2025-04-13 West Tyson County Park

It was great to see everyone that came out to West Tyson! A good mix of long-time orienteers along with some new faces. The weather was sunny and warm (maybe a bit too warm). But after too much rain the previous weekend and some cool days during the week, no one was complaining about the weather.

The courses were designed by Rick Armstrong and the vetting of the control locations had been completed. But then the Meramec river rose 30 feet. Last minute tweaks were needed for the advanced course to keep people safe while still providing a little adventure. Meanwhile the Chubb trail dried up perfectly, just in time for the Yellow course participants to enjoy. And the Orange course provided a great opportunity to see Dogwoods in bloom along with several varieties of spring-blooming Missouri natives.

The course distances might have looked a little shorter, but the climb made up for it. Several people were enticed into selecting a harder course, stretching their skills and physical conditioning. Even if you didn’t finish the course you selected, great job at pushing your limits!

Thanks to Rick Armstrong for course design. Thanks to Kelly Skaggs, Will, Skaggs, Stu Hamilton, and Lulu for working the registration and starts. Thank you to Jeff Sona for providing beginner briefings. Thanks to the Washington HS ROTC cadets for assisting with setup and Douglas & Chase for taking down banners. And thanks to Eric Buckley and Josh Borgmeyer for control pickup.

2025-02-22 Tame The Dragon Results

Tame the Dragon provides a great challenge for the fastest racers while also giving beginners (and everyone in between) the opportunity for an epic navigation adventure. With 8″ of snow falling earlier in the week, followed by bitter cold, the woods were a winter wonderland. On race day, early morning temperatures in the teens warmed into the upper 30’s by afternoon with sunny skies and light winds. The snowfall slowed the pace just enough. No one cleared the course this year. The Dragon would not be tamed.

It was great to see all the ROTC cadets from the Lafayette MO-81st. Nice job!

A big thanks to Gary and Ellen Thompson for putting on another successful rendition of this race. And thank you to all the participants. We hope you had a wonderful time in the snow!

***Check back for additional results details to be posted***

2025-01-25 Babler Cold Nose O’ Results

You just never know what kind of conditions you’re going to get at the first event of the year…sometimes it’s mild, sometimes it’s muddy, last year we had sub-zero temperatures. This year we had ice! The snow in the woods was compacted with a tough icy layer on top and the trails resembled bumpy bobsled runs. Thanks to everyone who came out to brave the ice!

Thanks to Mark Geldmeier for helping with registration and numerous other logistical support tasks. Rick Armstrong lent his substantial institutional knowledge by providing course consultation and also helped with control setting. Thank you, Rick!

Lost and Found:

  • One YakTrax (I spoke with the gentleman who lost it, but I forgot his name!)
  • One baseplate compass (it looks pretty new)

Please reach out to a SLOC member to claim these items.

-Yvonne

Individual – Yellow

Caleb Jones                                   28:03

Cassie Bart                                 1:31:56

Group – Yellow

The Bumble Bafs                            49:54

Lafayette MO-081 Red                   56:09

Lafayette MO-181 Blue                  56:42

Individual – Orange

Douglas Leonard                         1:06:26

Isaac Severson                            1:26:44

Caleb Jones                                 1 control

Group – Orange

Divorced Divas                              57:35

Orange is My Favorite Color       1:10:21

Bloody Tears Reunion                 1:24:15

Adams Family                             1:25:17

Lost Purple Posse                       1:43:04

Team Dillon                                 1:52:55

Get Outside!                                1:54:29

woLOSTods                                 1:55:29

Kevin and Rasa                           2:12:50

Lost But Faultless                        2:13:42

Muenks Family                            2:24:02

Team Cooper                     9 controls

Newbie Group                              5 controls

Kaveney Family                           4 controls

Mark Frei

Individual – Green

Robert Bart                                  1:31:28

Reid Linksvayer                           2:11:36

Ken DeBeer                                 2:18:01

Group – Green

Soggy Socks Brigade                   2:19:48

Sterling Hyland and Nic Green    2:39:52

Team Tird                                    2:45:34

Bailey                                          3:23:18

Sarah and Jake                            3 controls

Group – Red

Todd Dohogne & Zdenek Palecek 1:12:44

Slug-Os                                       1:40:14

Ted and Sandy Weiss                  2:56:24

Individual – Red

Eric Buckley                                 1:09:41

Nathan Graves                             1:09:47

Bryan Niehaus                             1:12:25

Josh Borgmeyer                           1:15:34

Vladimir Yurkuns                          1:16:43

Bridge Bordelon                           1:19:05

Michael Haveman                        1:21:03

Brian Rodenbeck                         1:26:39

Finley Miller                                 1:30:55

George Schweitzer                      1:51:18

Lara Houseman                           3:13:00

Zach Althaus                                3:13:03

2024-11-30 Don Robinson Turkey-O

WOW! What a beautiful and fun day in the woods.  Mother nature provided some bonus weather for this year’s Turkey-O but the snow only added to the fun for more than 70 participants.  Adding a 3rd course at the last min also some of the Advanced course racers a couple of extra challenges to deal with. 

Many thanks to Mark Geldmeier for all the logistical support, Chris Heupel for helping check the course and to Ken Debeer and Joe Marincel for helping pick up controls, Thank you gentlemen!

Thanks to all who braved some snowy weather to make this event a huge success.   

After the meet was finished,  I revisited control #15, 90 min course, or #26 on the 3hr course and agree with several racers who commented that the CP was not marked correctly on the map. I have therefore credited all racers with reaching that CP in the results below.  

2024-11-09 Halloween O at Cliff Cave

Thanks to Jeff and Carrie Sona for putting on a great event at Cliff Cave. There was a little rain, but that didn’t dampen the spirits of the adventurers that attended. And yes, there were costumes.

2024-10-12 Jefferson Barracks Results

Wow!  A big thanks to everyone that came to Jefferson Barracks County Park on Saturday.  We had 121 total participants that enjoyed a warm mid-October day at the park.  It was a little crazy and chaotic, but wonderful to have the park full of so many orienteers.  A good mix of old-timers, new faces, and lots of energetic JROTC cadets.  A big thanks to co-meet director Terri Zuber for everything, Jeff Sona for doing beginner briefings, Lily Munch for computer registration entry, and Brian Rodenbeck for control pickup.

JB is popular. We’re used to seeing frisbee golf, overly tame deer, and large gatherings at the pavilions.  But, we added a wedding to the list this year.  Right in the path of the beginner course!  So, yep, something old, something new, some compasses borrowed, no one was blue.  Ultimately, the wedding proceeded with “I do”, and our participants finished with, “I did it”!

On the Green (advanced) course, CP #11 had been re-located after the maps were printed.  It was noted on the map, but not clear enough for some participants.  Those unfortunate souls scoured the nasty briars, brambles, and underbrush searching the original location in vain before either spending a lot of time or giving up.  This opened the door for others to move up in the results.  For an interesting comparison, the timing for just the first 10 CP’s on the Green course has also been calculated.

Thanks everyone for coming out and making this event a huge success!

2025-05-03 Meramec State Park – DOUBLE EVENT – Saturday and Sunday NIGHT O and MIDDLE COURSE

We are offering two events in one weekend! A Night O (Advanced, Intermediate, Beginner) on Saturday night and a Middle Event (Advanced and Beginner courses) on Sunday morning. All at Meramec State Park.

Your registration is good for both courses so join for one or both. If you could put either “night” “day” or “both” after your last name, that will help us plan.

Lodging: Camp at the group campsite or glamp at the cabins. A group of SLOC folks will be setting up in the campground. Reach out to contourline@stlouisorienteering.org if you have questions about the camping or meet in general.

Date/Time: Saturday, May 3rd 9pm and Sunday, May 4th 9am.

Location: Meramec State Park, Group Campground is HQ and Start/Finish location.

Meet Director:  Eric Buckley

Course Notes:

Greetings all! As the web allows one to ramble a bit, let me get straight to the point for those who just want the facts:

The advanced night course is a legit Red course run at night. DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS UNLESS YOU ARE REALLY GOOD. It’s hard. Trust me.

If you’ve never done night navigation before, seriously consider the beginner course even if you’ve managed to get through more technical courses during the day. Nobody will judge you. I’ve made it longer than usual and it has some interesting legs. You can always do the advanced course the next day if you want to get in some more technical nav. Wandering around in the dark woods wondering if you’ll ever see your family again isn’t very much fun.

SAFETY BEARING IS DUE EAST. I’ll say it again: SAFETY BEARING IS DUE EAST. Please don’t make us conduct a search in the middle of the night. If you are really turned around, just go straight east until you hit the Meramec River or the campsite (I’ll state the obvious, you may need to go north or south to get around cliffs above the river). You should be able to find your way back from there pretty easily.

Night O (controls, distance, climb)

Beginner: 11c, 3.9K, 85m

Intermediate: 9c, 4.7K, 175m

Advanced: 12c, 6.8K, 235m

Middle (controls, distance, climb)

Beginner: 8c, 3.3K, 110m

Intermediate: 9c, 3.9K, 165m

Advanced: 11c 5.1K, 220m

Having sent the folks that don’t appreciate my erudite treatise packing, here’s the longer version.

The intermediate night course is no picnic either, slotting in as either a tough Orange or easy Green in daytime, but pretty solid at night. That said, while optimal routes are advanced, this course has lots of catching and collecting features that offer safer routes. If you’re at all concerned, look for ways to get very close to the features using handrails (trails, streams, ridge tops, etc.) even if it adds some distance. All the controls on the intermediate course are close to such features, but only if you are willing to deviate from the “optimal” route (there’s nothing “optimal” about getting lost at night).

The beginner night course has most controls off-trail, but only slightly. You should be able to get very close using trail routes but you’ll have to be reading your map to know when to leave. Note that I’m including power line cuts as “trails”. You will want to use those.There are also lots of opportunities to save distance by cutting trail corners. This adds a fair bit of challenge; getting back on a trail at night is not as easy as you might think!  For those familiar with USOF color coding, this course is YELLOW which is described by the oxymoron “Advanced Beginner”. The first few legs of this course are a bit bland; I wasn’t able to find any interesting way to route you through the campground without annoying the campers. I hope you find the remainder of the course worth the wait; it’s got some really great features, even at night.

Sunday, we’ll get what I’m calling a “Middle” course, though it could easily be mistaken as classic GREEN. For those who haven’t done A-meets, Middle is supposed to be the super-technical distance where you need to run full-on to win, but you risk terrible mistakes by doing so. Meramec doesn’t really offer any super-technical terrain, but it does offer enough climb that if you run this course as hard as you can, you will get enough brain fade to matter. Point being, intermediates should not be afraid of this course if they take their time. Advanced runners can take their chances as they see fit.

The beginner course on Sunday is standard YELLOW. Things are slightly off trail. You can shave some time by cutting through the woods, but the trail routes are OK.

Intermediate runners are a bit out of luck at the moment for Sunday. I may have time to put together an intermediate course, but no promises. As noted above, the middle course is doable, just take your time and use trails and streams to get you close.

General notes on the terrain:

Climate change is a thing and all of the woods in Missouri are getting thicker every year. This map is 30 years old, so there will be sections mapped as white woods that will slow you down and impede your visibility. I’ve tried to avoid these for the night courses as hitting unexpected thick stuff at night is really frustrating. Still, don’t be shocked if you come across the occasional patch of nastiness on an otherwise open hillside. Areas mapped in shades of green are at least as thick as indicated; expect a shade darker when making route-choice decisions.

There have been a number of new structures built over the last 30 years. The ones I’ve come across, I’ve added to the map, but it’s not like I did a full survey of the park. Don’t freak out if you pass a shelter or hut not on the map.

Trails are still pretty accurate. I updated a few that were obvious route choices in the vicinity of the start/finish. I didn’t encounter any other problems but, again, don’t expect a 30-year-old map to be perfect.

2024-07-09 Laumeier County Park – Summer Series #4

The summer series events have seen some interesting weather. This time it was Hurricane Beryl. After making landfall on the Texas cost on Monday, the remnants passed through southeastern Missouri on Tuesday, bringing 3.25″ of rain to Laumeier. The trails became streams, the stream a river, and the normally empty pool ruin was filled to the brim. An event at the sculpture park is always quirky, but the rain made it quirky and mystical.

Those that braved the weather had the choice of an 18 checkpoint score O course (any order) or a 3.1 km point-to-point course. Nice to see both the regulars and several beginners. Thanks for coming out and hope you enjoyed the unusual clues!

Thanks also to Josh Borgmeyer, Nathan Graves, Eric Buckley, Manoj Sood, and Steve Mueller for picking up controls and carrying equipment.

2024-06-25 Marquette High School (summer series)

It was a dark and stormy night… Well, actually it wasn’t night (because it was one of the longest days of the year). And it wasn’t that stormy (there were storms all around us but we were lucky). Still, there were gusty winds, occasional showers, and lightning in the distance. And the high power lines directly overhead buzzed loudly – with the sound changing whenever there was a flash of lightning. It was eerie!

The registration and finish table were moved inside the back of a car (to keep the electronics safe from wind and rain). But despite the weather, the turnout was good. The 3.1 km course crisscrossed the Marquette High School campus and included navigation choices, potential creek crossings, and the obligatory climb to the top of the stadium bleachers.

Thanks to Terri Zuber for working the registration/start/finish and Mary Piper for control pickup. And thanks to all the attendees that braved the storm!

2024-05-28 Broemmelsiek Park Summer Sprint Results

Thanks to everyone who participated in the first SLOC summer sprint for 2024! We lucked out with beautiful weather, great trail conditions and the cicadas weren’t too loud…

We had two courses to choose from – a 2.0k shorter/beginner course with 12 controls and a 2.8k longer/harder course with 9 controls.

Short – Individual

Dennis Yurkuns – 16:04

Myles Kelley – 19:35

Brian Gibson – 40:39

Vladimir Yurkuns – 9 controls

Short – Group

Marquette High School Team Emerald – 23:53

Gervais Family – 30:46

Hey Family – 32:01

Team Nat Lost – 43:46

The B Team – 44:49

Thomson Family – 11 controls

Long – Individual

Ukranian – 20:01

Bryan Niehaus – 21:48

Scott Kelley – 24:18

Melissa Kelley – 28:03

Mark Geldmeier – 31:21

Eric Buckley – 32:36

Vladimir Yurkuns – 34:06

Heidi Abbott – 47:02

Mary Piper – 1:02:25

Patty Muenks – 1:10:47

Roy Muenks – 1:10:49

Long – Group

Jerry Young – 41:58