Author: Bruce Markielewski

The thirteenth annual Colorado Model Rocketry Championships had 24 competitors participating (20 individuals and 2 teams) which tied for the most competitors in a C.R.A.S.H. contest! All age divisions were well represented, with 4 A Division and 5 B Division contestants, along with 11 in C Division and two teams. The weather was great all weekend, and Saturday’s launch had attracted a large crowd, making it difficult to do contest flying with the over 130 sport flights attempted during the day.
This contest had 5 events, including two altitude events. Open Spot Landing had 19 attempts and close scores in each division. Ariana Williams had the best flight in A Division, a four meter score. Daniel Anthony-Ceres was a close second at 6 meters, and Matt Twombly was third with 8 meters. In B Division, Elise Coit took first on a with 9 meters, while Luke Short and Russell Coit tied for second with 16 meters. The top for places in C Division were all within one meter of each other. Steve Clapp prevailed, followed by Bruce Markielewski, Ina MacDonald, and Russ Anthony. In the Team Division, Paranoid Androids won by a meter over Dave and Dave.
“1/2A” Rocket Glider Duration is a difficult event, as the number of attempts and disqualified flights indicates. Ariana was the only A Division competitor in this event, and had to compete with the B Division entries, but she won the event anyway, more than doubling second place Luke’ Score. In C Division, Bruce won handily with a 92 second single flight. Nathan Coit was second, followed by Steve and Russ. Dave and Dave outlasted Paranoid Androids for the Team Division win.
“A” Helicopter Duration is supposed to be more of a challenge than Rocket Glider, but the 12 contestants had better success in this event. Ariana had trouble on her first attempt in A Division, but a very nice second flight earned first place. Daniel and Ryan Anthony-Ceres, followed in second and third respectively, both flying Tasmanian Devil style models. In B Division, Elise Coit had two consistent flights to win first place over Luke, who had a very nice single flight. Christiana Williams had a single short flight for third place. Russ Anthony had two decent flights for first in C Division. Steve had problems on his first attempt, but recovered nicely on his second flight to earn second place. Nathan and Bruce tied for third place. Nathan only flew once, but Bruce’s second flight would have been enough to win the event had all six blades of his model remained attached. Unfortunately, one broke off, disqualifying the flight.
All of our altitude events were flown on Sunday, when only a few sport flights were flown and we could concentrate on tracking and data reduction duties. “B” Cluster Altitude required five “B” engines to be clustered in the model and ignited simultaneously. Ariana Williams, once again flying with the B Division competitors, flew the only “A” Division B Cluster Altitude flight, but unfortunately that track didn’t close. Luke had the only other successful flight of the group, gaining 226 meters, and a potential new national record. Steve captured C Division and a potential record on his second flight. Bruce was a close second, using two very different models on each flight. The first was a more conventional design with the five engines in the rear of the model, while the second had three engines aft and two forward. Carl Truszynski and Russ Anthony battled for third place, with Carl coming out ahead. Paranoid Androids would have won the Team Division by nearly a hundred meters, but couldn’t return the model, so the win and a potential record went to Team Dave and Dave.
“B” Eggloft Altitude was more challenging than expected, as disqualifications and unclosed tracks hampered the competitors. Ariana edged Luke for the combined A and B Division winner. The other Divisions were just as competitive, as Bruce narrowly beat Steve for first place in C Division, followed by Nathan and Russ, while Dave and Dave were five meters better than Paranoid Androids. Of the 35 tracked flights on Sunday, all but 8 closed. The non-closed tracks were mostly due to flights that arced severely rather than fly straight up.
Ariana won the A Division championship easily, flying all five events. Daniel and Ryan Anthony-Ceres were second and third, each flying two events. In C Division, Bruce was able to hold off Steve for first place by winning three of the five events. Russ flew consistently, winning one event and placing fourth in the four others, outlasting Nathan for third place. In the Team Division, Dave and Dave had a fine contest, winning all but one event and more than doubling Paranoid Androids’ score.
Once again, we’ve had a fine contest weekend! Several non-contest record attempts were made, and C.R.A.S.H. members flew a total of eight potential NAR record setting flights.

“1/2A” Rocket Glider Duration (WF 19)
Pl. Contestant Flight 1 Flight 2 Total Points NAR Points
A/B Division
1 Ariana Williams 15 NF 15 10 570
2 Luke Short 7 NF 7 6 342
– Christiana Williams DQ DQ 0 0 0
C Division
1 Bruce Markielewski 92 NF 92 10 570
2 Nathan Coit 48 DQ 48 6 342
3 Steve Clapp 35 NF 35 4 228
4 Russ Anthony 31 NF 31 2 114
– Rick Hyman DQ NF 0 0 0
Team Division
1 Dave and Dave 7 9 16 10 570
2 Paranoid Androids DQ 11 11 6 342
“B” Eggloft Altitude (WF 19)
Pl. Contestant Flight 1 Flight 2 Best Points NAR Points
A/B Division
1 Ariana Williams 72 NF 72 10 570
2 Luke Short NC 67 67 6 342
– Chris Twimbly NT NF FP 1 57
– Christiana Williams DQ NF 0 0 0
C Division
1 Bruce Markielewski 100 NF 100 10 570
2 Steve Clapp DQ 93 93 6 342
3 Nathan Coit 50 78 78 4 228
4 Russ Anthony 55 NC 55 2 114
5 Carl Truszynski NC NC FP 1 57
– Rick Hyman DQ NF 0 0 0
Team Division
1 Dave and Dave 70 NF 70 10 570
2 Paranoid Androids 65 NF 65 6 342
“A” Helicopter Duration (WF 20)
Pl. Contestant Flight 1 Flight 2 Total Points NAR Points
A Division
1 Ariana Williams DQ 23 23 10 600
2 Daniel Anthony-Ceres 5 5 10 6 360
3 Ryan Anthony-Ceres DQ 7 7 4 240
B Division
1 Elise Coit 39 44 83 10 600
2 Luke Short 57 NF 57 6 360
3 Christiana Williams 10 NF 10 4 240
C Division
1 Russ Anthony 73 38 111 10 600
2 Steve Clapp DQ 101 101 6 360
3 Nathan Coit 59 NF 59 4 240
3 Bruce Markielewski 59 DQ 59 4 240
Team Division
1 Dave and Dave 56 54 110 10 600
2 Paranoid Androids 5 NF 5 6 360
“B” Cluster Altitude (WF 18)
Pl. Contestant Flight 1 Flight 2 Best Points NAR Points
A/B Division
1 Luke Short 226 NF 226 10 540
2 Ariana Williams NC NF FP 1 54
– Christiana Williams DQ NF 0 0 0
C Division
1 Steve Clapp 392 494 494 10 540
2 Bruce Markielewski 441 456 456 6 324
3 Carl Truszynski 198 NF 198 4 216
4 Russ Anthony DQ 161 161 2 108
– Nathan Coit DQ NF 0 0 0
– Gary Boles DQ NF 0 0 0
Team Division
1 Dave and Dave 258 NF 258 10 540
– Paranoid Androids NR NF NR 0 0
Open Spot Landing (WF 4)
Pl. Contestant Flight 1 Score Points NAR Points
A Division
1 Ariana Williams 4 4 10 120
2 Daniel Anthony-Ceres 6 6 6 72
3 Matt Twombly 8 8 4 48
– Ryan Anthony-Ceres DQ 0 0 0
B Division
1 Elise Coit 9 9 10 120
2 Luke Short 16 16 6 72
2 Russell Coit 16 16 6 72
– Chris Twombly 50+ FP 1 12
C Division
1 Steve Clapp 3 3 10 120
2 Bruce Markielewski 4 4 6 72
3 Ian MacDonald 5 5 4 48
4 Russ Anthony 6 6 2 24
5 Carl Truszynski 11 11 1 12
6 Jim Hinton 50+ FP 1 12
– John Fernandez DQ 0 0 0
– Scott Hommas DQ 0 0 0
– Gary Boles DQ 0 0 0
Team Division
1 Paranoid Androids 8 8 10 120
2 Dave and Dave 9 9 6 72
Overall Points
Pl. Contestant 1/2A RG B ELA A HD B CA OSL Total
A Division
1 Ariana Williams 570 570 600 54 120 1914
2 Daniel Anthony-Ceres —- —- 360 —- 72 432
3 Ryan Anthony-Ceres —- —- 240 —- 0 240
4 Matt Twombly —- —- —- —- 48 48
B Division
1 Luke Short 342 342 360 540 72 1656
2 Elise Coit —- —- 600 —- 120 720
3 Christiana Williams 0 0 240 0 —- 240
4 Russell Coit —- —- —- —- 72 72
5 Chris Twombly —- 57 —- —- 12 69
C Division
1 Bruce Markielewski 570 570 240 324 72 1776
2 Steve Clapp 228 342 360 540 120 1590
3 Russ Anthony 114 114 600 108 24 960
4 Nathan Coit 342 228 240 0 —- 810
5 Carl Truszynski —- 57 —- 216 12 285
6 Ian MacDonald —- —- —- —- 48 48
7 Jim Hinton —- —- —- —- 12 12
– Gary Boles —- —- —- 0 0 0
– Rick Hyman 0 0 —- —- —- 0
– John Fernandez —- —- —- —- 0 0
– Scott Hommas —- —- —- —- 0 0
Team Division
1 Dave and Dave 570 570 600 540 72 2352
2 Paranoid Androids 342 342 360 0 120 1164
Section Points
Pl. Section Points
1 C.R.A.S.H.. 12669
2 Independent 1719