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.

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!

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

We were happy to see a great number of folks for a tuesday night summer sprint series! Always wonderful to see families with kiddos sharing their love for orienteering.

What a great time at the Kress Farm Nature Preserve! Thanks to the board members for inviting us out to enjoy their scenic property, thanks to Dennis Brinkley and Troop 778 for making the maps, scout Mason Thayer for building the permanent course, and thanks to long-time SLOC member, Rick Armstrong for designing the courses. Abby Wilde was your race day registration volunteer. Rick, Nathan Graves, myself and others answered questions and gave beginner briefings.

Except for a quick downpour and a bit of wind, the weather was great for late April. Muted sunshine highlighted the variety of trees and fields of wildflowers. Some people spent extra time exploring those fields of wildflowers…unexpectedly (by going off the eastern side of the map). Oops!

Note: If you didn’t get enough or were not able to make it, the hiking trails and the permanent orienteering course at Kress Farm are always available to the public during the hours the preserve is open (a map can be borrowed). Native trees and plants, homegrown vegetables, as well as seasonal annuals are available for sale regularly and especially during their plant sale events. Check their website and FB page.

Thank you to everyone who made it out to the beautiful Beaumont Scout Reservation for the annual Orienteering Festival. It was a beautiful day with Scouts and non-scouts alike enjoying some treasure hunting in the woods. A special thanks to David Fisher for designing the course and to all the volunteers who helped make this big event possible. Here are the results, with the club results listed first and the scout results listed at the bottom of the page. Whether you placed well or not, our only concern is that you had fun.

CLUB RESULTS:

SCOUT RESULTS:

Thanks to all who came out for another day in the woods. The morning started with a cool start and clear skies. 8 hours later, temps were in the 50’s and everyone’s legs were toast.
A huge thanks to Gary and Ellen Thompson for an amazing event.

A huge shoutout to the Lafayette ROTC for bringing a large crew and crushing all those hills!

Detailed, control by control results can be found in below.

Thanks to everyone who helped put on this meet. It was a huge team effort once again to get so many racers through the event successfully. 46 people toed the line as individuals or groups to take on one of the four courses offered. Of course, there was also the GROM award which was given to the racer who bested both the blue course and then went out for a 90 minute score o with 33 CP options. Congrats to The Ukranian for taking this year’s rock.

The inaugural West Tyson Poker-O was a hit!  Hit me again everyone said…..so we might do just that…….next year, that is.   We didn’t know we had a club full of gamblers!  They braved freezing temps, ice, and sliding rocks just to get in a card game.  We thankful that all made it back safely except for this poor fella:  

Here are the results of the O -Game.  Bryan Niehaus nearly swept the whole event but card shark, Jeff Adams, swooped in and slammed down a Full House!  Congrats to everyone who had the free time to enjoy in the experience.  We hope to do more of these spontaneous, fun O-adventures for our valued members.  If you have any ideas or would like to direct an event, just let us know!

Name Time

Bryan Niehaus 44:35

Nathan Graves 47:10

Ukranian   51:47

Jeff Ryan 57:23

Michael Haveman  1:01:30

Manoj Sood 1:18:15

Jeff Adams. 1:28:57

Ted Weiss.  1:57:13

Mike Knapp  2:15:00

Jane Small 4:27:00

Name Poker Hand

Jeff Adams   Full House!

Bryan Niehaus Ace High Flush

Manoj Sood   Straight Queen high (with wild card!)

Jane Small.  Triple Kings, 9 high

Mike  Knapp. Pair of Queens, Ace high

Nathan Graves Pair of Jacks, King high

Michael Haveman  Pair of 10s, ace high

Ukranian   Pair of 8’s, Queen high 

Ted Weiss  Pair of 6’s, Queen high

Jeff Ryan Ace, queen high