There were horses and there were Redbuds blooming. Initial results below. We’ll clean up and re-post soon. Thanks for attending!


There were horses and there were Redbuds blooming. Initial results below. We’ll clean up and re-post soon. Thanks for attending!


Join the St. Louis Orienteering Club’s “flashlight” meet at Kirkwood Park. Designed for all ages, meet at the Lion’s Amphitheater and see how many check points you can find using your map and compass. Registration begins at 7:00 p.m. and the 45 minute meet starts at 8:00 pm with a mass start. There is a teaching session prior to the meet and awards following. Bring a headlamp or flashlight and a good sense of adventure!
Note: This event is park of the Kirkwood Greentree Festival. Yep, it’s on the official schedule. So, the park will be busy. The amphitheater is in the center of the park off Amphitheater Drive (appropriately named).
https://www.kirkwoodmo.org/recreation/greentree-festival
Meet Director: TBD
Weeknight Series – #8
When: Tuesday, August 4, 6-8 pm
Where: TBD
Meet Director: TBD
Meet Info: This one is one of the summer weeknight “sprint” series. You don’t have to actually sprint – walking is fine too! We just call it that because it’s shorter and open (like a urban park, school campus, etc.) Tuesday evenings. *More information to be posted*
Weeknight Series – #7
When: Tuesday, July 21, 6-8 pm
Where: TBD
Meet Director: TBD
Meet Info: This one is one of the summer weeknight “sprint” series. You don’t have to actually sprint – walking is fine too! We just call it that because it’s shorter and open (like a urban park, school campus, etc.) Tuesday evenings. *More information to be posted*
Weeknight Series – #6
When: Tuesday, July 7, 6-8 pm
Where: TBD
Meet Director: TBD
Meet Info: This one is one of the summer weeknight “sprint” series. You don’t have to actually sprint – walking is fine too! We just call it that because it’s shorter and open (like a urban park, school campus, etc.) Tuesday evenings. *More information to be posted*
Weeknight Series – #5
When: Tuesday, June 23, 6-8 pm
Where: TBD
Meet Director: TBD
Meet Info: This one is one of the summer weeknight “sprint” series. You don’t have to actually sprint – walking is fine too! We just call it that because it’s shorter and open (like a urban park, school campus, etc.) Tuesday evenings. *More information to be posted*
Weeknight Series – #4. Z wanted to bring us back to Queeny to follow up on the early season event.
When: Tuesday, June 9, 6-8 pm
Where: Queeny Park
Meet Director: Zdeneck
Meet Info: This one is one of the summer weeknight “sprint” series. You don’t have to actually sprint – walking is fine too! We just call it that because it’s shorter and open (like a urban park, school campus, etc.) Tuesday evenings. *More information to be posted*
Weeknight Series – #3
When: Tuesday, May 19, 6-8 pm
Where: TBD
Meet Director: TBD
Meet Info: This one is one of the summer weeknight “sprint” series. You don’t have to actually sprint – walking is fine too! We just call it that because it’s shorter and open (like a urban park, school campus, etc.) Tuesday evenings. *More information to be posted*
Weeknight Series – Opener (REGISTRATION)
When: Thursday, April 2, 5-8 pm
Where: Queeny County Park. Smith Shelter (Weidman Road Entrance)
Meet Director: Zdenek Palecek
Meet Info: A special opening event for the summer weeknight series. Yes, this one is on Thursday evening (the rest of the summer events should be on Tuesday evenings).
Meet director, Zdenek (or you can call him “Z”), has a little treat setup for us to enjoy at Queeny. It’s a short 10 checkpoint course, visiting all of his favorite locations in the park. If you know Queeny, there are woods, fields, ponds, and plenty of trails and manmade things to keep your navigation on track. This will be “rogaine” style, which means you can visit the checkpoints in any order, and you only have to get as many as you feel like.
He’ll be there before 5:00 for any early birds. Show up and start whenever you want. Yes, there might be a few showers or storms around, but we have a shelter to stay dry before and after. Come out and play!


Dear Fellow Scouters:
On behalf of the St. Louis Orienteering Club and the Greater St. Louis Area Council I would like to thank you for attending the 22th John Smerek Scout Orienteering Festival. The weather was clear and sunny. All in all, the scouts and scouters had a great time. The festival attendance was up slightly from 2025. This year we had 18 units with 136 participants.
Attached are the results from the 2026 Scout Orienteering Festival Score-O competition based on the punch cards received at the finish. The festival is designed to test a scout’s (buddy pair or three not groups of four or five) map reading and strategic planning skills. The awards for the top finishers are embroidered neckerchief slides. The scores were very good again this year.
I had trouble reading the names on a few cards, so I apologize for any names that are miss spelled.
The GSLAC Map and Compass Committee is hard at work designing next year’s course. If you have any ideas on how to improve the festival or you would like to join the committee, please let us know. Please talk up the festival at your district’s roundtable and encourage all your neighboring units to attend next year.
Next year’s 23th John Smerek Memorial Scout Orienteer Festival is scheduled for March 6, 2027. I hope everyone will be back again next year. The GSLAC Map and Compass Committee is putting on a “First Class Orienteering” course on May 16 and again in October. Go to the council website to register for these events.
If your scouts would like to do some additional orienteering the St. Louis Orienteering club puts on a local event each month, with courses for beginner to advanced orienteers. For more information visit the club’s website at http://www.stlouisorienteering.org.
The GSLAC Map and Compass Committee conducts adult leader training sessions for adults each year. Please check the Council Calendar for the date for the next session.

Yours in Scouting,
David Fisher
| 22th John Smerek Memorial Scout Orienteering Festival | ||||||
| March 7, 2026 | ||||||
| Total | ||||||
| Name(s) | # | Unit | Age | Penalty | Points | |
| David Fisher | 1 | 496 | 70 | M | 265 | |
| Dennis Brinkley | 1 | 778 | 60 | M | 190 | |
| Tim O’Donnell | 1 | 361 | 73 | M | 145 | |
| Auggie Midden | 3 | 361 | 12 | M | 140 | |
| Tommy Spal | 14 | M | ||||
| Liam Andrws | 12 | M | ||||
| Trey Ran | 3 | 750 | 13 | M | 135 | |
| Herry Johnson | 13 | M | ||||
| Soyn Berrong | 14 | M | ||||
| Cooper Bleigh | 2 | 100 | 15 | M | 115 | |
| Tristan Mapb | 13 | M | ||||
| Ryan Forbs | 4 | 750 | 10 | M | 90 | |
| Jack Carsen | 11 | M | ||||
| Drian Nasun | 12 | M | ||||
| Mason Phillips | 12 | M | ||||
| Landon Ehlert | 2 | 361 | 10 | M | 90 | |
| Devon Ehlert | 14 | M | ||||
| Jason Chierek | 2 | 179 | 45 | M | 90 | 65 |
| Oscar Chierek | 12 | M | ||||
| Peter Spal | 2 | 361 | 13 | M | 60 | |
| Aiden Flarm | 14 | M | ||||
| Carter Phipps | 3 | 776 | 14 | M | 60 | |
| Curtis Jones | 14 | M | ||||
| Treyce Byron | 12 | M | ||||
| Ryan Lechgec | 3 | 809 | M | 55 | ||
| Gaun Stxni | M | |||||
| Mich Jennings | M | |||||
| John Berrong | 3 | 750 | 11 | M | 55 | |
| Alex Vigil | 13 | M | ||||
| Borrett Tindra | 13 | M | ||||
| Lucas Miller | 3 | 750 | 13 | M | 50 | 45 |
| Josh Luner | 12 | M | ||||
| Sam Flynn | 12 | M | ||||
| Tristan Byron | 2 | 776 | 14 | M | 20 | 45 |
| Mason TenEucl | 13 | M | ||||
| Henry Domlade | 3 | 809 | M | 5 | ||
| John Applebaum | M | |||||
| Maximo Iganez | M | |||||
| Willian Allen | 6 | 975 | 72 | M | Rec | |
| Kent Ruffing | 58 | M | ||||
| Grant Pendley | 14 | M | ||||
| Nogan Schaub | 11 | M | ||||
| America Iha-Kannojie | 13 | M | ||||
| Julie Iha-Kannojie | 11 | F | ||||
| Competitors | 43 | |||||
| Teams | 17 | |||||