2006 Tombstone Trail

A record 51 teams competed on the 29th annual Tombstone Trail in Cannon Falls, MN on October 28. The event had surpassed its entry limit of 50 teams, and had several teams on a waiting list. There were some withdrawals and no-shows, so the event had accepted the first 4 entries on the waiting list. With the eventual no-shows, 51 cars ended up competing. Fortunately, an extra copy of the instructions had been printed for the extra team.

The weather was typically clear and brisk. Similar to last year, contestants travelled to 3 cemeteries collecting clues to find a mystery cemetery, then travelled to several more to find clues to a mystery tombstone within that cemetery. Along the way, contestants answered questions at other cemeteries to collect points.

A trick question at one of the first three cemeteries left several teams looking for the mystery tombstone in the wrong cemetery. Those who thought that a person lived 74 years found themselves searching in vain, while those who answered 73 years (and a few months) found the correct cemetery.

Two teams who found the mystery cemetery were confused by some rather ambiguous language in the event's instructions. Though the confusion was understandable, at least one team (Johnson/Howe) actually found the mystery tombstone and could have scored the 10 points for it had they written it down on their scorecard - an unfortunate result of the confusing language. Sorry, guys.

All 51 teams finished the event, certainly a record. It was standing room only at the endpoint while the scores were being calculated. Top honors went to Mark Utecht and Breon Nagy who found the mystery tombstone and scored at 19 cemeteries along the way, claiming first in class AA with 29 points. Second in AA and 6th overall were Therese and Jon Helberg, while Todd Jarvey and Rita Jarvey came in 3rd.

Second overall and first in class B were Brent Hall and Suzanne Jackson with 25 points. Max Hinkley and Kaleigh Hinkley were 2nd, just 3 points behind and 5th overall. Larry and Renee Warrington came in 3rd.

Class A saw a tie for first between Ed Hom/John Wiersma and Tami Benike/Traci DeValk, each with 22 points, tied for 3rd overall. 3rd in class A went to Dave and Rachel Fuss.

In class C, Phillip Galchutt and Tracy Anderson tied for first and for 7th overall with 19 points, beating Kimm Reithmeyer and Denny McGinn by only one point. and Andrea Willems/Corrina Popp by two points.

Joel Luth and Mindy Luth took first in class D and 18th overall by two points over Jim Anderson and Amy Springer. 3rd in class D went to Dan Zorman and Cori Zorman.

The best costume award went to Stu Tanquist and Alana Rae for their Devil and his Minions.

Thanks to all who participated, and in particular all the workers who made this the biggest Tombstone Trail ever.

Mark Larson
Rallymaster

You can see the event results here.

2005 report