Stone Bridge", in Cos Cob, CT labeled "private ponds", was an unfortunate twist of turns for a good number of cars. Upon further investigation, we determined that these private ponds were ecologically protected. Yes, 'private roads, private drives and dead-ends' do not exist, but our generals said nothing about 'private ponds'. To give you even more help, we eliminated the "etc." to further qualify the instruction and specifically mentioned at the drivers meeting that you should "READ YOUR GENERALS".

The other unfortunate area of trouble for many was just prior to our first checkpoint. Instruction #18 'acute right after 5th LIMIT' was located on Byram Lake Road. The first 2 signs [incorporated into a 'speed' limit and 'weight' limit sign] were located at the very beginning of the almost 4 mile stretch of road and the final 3 were placed after you meandered along the lake. Although we think this area caused substantial time delay for many, it also caused one of our rallyists to miss the 1st checkpoint.

For the purposes of this rally, actual mileage was scored. One of our rallyists - who fared extremely well in the results, meticulously calculated his time and overall mileage. With that said, although certain police activity slowed down our 2nd place finisher, his request for time allowance placed him higher up in the trophy rankings.

The bonus questions posed on the answer sheet meant to serve only as tiebreakers and ironically, we did not need to refer back to them for distinction. They are incorporated into the directions merely for your fun. However, the correct answers are: The "historic" site you passed in Armonk, NY was "Smith's Tavern"; among other neighbors - Don & Diane Mays live on Fado Lane, there were officially 2 windmills that you should have passed and the "old mill' that you passed is named "Miller's Mill" located in Stamford, CT.

We placed 40 'on course' bunnies' signs and 2 off-course along the route. Thirty-eight of the forty were retrieved on Sunday morning. Overall the teams did well seeing most of the signs -one team recorded all 38, and one team recorded not one, but both off-course bunnies.

Kudos to the top 3 finishers, the Husband/Wife, the Ladies and the Family teams. We are glad everyone still came out to play even with the high price of gasoline! We look forward to seeing you all again soon and certainly at the 2007 Bunny Run.

Regards,

Don and Diane Mays