WPOC had another successful year in 2017.  We sponsored 12 local events, including 9 regular events, one ski-o, Raccoongaine and our training day.  The statistics page  shows information about each of these events, including location, meet director,  type of courses offered, total starts, member starts and total number of participants.   The same page shows our membership at the end of 2017.  

Attendance at our events in 2017 compared to 2016 was a little down in total numbers and a little up in the number of starts.  By virtue of the fact that we had people sign waivers only once during the year, we can also say that of the 906 people who attended our events, more than 567 were unique individuals - many of our members get counted repeated among the 906 because they come to multiple events.  It is also true that few people attended more than 1 or 2 events.  Also, there are probably a couple of dozen people that I did not officially record in the signed waiver list because of some problem with the waiver form they signed.  Thanks to all of our meet directors (Naomi Jarvis, Alexis Rzewski, Joe Logan, Jim Wolfe, Dave Battista, Andy Strat, Sherry Shank, Jen Livingston, Ryan Knecht, Yaki Barak), vetters (Dave Battista, Joe Logan, Yaki Barak  and Jim Wolfe), and event day volunteers (too many to list) for making all of the events run smoothly, even when the number of participants was very low or very high.  Also, thanks to Ryan Knecht for coordinating the volunteers, Sherry Shank for maintaining membership records and Giuseppina Mecchia for coordinating some of the events.

Electronic punching was used for many of our events during 2017.  We are in the process of creating two "event kits."  Each will have sufficient control flags, control boxes, SI cards (finger sticks), and computer equipment to manage an e-punch event.  We already have one such kit.  We purchased the rest of the control boxes and SI cards we will need for the second kit during 2017.  During 2018, we should be able to acquire the remainder of the items (computer, printer, power) for the second kit.   Having two kits will make for a much simpler transition from one event to the next for the meet directors.

In addition to the events, WPOC members also conducted a number of presentations, workshops or classes to educate a variety of people about orienteering.  Most of these included an orienteering exercise of some type.  Thanks to Jen Livingston, Jim Wolfe, Joe Logan, Andy Strat and Alexis Rzewski for conducting these sessions.  During 2017, most of these workshops were for specific groups, rather than open to the public.  This was simply a reflection of who asked for the workshops and who did not.   One workshop (the one for FedEx) was paid for by the participants because it was a corporate group; all others were free.  We had 227 people get instruction and do an exercise at a workshop during 2017 (this number does not count our training day).   You can see the complete list of these activities at workshops.
 
The club continues in a variety of ways to try to publicize orienteering. This is done through the club's web pages, Facebook page, Twitter feed, the Attackpoint website, various meet-up groups and other social media.  For Raccoongaine, there is another Facebook page and Twitter feed, as well as a Yahoo group.  Much of this is handled by Alexis Rzewski on behalf of the club; he also hands out printed material at REI and other locations around Pittsburgh.  We remain partnered with Get Outdoors PA by promoting our workshops on their event listings.  Jim Wolfe put notices in the Johnstown Tribune Democrat to advertise our events in Indiana, Cambria, and Westmoreland counties. 

A lot of mapping work was done in 2016.  Alexis Rzewski made some updates to the maps of Frick Park and Raccoon Creek SP.  Jim Wolfe improved part of the North Park map and created new maps of Northmoreland Park and Heritage Reservation.  He also made orienteering maps of several small areas (to be used for instruction or permanent courses):  Hollidaysburg High School, Munnell Run Farm, and Sts Peter & Paul School.  He also made a base map for Camp Allegheny.