WPOC had another successful year in 2018.  We sponsored 13 local events, including 9 regular events, one ski-o, Raccoongaine, one street-O 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 2018.  

Even though we offered one more event than in 2017, the number of starts and total attendance were down. The weather undoubtedly had a lot to do with this as we had rain (or the threat of it) at five events and exceptional cold at two of them. By virtue of the fact that we had people sign waivers only once during the year, we can also say that of the 871 people who attended our events, more than 600 were unique individuals - many of our members get counted repeated among the 871 because they come to multiple events.  It should be clear 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 or because they were on one-day waivers.  Thanks to all of our meet directors (Naomi Jarvis, Alexis Rzewski, Joe Logan, Jim Wolfe, Dave Battista, Sherry Shank, Jen Livingston, Ryan Knecht, and Kevin & Sydney Fisher), 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. Also, thanks to Ryan Knecht for arranging the donation of $250 and two laptop computers to the club from his previous empolyer, Wyotech.

Electronic punching was used for all but two of our events during 2018.  We are still 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 we will need for the second kit during 2018. We were also given two laptops.  During 2019, we should be able to acquire the remainder of the items (a printer and a power pack) 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 two presentations/promotions and an amazing 17 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, Emma Livingston, Jim Wolfe, and Joe Logan for conducting these sessions.  During 2018, all but one 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.   All of the workshops were free for the participants.  We had 489 people get instruction and do an exercise at a workshop during 2018.   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 handed out printed material at REI and other locations around Pittsburgh.  Jim Wolfe put notices in the Johnstown Tribune Democrat to advertise our events in Indiana, Cambria, and Westmoreland counties. 

In addition to affecting the events, the weather held down the amount of mapping done in 2018. Alexis Rzewski made some updates to the maps of Frick Park and Raccoon Creek SP. He also field checked and mapped a large portion of North Park. Jen Livingston field checked and mapped Camp Allegheny. Jim Wolfe made small updates to various event maps prior to the event. He created maps for several small areas that will be used for workshops or permanent courses or other types of events: Camp Hamilton, Sts Peter & Paul School, and Wilderness Lodge. He also extended the map of Prince Gallitzin and made a base map of South Park.