Spring Scout-O, Hale Education, Westwood, MA
April 15, 2023
Meet Director:
What an amazing day! With 350 enthusiastic youth and adults, 13 absolutely fabulous volunteers, perfect weather, lots of orienteering & a giant field to play & hang out in, we couldn't have asked for a better Spring Scout-O.
Most folks went out with an instructor on one of the 3 Teaching Courses, short 700-900 m courses with a variety of controls that ranged from White ("I can see it from the Start") to almost Orange (you really want to cross the mushy swamp infested with green briar??).
About 20 groups went out on each of White A and White B, 30 groups on each of Yellow A & Yellow B and 9 brave groups that went out on Orange. And even 1 on Brown! Total starts were 133.
A huge thank you to instructors Channon Ames, Dorina Nimigean, Andy McIlvaine, Doug Sevon, Ed Baldwin, Xevi Fradera, Pete Lane, David Landrigen, Jim Paschetto & Mark O'Connell! Given the fact we didn't have to do any search & rescue, they all did a great job :-). We also received many compliments on how much the scouts learned from them.
The event wouldn't have worked at all without Julie Baldwin checking everyone in and rounding up instructors for everyone who wanted one, Pam Smith who deftly handled Finishers using a random mix of pin punching and QRienteering, and Lori Jones who appeared out of nowhere to save the day at Starts. And extra thanks to Julie for yummy cookies to keep the volunteers fueled.
Additional thanks to Jim P & Pete L for helping hang controls, Jim P & Mark O for the website/QRienteering side of things, and the folks at Hale Education for being so nice to work with.
The White, Yellow, Orange (plus advanced courses Brown, Green & Red) will be up until sunset on Sunday April 30, 2023. All the extra copies of the maps are at the gate attendant hut if you need more. Please feel free to come back & try another course.
Next Scout-O events (pending permit approval):
Sunglasses! To recover, contact
Scout-O 2022 Results
Nobscot Scout Reservation, Sudbury, MA
October 30, 2022
Spring Scout-O, Hale Education, Westwood, MA
April 23, 2022
Meet Director:
A huge thank you to everyone who participated and helped this year. For those who have participated in previous Scout-O events, you may not have realized that it was possible to orienteer without being cold and wet! The roughly 250 participants at the 2022 Spring Scout-O definitely enjoyed the blue skies and warm sunshine.
The three Teaching courses were well received and seemed to be used by most of the 21 groups who attended. "Teaching 2" was apparently harder than the other two, so good for those who managed it. The route choice “walk all the way around on the trail” vs “crash through the impenetrable swamp teeming with green prickly bushes of unusual size” helped illustrate that following the purple line between controls is maybe not always the best bet!
There were 80 recorded starts on the standard 5 courses – 13 on White A, 21 on White B, 12 on Yellow A, 18 on Yellow B, and just 6 on Orange. About half the groups used QR-code timing, while the other half used pin-punching. Most seemed to appreciate having the choice. There were some great times (16:37 on White A and 56:30 on Orange) and some even better team names. Still trying to decide if Dashing Dads refers to their speed or their style...
Scout-O 2021 Results
Nobscot Scout Reservation, Sudbury, MA
October 31, 2021
A huge thanks to everyone who came out to Fall 2021 Scout-O. Despite the rain (particularly for Night-O!), a large percent of the 400 registered scouts showed up to practice orienteering during the day & at night, and then compete in the Scout Orienteering Championships on Sunday.
For Saturday, we had 105 groups go out on White A (15), White B (19), Yellow A (29), Yellow B (22), and Orange (20). An additional 21 groups went out on the Teaching courses.
Saturday Night-O had 19 brave scout groups venture into the cold dark rain! Everyone came back within 60 minutes, so we were very pleased no one fell prey to any lurking Halloween ghouls.
Sunday’s competition had 64 groups compete, with some fabulous times (possibly Scout-O records!) on Boys White (17:32) and Girls Orange (29:15), with Anna & Charlotte of T12 Acton trouncing all other Orange competitors in the Girls, Boys & Adult Orange categories!
Nobscot Scout Night-O, Sudbury, MA
October 30, 2021
Meet Director: Mark O'Connell
Spring Scout-O, Hale Reservation, Westwood, MA
April 17, 2021
Meet Director:
Despite the chilly drizzle, approximately 275 scouts came out for our first COVID-era Scout-O at Hale Reservation. In a first for Scout-O, timing was electronic and contactless via QRienteering (scanning QR codes to start/finish and at each control), meaning the scouts got instantaneous results and the scoutmasters could follow their scouts realtime on the courses. (This was useful as the day wore on and some scouts had not returned.)
Instruction this year was done using only the mini courses of 1, 2, or 3 controls, with 70 starts. This really helped to limit the number of instructors needed and to acclimate the scouts to the QRienteering system, preventing many mistakes later. Overall 44 groups went out on the 2 White courses, 41 groups did the 2 Yellow courses, and 15 challenged themselves the Orange, for a total of 100 groups across the 5 courses. SignUp Genius worked like a charm to limit arrival times to 25 individuals per 30 minute block from 8:30am-2pm, making life much calmer for the volunteers and wisely limiting the amount of inter-group mixing, though it also limited some of the social opportunities for the scouts - hopefully we can recapture that aspect in future Scout-Os.
Scout-O Leader Training, Upton S.F., Westboro, MA
April 10, 2021
Meet Director:
With perfect weather, 13 adult Girl Scout and Scout BSA leaders spent 2 hours in Upton State Forest learning about the sport of orienteering and tips for teaching young people about orienteering symbols, contour lines, route choice, and how to get "Red Fred in his shed" when using a compass. The group was lots of fun, and it sounds like several participants will participate in NEOC events in addition to the Spring Scout-O (at Hale Reservation April 17, 2021) and Fall Scout-O (at Nobscot Scout Reservation Oct 30-31, 2021, pending permit approval).
2019 Fall Scout-O and Night-O
Nobscot Scout Reservation, October 26, 2019
What do you get when you mix 450 Scouts, 24 volunteer instructors, 15+ volunteers, and the enticing woods of Nobscot Scout Reservation? Fall Scout-O, one of the largest orienteering events organized by NEOC annually.
This year we hosted participants from 32 BSA and Girl Scout Troops hailing from MA, RI, CT & NH. With 167 starts on 5 courses (2 whites with 45 total starts, 2 yellows with 91 total starts, and an Orange with 31 starts.) and countless attempts on the 3 mini-courses, we had a steady stream of Youth and Adults learning how to navigate in the woods for close to 6 hours.
Nobscot Scout Night-O, Sudbury, MA
October 26, 2019
Meet Director: Mark O'Connell
Scout-O 2018 Results
Nobscot Scout Reservation, Sudbury, MA
October 28, 2018
Photos from this event are under Scout-O>Galleries.
Night-O Results
Nobscot Scout Reservation, Sudbury, MA
October 27, 2018
Results for this meet are under the general Results for 2018.
Scout-O 2017 Results
Nobscot Scout Reservation, Sudbury, MA
October 29, 2017
Photos from this event are under Scout-O>Galleries.
Scout-O 2016 Results
Nobscot Scout Reservation, Sudbury, MA
October 30, 2016
Night-O Results
Nobscot Scout Reservation, Sudbury, MA
October 29, 2016
Results for this meet are in the general Results for 2016.
Scout-O 2015 Results
Nobscot Scout Reservation, Sudbury, MA
October 25, 2015
Scout-O 2014 Results
Nobscot Scout Reservation, Sudbury, MA
October 26, 2014
Night-O Results
Nobscot Scout Reservation, Sudbury, MA
October 25, 2014
Results for this meet are under the general Results for 2014.
Scout-O 2013 Results
Nobscot Scout Reservation, Sudbury, MA
October 27, 2013
Scout-O 2012 Results
Nobscot Scout Reservation, Sudbury, MA
October 28, 2012
New England Scout Orienteering Championships
2011 Results
Nobscot Scout Reservation, Sudbury MA
October 30, 2011
BO 21 FRAMINGHAM B. ZSCHAU, B. KIRCHMAN 60:42
BO 1775 NATICK VINCENT, GRADY 74:01
BO 18 WALPOLE NH GRAHAM, KAITLYN 81:18
BO 306 ARLINGTON TAO, JIMMY 90:30