Posted below are the results from Tuesday’s meet that just happened to occur during World Orienteering Week (https://worldorienteeringweek.com/). Thanks to everyone that came out to my goofy format.

The times below are the validated (and adjusted best I could) adjusted times based on the rules.

Created by MeOS 4.1.1702 (U2): 5/21/2026 7:41:10 AM

The rain may have scared away a few, but thanks to all who came out to brave it!

LiveLox Details https://www.livelox.com/Viewer/Shaw-Park-Sprint-5-5-2026-/Sprint-1?classId=1148814

As for the 2nd sprint (the experiment) where participants were trying for the shortest distance and not the fastest time: there were some challenges with GPS batteries, forgetting to start the GPS, and of course the various types of devices. In the end, everyone’s distances were very very close.

Results:

Z Palecek: 1.11 miles

Brent Suydam: 1.13 miles

LeGrande Rives: 1.18 miles

Nathan Graves: 1.20 miles

Add together the most beautiful weekend of the Spring, the most beautiful park in Missouri, superbly designed technical courses, night navigation, day navigation, a blazing campfire, and even whip-poor-wills…and you get orienteering bliss.

Thanks to Eric for designing and setting the courses. Thanks to all that attended (it was great to see the Kansas City area contingent!) We’re still polishing the results, so come back for those. And we’ll put the Livelox up too, so save your routes so you can add them later.

Results – Hawn Night 2026

Date: 2026-04-25

Created by MeOS: 5/1/2026 8:28:18 AM

Results – Hawn Day2 2026

Date: 2026-04-26

Created by MeOS: 5/1/2026 8:27:38 AM

Thanks to “Z” (Zdenek Palechek) for putting on this Summer (okay Spring) Sprint in Queeny Park. Participants searched for 12 CP’s placed in Z’s favorite locations. The weather was great, and good exploration was had by all.

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

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 22^th 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 23^th 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                          

A big thanks to everyone who was able to come out to beautiful Beaumont today to slip and slide in the woods looking for treasures with fellow nature loving friends. Special thanks to David Fisher for designing, setting and helping to pick up the courses. Fantastic job, as always, David. Also, a big thanks to Matt Scherrer and Nathan Graves who helped pick up the course. Kudos to George Schweitzer who took advantage of the Membership perk of doing the course early and was able to complete the Red Course in the dark without reflectors on the bags. Well done, George! I hope everyone learned something and had fun today. See you at the next one.

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.

Congratulations to Brian Rodenbeck our overall winner. Thanks to everyone who assisted in making this a success including Brian Hey, Zdneck, Bryan Niehaus, and Hannah and Amber at Wyman for the use of the Enterprise Building and access to the property. It was a miserable day of setting the course on Saturday but was just about perfect weather for Sunday’s meet (and Monday’s course clean up). See below for full results as well as the podium for each division. Please let me know if you see anything you have a question about.

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