Western PA Orienteering Club
Report for 2023

Statistically, 2023 showed a marginal improvement over 2022.  You can look at the statistics page to see the details about each of our events, including location, event director, types of courses offered, total starts, member starts and the total number of participants.  There was about a 10% increase in the number of starts over 2022; it likely would have been greater except for some bad luck on the weather for several events.  We still have a ways to go in terms of participation to reach pre-Covid-19 years.   One good indicator is that club memberships have gone above 50 again..

Thanks to all of our event directors (Alexis Rzewski, Joe Logan, Sherry Shank, Dave Battista, Ryan Knecht and Jim Wolfe), our vetters (Dave Battista, Alexis Rzewski, Ryan Knecht, Naomi Jarvis and Jim Wolfe), and all the event day volunteers (too many to list) for making all of the events run smoothly. Also, thanks to Ryan Knecht for coordinating the volunteers and maintaining the control boxes, Sherry Shank for maintaining membership records, Giuseppina Mecchia for setting up Allegheny County events and Naomi Jarvis for posting events to Facebook and Instagram.

This year, the board made two major decisions.  One decision was to purchase licenses for the lastest version of OCAD.  We acquired two licenses for three years.  This purchase will allow all of our maps to be updated to current standards.  The other descision was to give some sort of swag item to participants in Raccoongaine and the Babcock Bog & Boulder Challenge..  With the entry fees we charge for these events there was more than enough funds available to do this.

In addition to events, Jen Livingston and Jim Wolfe conducted many orienteering workshops. All of Jen's workshops were for scouts or scout leaders.  Jim's workshops were for school students, Google employees and a church group. These workshops were in addition to the annual training day which was supervised by Joe Logan - the training day was the only workshop open to the public. You can view the details 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, Instagram page,  the Attackpoint website, various meet-up groups and other social media.     For Raccoongaine, there is a separate Facebook page, as well as a Yahoo group;  this is handled by Alexis Rzewski on behalf of the club.  

The mapping that was done in 2023 was mostly minor updates to the maps being used for events.  These updates were made by Jim Wolfe, Alexis Rzewski and Joe Logan.    Jim Wolfe mapped about 500 additional acres of the Babcock Division for use in the 2024 3BC..  He also made a beginner's orienteering map of Warrior's Path State Park and designed a multi-level permanent course for that park; the park personnel expect to install the course in the spring of 2024.