Wheaton

What a great (but huuuuuumid) day to try out Orienteering at Wheaton Regional Park at our second annual Introduction to Orienteering event. It was wonderful to see 106 orienteers with 60 starting groups enjoy the courses. People of all ages participated (as well as several dogs) to learn new skills and then put them into action right away. After walking/running their courses, folks also had the opportunity to talk with our instructors about their experience.

The event could not be possible without the hard work of our many dedicated volunteers. It takes a lot hands to prepare and run our events so I’d like to extend my deepest gratitude to……. course designer, instructor, and creator of our Into- to-O event David Onkst; instructors Ted Good, Francis Hogle, and Bjorn Skajaevestad; ASL instructors Mark and Patti Mace who also helped with control pick-up; registration folks Suzanne Izzo and Greg Lennon; E-Punching gurus Amy Louden and Mike Haskell; course and control patrollers Jeff Haskell and Ben Roberts; start/finish cheerleader Lydia Andrews; and Valerie Meyer who not only printed our maps but hand-delivered them saving me a drive to Virginia. I’d also like to thank Greg and Kathleen Lennon and Jon Torrance for posting our announcements and making sure all our event details were up-to-date. And a shout-out to Frann Haskell and all the volunteers for helping with set up and clean up. You guys ROCK!

And finally, to all our new orienteering friends who attended today, we look forward to seeing you at future events!

Here’s to a great QOC orienteering season.

Heidi Onkst, Meet Director