It was one of the most humid evenings of the summer, but that didn’t stop the 20 intrepid participants from roaming around the pond and lake covered landscape of August A. Busch Memorial Conservation Area. A big thank you to first time meet director Jessica Heupel! She had the idea of putting on an event here a year ago, and we helped to make it a reality.

The event was a one-hour score-O event with 25 CP’s of varying point value. It wasn’t possible to get all of them within an hour, so you had to plan what you thought would be an optimal route and then adjusting while biking down gravel roads. Thanks everyone for coming out and having fun!

The tornado of May 2025 passed through the western and northern portions of Forest Park, toppling or damaging nearly a thousand trees. Meet Director Bryan Niehaus designed an orienteering event that respectfully recognized this tragedy by using only the rootstocks of fallen trees for the check points.

Course options were a shorter point-to-point course with 15 CPs, or a longer “farsta” format course. A farsta is when participants start together and cover the same distance, but there are multiple loops, and each person does the loops in different sequences. Thanks Bryan for the summer fun!

Livelox for Middle Course: https://www.livelox.com/Events/Show/176121/Meramec-Middle-2025

It was rainy and chilly all day in the St. Louis area which made it hard to jump in the car and head down for a night of orienteering and probably wet camping. But for those that did, the drizzly, wet, and foggy woods were mystical. Night orienteering is hard. Night orienteering in wet and slippery conditions is harder. If you completed a course (or even found just a few CP’s), congratulate yourself.

A small group spent the night and dried out by the campfire. A few drove down for the Sunday morning courses. The middle distance was a welcomed relief.

Great to see the Washington High School ROTC cadets putting on another great performance. Thanks to the meet director (especially for keeping track of 55 total CPs!) Thanks to Yvonne and Mark for registration and all the others that pitched in. And a special thanks to Nathan Graves and Rick Armstrong for returning to the park on a different day to pickup the remaining controls.

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.

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***

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

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.  

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.