Went on a Road Rally Last Night

Last night was opening night for the road rally season. A Road Rally (http://rally.eifco.org) is where teams of cars drive around solving clues and trying to be first to the finish line with all the clues solved. We consider our team pretty good and our problem solving skills top notch. We are on clue two last night, which is a local horse racing form. We sat there for 20 or so minutes unable to make heads or tails of it. So, we made a decision. We would skip the clue and take the penalty. We knew this would blow our best chance for first, but we still could cash. We do stellar in the rest of the rally and end up 6th across the line. The rally pays six places. Turns out, we were MISSING a part of the clue. The envelope just did not have it! I find it interesting that had we tried too hard only for first, we would not have cashed at all. I think that is important to remember. Sometimes you just need to cash and let first go. Otherwise, you end up staring at a horse racing form.