Western PA Orienteering Club
Report for 2025

Statistically, 2025 was definitely a good year:  Memberships remained steady;  Event Starts and total Participation were slightly down but we had one fewer event than in  2024.  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.  Starts and participation were only down a little, even though we only had three of our events in the Pittsburgh area; and our membership has never been bigger.  Events during the year  went well and the weather cooperated for the most part..  

Thanks to all of our event directors (Alexis Rzewski, Ryan Repp (first timer), Joe Logan, Sherry Shank, Dave Battista, Kim Stewart (first timer) and Jim Wolfe), our vetters (Dave Battista, Alexis Rzewski Joe Logan, Naomi Jarvis, Ryan Knecht and Jim Wolfe), and all the event day volunteers (too many to list) for making all of the events run smoothly. Also, thanks to John Pane and Ryan Repp for coordinating the volunteers;  Ryan Knecht for maintaining the control boxes, Sherry Shank for maintaining membership records, Giuseppina Mecchia for setting up Allegheny County events, John Pane, Lee Bash and Nathaniel Hazelton for handling Livelox, Naomi Jarvis for posting events to Facebook and Instagram, Alexis Rzewski for posting on Attackpoint.

This year, the board made on a couple significant decisions.  One was the approval of patches as the swag item for the Babcock event.  The other, made almost at the end of the year, was to renew our subscription to OCAD  for three years and to add a third license as several club members are becoming interested in making maps.

In addition to events, we had a variety of club members offer workshops or presentations related to orienteering.  Sherry Shank taught two workshops that included 60-minute score exercises.  Eric Steinbring presented about compasses to two groups in Johnstown.  Jen Livingston conducted many orienteering workshops for scouts (only one of these shows in the statistics).  Joe Logan taught the club's beginner session on training day and designed exercises for the more advanced orienteers.  And Jim Wolfe taught the intermediate session on training day.  You can view the details of these activities at workshops  Collectively, the workshops introduced some aspect of orienteering to 269 people.

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.  

Jim Wolfe mapped about 500 additional acres of the Babcock Division of Gallitzin State Forest for use in the 2026 3BC. Alexis Rzewski updated the map of Settlers Cabin Park so that it can be used for a 2026 event - it will be our fist time there.  There were also many minor updates to maps used in 2025 events by Jim Wolfe, Alexis Rzewski and Joe Logan.