Hurricane Helene was to blame for us missing a 2025 edition of the FernLeaf Adventure Orienteering Race on their Wilderness Campus, but we were back in 2026 with a freshly updated map, new course format, and bevy of new faces.
This year the course was the same timed mini-ROGAINE format we’ve been doing lately, with weighted control points and a late penalty. 90 minutes, 30 points per minute for being late to the finish. To complicate things (hehe), Bonus Controls were again added to the mix, but with a smoother implementation than at the Pi Day Race, when I verbally yelled instructions aloud at the pre-race meeting (hehe). This time, four controls were selected to hold a card bearing the locations of two extra controls not marked on the map with the others. There was an A (near) and B (far) control, and each only denoted with a distance in meters, a bearing in degrees, and a clue description. These were optional and designed to offer an extra task, offer a new skill to practice, and offer something extra to those really motivated, competitive overachievers to must win at all costs. Many took the bait.
We used MapRun again with QR codes on tags which were left in the field to serve as a semi-permanent tool for Will and his Outdoor Adventure Programs courses. He won* the race, but he works here and uses this map every day, so….. 😉
Full results can be found here – https://results.maprun.net/#/event_results?eventName=FernLeaf%20Orienteering%202026%20PXAS%20ScoreQ90%20PZ1402052026%20MX05
You can hit this link to watch the routes in replay mode – https://results.maprun.net/#/event_results?eventName=FernLeaf%20Orienteering%202026%20PXAS%20ScoreQ90%20PZ1402052026%20MX05&mode=tracks
Many thanks to FernLeaf Community Charter School for their endless support of orienteering as a teaching and enrichment tool, to Erin Kennedy and her staff who helped keep things moving today, and to the WNC Orienteering Club community who continues to drive long distance to spend time answering my favorite questions with me… Where are we? Where are we going, and how are we going to get there?