Great job everyone! Thank you for remembering our friend and mentor, David Frei.

What a great day to be on the lake. It started with a pretty wild overnight
thunderstorm but that seemed to cool the air and calm the lake.  So after my car
broke down in the driveway, and I had to have some club members and parents
(thanks Mom, Dad, and Bryan) come to the rescue, the course was finally up, the
HQ was set and we were ready to roll about 9:30am. Thanks to Bryan, Mark, Scott,
Kevin, and David who all came out early to help with set up and logistics.
Thanks to Scott, Kevin, Robert, Mark, David, Bryan, and Joe for helping with breakdown
and course pick up.

We had several divisions this time around with winners everywhere. The
course was designed to be just a little too long to complete, forcing you to
decide which controls you would go for and what you had to punt. There were two
controls you could get to by foot if you chose (no one did) and five controls
of higher point values to tempt you to paddle farther and make tough choices.  Each minute over 60, starting with 60:01 was a penalty point so the penalty was steep, and did make a difference in the end.

It was great to be out there with everyone. Thanks for coming and playing in
the water.

Thanks to all who braved the heat for a mad dash around Tilles Park! At least it was a dry heat…. On the agenda for this evening was a 33 control, Score-O (find in any order), with a 20 minute time limit. Yep, 33 controls in 20 minutes! Much ado was made over the 5.9 km distance that OCAD included on the clue sheets. Nope, it wasn’t 5.9 k, unless you chose a random path through the park. By my calculations, the optimal route was 2.7 km, red line.

An optimal route:

There were two “mass” starts: An early start at 5:50 pm for a group of 5 or 6 that had other commitments later in the evening, and the primary start at 6:30 pm. Oh, no looking at the map prior to the start. 🙂

I think a few runners went north, but I think the majority went south to start. Only two sweeps. There was lots of conversation after the finish.

And before moving on to the results, a huge, special thanks to the many who helped clean up after the event! Paul, Bryan, Gannon, Angie & Jeff & Tom, Eric, Manoj, Josh, Nathan, Laura. I hope I didn’t miss anyone.

And last but not least, my apologies to Angie for giving her the wrong map at the start.

Thanks to all the participants! We had a great turnout for a Tuesday evening event. Laumeier Sculpture Park is definitely a treasure. Thank you for allowing me to indulge in a bit of whimsy…I doubt you’ve seen “crack in the Earth”, or “watch for deer poop” as control point clues before. Also thanks to the Brennan family for reminding me that this location was their first orienteering experience… A class given in partnership with the Saint Louis County Parks (where I was the instructor)…oh and that was in 2007…yikes! Finally, a big thanks to Jeff and Tom Ryan for the control pickup.

A big “Thank You!” to everyone who came out for the sprints at Tower Grove last evening! The weather was perfect, and for whatever reason, the gnats, flies, and mosquitoes were no-shows!

And also, many thanks to Matt S for help with registration and to the many who helped with control pickup and cleanup after the meet (Matt, Bryan, Gannon, Josh, Jeff, Tom, Mark G, Nathan, who’d I forget?)

Congrats to everyone who came out for a beautiful spring course. The sun was out, the woods were open, some got lost, and most found themselves finishing with a smile.

Congrats to Brian Rodenbeck for the Win! And thank you to Tim Johanns, Mark Geldmeier and Brian R for helping pick up a controls. Thank you to Kevin Minton for helping get everyone in the computer and their Epunch sticks. Help is always appreciated!

Thanks to everyone who was able to come out and enjoy beautiful Beaumont and have some fun with fellow map and compass enthusiasts. Special thanks to David Fisher and his team (Beth Skelton, Ed Schaefer, Bill Croker, and more) for designing and setting great courses. Also, thank you to Nathan Graves and Kevin Minton for helping with registration/education at the Club table.

The club results are posted at the top of the page and the Scout results are posted at the bottom. Our next orienteering meet will be at Queeny Park on Saturday, 4/22. Mark your calendars. Jeff Ryan, director, has some fun in store for us. Details will be coming soon on the webpage.

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 19^th John Smerek Scout Orienteering Festival.  The weather was a little chilly, but that did not dampen the spirit.  The rain held off until after the event so all the scouts and scouters had a great time.  The festival attendance went up from 2022. This year we had 23 units with 130 participants.

Attached are the results from the 2023 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) map reading and strategic planning skills.  The awards for the top finishers are embroidered neckerchief slides.  The scores were very good this year.  

Inside this package you will find the results and awards (neckerchief slides and I Did It ribbons) for the scouts from your unit.  Please distribute these awards to the deserving individuals.  The results will also be posted on the St. Louis Orienteering Club’s website http://stlouisorienteering.org.   I had trouble reading the names on a few cards, so I apologize for any names that are miss spelled.

We are hard at work designing next years course.  If you have any ideas on how to improve the festival or you would like to help please let me know.  Please talk up the festival at your district’s roundtable and encourage all your neighboring units to attend next year.  

Next year’s 20^th John Smerek Memorial Scout Orienteer Festival is tentatively scheduled for March 9, 2024.  I hope to see everyone back again next year.  We are planning on putting on a “First Class Orienteering” course in October.  Check the council schedule for the date. 

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                          

Congrats to all for a tough and fun day in the woods. Big shoutout to Gary Thompson for all his volunteered time and energy. The Course was perfect and his point system was masterful!

Also big shoutout to a lot of newer folks to the sport, well done!

Great job with this meet Kelleys and Youngs! Beautifly made SLOC logo cutting board made by Mark Young as prizes for the top finishers. Very cool.