The 7th Asian Winter Games proved to be a highly successful launching pad for the emerging sport of ski orienteering.  Read the full article at SportsFeatures.com.

by David Yee

This is the first year I was able to volunteer at the annual Fall Scout-O, and I had a very rewarding experience. I was assigned an 11:00 start time with a Boy Scout group.

My group was led by Lou, and the group had travelled a couple hours from New Hampshire to be there. There were 2 adults, Lou and Ron, and seven boys ranging in age from about 12 to 16. We were issued a packet with 10 maps, a bunch of boy scout badges, and a feedback form. Previously, Pete Beckwith had sent me some teaching guidelines.

Turns out the group had some orienteering experience – they had all been out on white and yellow courses before – and they were eager to learn more about the sport.

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Orienteering USA has chosen NEOC member Samantha Saeger as 2010 Orienteer of the Year.  Samantha was judged by OUSA to be "the best U.S. orienteer in 2010, based on results at national and international events."  The OUSA site has a nice synopsis of Samantha's "most dominant year."

Congratulations Sam!

by Carl Underwood

I would like to first thank the New England Orienteering Club for their generous grant that helped cover some of my traveling expenses to the Junior World Orienteering Championships this past summer in Denmark.

My adventure started towards the end of June when my father and I drove to Westover Air Reserve Base to catch a flight to Germany and then to Aalborg. We are able to fly with the military, to many locations around the world, because my father is retired from the Army. Even though it can be convenient, this time our plans were changed, making it a little more difficult. Rather than flying to Germany, we ended up flying to Rota, Spain. Fortunately my father planned for this and booked for me, in advance, a Ryan Air flight going from Sevilla to Århus, Denmark the next day. After I got to Århus I took a bus to the train station and then got on a train heading to Aalborg.

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by Peter Amram

Historical note:

Grigory Potemkin, an 18th-century marshal in the Russian Army, aspired to the confidence of the Empress, Catherine. To demonstrate his diligence on Russia’s behalf, Potemkin ordered facades of fake prosperous villages erected along routes that Catherine traveled. Catherine proved a gullible czarina: much impressed, she granted Potemkin influence in her court.

Thus, a “Potemkin village” is an illusionary facade: like the back-lot set for a movie.

Marshal Potemkin died in 1791; the first true orienteering meet was not until 1919.

And yet .....

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