Author Archives: Mark Geldmeier

2026-02-28 Tame the Dragon Results

Posted on by

You never know what kind of conditions you’ll get when entering the dragon’s lair. When we last attempted this starting HQ location, the roads were icy and the temps frigid. But this year was one of the best weather days you can get in the month of February. There were 68 intrepid racers joining the quest to placate the mysterious beast. But, alas, the dragon would not be tamed. No one was able to clear the entire course. Though everyone had great adventures and quest-filled stories to share.

Thanks to Gary and Ellen Thompson for all the effort and care they pour into making this event spectacular. The post-race banquet was plentiful, the fleece jackets smartly adorned, and the event details precise. Thank you to all that attended and made this so much fun!

Pictures courtesy of Kate Geisen and others. Lots more pictures on the SLOC FB page…

https://www.facebook.com/stlouisorienteering

Here’s the details of CP’s visited by every participant.

TD2026ControlsVisitedDownload

2026-01-31 Babler Cold Nose O’ Results

Posted on by

Babler Cold Nose O’ – 2026 Edition

A foreboding forecast led to this event being postponed for a week. Those of you familiar with SLOC events know postponement is very rare! We appreciate everyone remaining flexible with the event date and apologize to those who were unable to attend due to the change. The following week brought slippery, fluffy, snow-covered surfaces and single digit temperatures at the start, but also a stable forecast and beautiful sunshine. We’ll take it! Thanks to all of you for braving the slick slopes of Babler State Park.

Many thanks also to Rick Armstrong for invaluable course consultation, John Vogel for extensive control setting and pick-up support, and Eric Buckley for the awesome new map.

White Course

Individual

Catherine Kuehnle                        43:29

Tim Gutmann                                1:17:06

Kevin Paubel                                2 controls

Group

The Gordon Family                      53:57

Mitchell Gordon group                  55:41

Silver – Marquette HS ROTC       1:06:59

Clarice Pavlak group                    1:23:48

Orange Course

Individual

Steven Gleason                           1:12:24

Mary Piper                                   1:16:11

Mike Kraujalis                              1:36:52

Group

Sean Hoffman group                    1:20:00 estimated

Jacob Peterson group                  1:55:45

Hull group                                    2:22:28

Green Course

Individual

Eric Buckley                                 1:13:03

Ken DeBeer                                 2:10:38

Group

Haveman group                           1:46:53

Kelly Bailey group                        3 controls

Red Course

Individual

Brian Rodenbeck                         1:15:36

Zdenek Palacek                           1:20:07

Nathan Graves                             1:23:41

Matt Scherrer                               1:46:17

Nathan Goff                                 1:51:39

Jeff Sona                                     2:01:09

Robert Bart                                  2:44:46

Lara Houseman                           7 controls

Zach Althaus                                7 controls

Group

Justin Freihaut group                    2:13:27                   

2026-04-25 Night O’ & 2026-04-26 Middle Distance

Posted on by

Two orienteering events in one. 1) a Night-O event on Saturday evening. The navigation is a harder but it’s a fun experience. 2) Middle course distances on Sunday. Beginner courses will be available each day.

You can do just one event or do both. If you’re doing both, we’ll have a group campsite reserved for those that like to camp, otherwise, plenty of fun accommodations in the area if you don’t want to drive back and forth.

Finalizing permits and reservations at Hawn State Park. But check back to confirm anything hasn’t changed.

Meet Director: Eric Buckley

Location: Hawn State Park (tentative)

2026-03-07 Scout Orienteering Festival

Posted on by

Gain access to one of St. Louis’ most valued nature escapes: Beaumont Scout Reservation. This event is in coordination with the John Smerek Memorial Scout Orienteering Festival. There will be a bunch of boy scouts doing a separate Score-O Course. The club members will be doing point-to-point courses. There is separate registration and pricing for the scout event so please make sure you register at the club table.

When: Saturday, March 7th

Where: Beaumont Scout Reservation, Emerson Shelter

Registration: 8:30 AM – 10:00 AM with starts to follow. Course closes at 12:00.

SLOC participants, please register online to help us know how many to expect for the event. This is an old-school manual punch with passports course to allow points to be co-used with the scouts.

We will have 4 courses prepared:

  1. Beginner: White Course: 2.7 KM
  2. Advanced Beginner: Yellow Course: 3.1 KM
  3. Intermediate: Green Course: 4.2 KM
  4. Advanced: Red Course: 6.7 KM

Questions? For club event, contact Josh Borgmeyer at jb.balancedbody@gmail.com. For the scout event, contact John Daberkow at jwdrunner@icloud.com.

BONUS DIY OPTION FOR MEMBERS ONLY: The course will be completely set on Thursday afternoon so if any member is unable to participate on Saturday and would like to do the course on Friday, Friday night (yes, I said night), or Saturday morning prior to the official registration, you may do so.

DIY Rules (to be completed in this order):

  1. Email Josh requesting a PDF copy of the desired course: jb.balancedbody@gmail.com
  2. Text Josh your full name, start time, license plate number and the course you will be doing BEFORE you start the course. Park in the Emerson Shelter Lot. You MUST carry your phone on you for emergency purposes. There is good cell phone reception in most of Beaumont.
  3. Do the course and time yourself. Hold your hand for 5 seconds on each kite to simulate using a manual punch.
  4. Upon completion of the course, immediately text Josh your finish time and the number of controls found.
  5. If you don’t text me, I will text you. If you don’t answer, I will assume you are injured in a ditch and need to be rescued. I will drive to Beaumont and if I find your car at the Emerson shelter lot, I will be sad and will dispatch more SLOC warriors to come to your rescue. If I drive to Beaumont and your car is not in the Emerson Parking lot, I will be mad and suggest to the board that you be banned from the club for life.
  6. Lastly, there will be lots of scouts camping this weekend so don’t run through someone’s campsite. There might be a lot of rain this week so use common sense and bridges as needed to cross the big creek. If any Scouting Official asks you what you are doing there, tell them that Josh Borgmeyer from the Map and Compass Committee and Troop 313 gave you permission. Have them call me if they want.

2025-11-01 Halloween O at Cliff Cave

Posted on by

Thanks to Jeff and Carrie Sona for putting on a great event at Cliff Cave. And a shout out to Brian Rodenbeck for helping with everything from setup to control pickup. It was a pretty simple event, two hours to find as many of the CP’s as you could. Sounds easy. But the numerous depressions, sinkholes, and meandering trails can easily get you turned around. I’m sure everyone had the experience of dropping into one of the depressions confident the orange/white flag would quickly be spotted…only to find…nothing, Boo! But at least there were snacks, candy, and friendly conversation at the finish. Hope everyone had a great time!

2025-10-19 Jefferson Barracks Results

Posted on by

After showers and thunderstorms the day before, we awoke to bright blue skies and cool temperatures. Arriving at the park, we were concerned about the “hunt in progress” signs, but orienteering participants are an intrepid lot, and everyone went out anyway! (the hunt didn’t start until the next day).

It was so much fun to see all the excited faces! Thanks to everyone that came out. Hope you had fun playing in the park full of varied terrain and so much history. A special thanks to Anne Schrupp for running the registration. Thanks to Jeff Sona, Carrie Sona, and the Washington High School cadets that helped put up banners and organize the registration table. Thanks to Brian Rodenbeck and Josh Borgmeyer for control pickup.

2025-09-13 David Frei Memorial Kirkwood Night-O Results

Posted on by

It was a warm and wonderful evening of orienteering in Kirkwood Park. Our hard working volunteers welcomed a mix of returning regulars plus many new bright-eyed faces to the sport of orienteering. We had a tremendous turnout of over 160 participants this year, almost doubling our normal volume. Thank you to all who joined us and navigated with curiosity and excitement. Your energy lit up the night! A big thanks to our SLOC and family volunteers who took the increased volume in stride. My apology on any map delays and on control #23 being on the SE corner of the lake instead of the SW corner of the lake. We hope to see everyone again next year for this annual St. Louis Orienteering Club classic! ~Mary Piper(Frei)

2025-10-19 Back to the Woods – Jefferson Barracks

Posted on by

Jefferson Barracks County Park isn’t really back in the woods, but it’ll have more woods than our summer events. Note: this event is on Sunday. If you show up on Saturday, you’ll encounter 200 cross-country runners!

Registration Open

Date: Sunday, October 19, 2025

Time: Courses open 11:00 am to 2:00 pm.  You can start at any time.

Location: Jefferson Barracks County Park. General Atkinson Shelter at the southeastern corner of the park. Use navigation software to follow directions to the shelter or look for orienteering signs along Grant road near Hancock Ave.

Meet Director: Mark Geldmeier

Courses: There will be three “point-to-point” courses. You have to go in order. -Yellow Course (Beginner) – 2.1 km, 7 CPs -Orange Course (Intermediate) – 3.4 km, 10 CPs -Green Course (Advanced) – 5.9 km, 17 CPs

About: Jefferson Barracks has a bit of everything.  Open grassy fields, wooded depressions, a small but challenging open woods section, a paved trail, prairie, and some sections of thick green.  Plus museums, monuments, and lots of military history.

With the late summer drought, the vegetation has dried out. Some of the green areas are more runnable than usual (mainly where there is bush honeysuckle).

Questions: Contact Mark Geldmeier (mgeldmeier@earthlink.net)

2025-11-29 Turkey-O (Rescheduled for 2025-11-30)

Posted on by

Registration Open

*** Update 11/30/2025 7:32 AM – Start location is the Equestrian Campground. Along Frenchman Bluff Road. 39.003904, -90.943841 Red triangle & double circle on map below. See you there! ***

*** Update 11/29/2025 2:00 PM — Rescheduled for Sunday, November 30th ***

Winter time in St. Louis can bring all kinds of surprises. Normally a little snow can make for a lot of fun in the woods. But with 8″ of accumulation at the park, the Winter Storm Warning being expanded to Lincoln County, and the park closing the roadways…Saturday morning was a bust. However, let’s try again for Sunday morning. Courses will be open from 9:00 am – 2:30 pm. There is no “mass start”, just show up and go anytime but be back before the course closes. *If the road to the Stone Shelter is still closed (we don’t know yet), the alternative start location will be at the Equestrian Campground along Frenchman Bluff road (39.003904, -90.943841)

*** Update 11/29/2025 8:29 AM. EVENT CANCELLED! The park has closed all park roads. ***

*** Update 11/29/2025 7:52 AM. In addition to no mass start. The courses will remain open until 4:00 pm. ***

*** Update 11/29/2025 7:23 AM. There will NOT be a “mass start”. Show up whenever you want and start whenever you want. Traffic conditions are slow. Take your time and use caution. ***

*** Update 11/28/2025. There is snow in the forecast. Yes, we still go orienteering in the winter weather. The exception would be if it’s particularly bad or if the park roads are closed. That is not expected at this time. Dress for the weather, drive safely, and we’ll see you there! ***

Are you ready for a Turkey-R. This year’s Thanksgiving event will be a 2hr/4hr Rogaine event. Test your navigation skills in the stunning landscape of Cuivre River State Park on Saturday, November 29th Sunday, November 30th. The event kicks off from the Stone Shelter (N 39’0″36 W 90’56″21) with a mass start at 10:00 AM, so be sure to arrive by 9:00 AM to get checked in, grab your maps, and prepare for a day of outdoor excitement. The course will close at 2:30 PM, so plan your route carefully and beat the clock to the finish! So grab your compass, lace up your shoes, and come join us for a memorable day of exploration and adventure!

Date: Saturday, November 29th. Arrive by 9:00 am. Sunday, November 30th, courses open 9:00 AM – 2:30 PM

Location: Cuivre River State Park. Stone Shelter (or Equestrian Campground)

Meet Director: Manoj Sood

Schedule

TimeActivity
9:00 AMRace check-in begins
9:30 AMMaps distributed
9:55 AMPre-race meeting
10:00 AM AnytimeRace starts
12:00 PM 2-hour race cutoff
2:00 PM 2:30 PM4-hour race cutoff
Course Closes

Course and Park Notes

  • Expect 30 – 35 checkpoints across across 2500+ acres = many route options.
  • Out-of-bounds areas are clearly marked—entering them results in disqualification.
  • Bonus points awarded for trash collected and returned to the finish line.
  • There are a few picnic tables are available at the Start area shelter, but not enough for everyone to spread out their maps. If you need a flat surface for route planning, please Bring Your Own Table (BYOT).
  • Water is shut off for the season at the Stone Shelter. No potable water is available at the shelter or bathrooms.
    • A designated water drop station will be set up near the midpoint of the course, accessible from multiple trail routes. Racers should still carry sufficient hydration, as no potable water is available at park facilities.
  • Restrooms:
    • Pit toilet: ~½ mile South of the Stone Shelter via trail at the equestrian camp.
    • Porta potty: ~¾ mile by car.
    • Visitor Center: Closed on the weekend.
  • It’s fall in Missouri—high visibility clothing is recommended.

Required Gear

  • Compass (backup recommended)
  • Cell phone (no GPS/maps allowed)
  • Food & hydration for race duration
  • Whistle

Recommended Gear

  • Backup compass
  • First aid kit
  • Waterproof jacket
  • Emergency blanket
  • Long pants

2026-02-15 The Green Dragon

Posted on by

Yes, the Green Rock Orienteering Master (GROM) is back but has taken new form. Armed with an updated (Fall 2025) orienteering map by cartographer Jon Torrence, that will include a tract to the West of Scenic Loop Dr., and inspired by Gary Thompson’s upcoming seventh edition of the Tame the Dragon on February 28, 2026, we introduce the Green Dragon.

This “rogaine” style event will borrow the scoring system from previous Tame the Dragon meets. In a Score-O format, there will be 18 controls on the course. You will earn between 10-60 points for each control and also earn bonus points for completing sets of similarly valued controls. This format creates a unique strategic blend of endurance and planning as competitors seek to maximize the 4-hour window allotted to them. For visual learners, see table below.

For those who have been hesitant to head to Lake the Ozarks and commit to a full 8-hour rogaine, this one is right here in St. Louis and only half the time. Beginners are always welcome and will have the chance to go out and obtain controls at their skill level with the knowledge that you are right here in St. Louis County with good cell reception and all within the well-marked Greensfelder Park if you get a bit turned around. Take as much time out there as you like (course closes at 2pm).

For the mid-pack racers, the strategy of the meet opens up an opportunity to level up in the standings if you can plan and execute a strong route. And of course, for our most competitive folks…, well, expect me to run you up and down some hills and find as many parallel errors to bait you as I can. You’ll need all 4 hours to attempt the sweep.

Divisions: Solos and teams are welcome as seperate divisions. Based on registration, we will open up juniors (under 18), family (mix under/over 18), and masters (over 55) divisions.

Date: Sunday, February 15th, 2026

Map Distribution: 9am

Mass Start: 10am; (so you have to be there before 10am)

Time Cutoff: 2pm followed by stories and awards

HQ Location: Wyman Campus at the Enterprise Center Building, 600 Kiwanis Dr, Eureka, MO

Meet Director: Nathan Graves, questions to contourline@stlouisorienteering.org