top of page

Griffith Park Navigation Challenge 2026

Griffith Park, Los Angeles, CA

Sunday, May 3, 2026

After an unintended hiatus in April, it was great to be out orienteering with LAOC again on Sunday for the 2026 Griffith Park Navigation Challenge. It was a four-hour MapRun, Score‑O format. The day started wrapped in mist, and the clouds politely stuck around all day—making it an extremely pleasant day for pretending you were a hobbit (and also for actual orienteering).

Those who stuck to the well‑trodden trails were treated to a respectable amount of elevation. Those who navigated the less‑traveled trails earned some serious, heart‑pumping climbs, often followed by slip‑and‑slide descents for extra excitement. A few routes were on the wild side, and the air filled with the scent of sage as we navigated our way through. And anyone who got “creative” with route choices got the chance to channel their inner mountain goat.

Huge thanks to Rich for a fantastic course!

We had about 50 participants with over 10 Teams. Awards were given in these categories (delicious chocolate bars!):

  • Male      Juniors: Misha Biryukov 2540 points

    • Highest       overall!

  • Female      Masters: Recinda Sherman 1080 points

  • Male Masters:      Wayne Cottrell 1510 points

  • Female      Open: Susan Tischer 1030 points

    • Susan       also deserves some sportwomanship points!

    • She       helped out an extremely stressed family with 4 young children who were       heading down one of the extreme slip-n-slide trails right at the end of       her race!

  • Male Open:      Kawika Tarayao 2510 points

  • Coed Team:      Guava’s Biggest Fans 880 points

  • Mixed Age      Team (at least one Junior and one Adult): Bloated Sloths 1040 points

Thank you to the volunteers for this event:

Event Director: Clare Durand

Course Setter: Rich Hoesly

Map: Clare Durand with recent updates by Rich Hoesley

Registration: Alan and Jen Perez

Beginner Clinics: Clare Durand and Rich Hoesly

Starts: Clare Durand

Finish: Rich Hoesly

Scoring: Clare Durand

Control Pick up: It was MapRun so no control pickup!!! Woohoo!

We are grateful to our facility host, the City of Los Angeles, for the use of this special location.

Logo-WinSplits.png

Maprun Results


Overall  Class     Name                 Club   Class          Time   Ctrls Total Penalty  Final

Place   Place                                                             Punched         Score


 17      1    Team Guava's Biggest Fans None  Coed Team       3:40:43   17   880     0      880

 33      2    Team 3 - Cal Cadet Corps  LAOC  Coed Team       3:22:23    2    60     0       60

 34      3    Team 2 - Cal Cadet Corps  LAOC  Coed Team       4:00:00    0     0     0        0

 35      4    Team 1 - Cal Cadet Corps  LAOC  Coed Team       5:30:00    0     0     0        0


 12      1    Recinda Sherman           LAOC  Female masters  3:54:29   20  1080     0     1080

 19      2    Clare Durand              LAOC  Female masters  2:50:00   16   850     0      850

 36      3    Belinda Contreras         None  Female masters  4:26:18    8   560   570      -10


 15      1    Susan Tischler            SDO   Female Open     3:56:12   18  1030     0     1030

 24      2    Anne Mullins              LAOC  Female Open     3:52:47   12   630     0      630

 26      3    Team Stark Fan Club       None  Female Open     3:33:55   11   550     0      550

 29      4    Ash Malyshev              None  Female Open     4:08:01   12   640   270      370

 30      5    Claudia Vides             None  Female Open     4:08:12   12   640   270      370


 1       1    Mikhail Biryukov          LAOC  Male juniors    3:56:42   40  2590     0     2590

 8       2    Benjamin Cheng            LAOC  Male juniors    3:55:45   30  1770     0     1770


 10      1    Wayne Cottrell            LAOC  Male masters    3:33:59   26  1510     0     1510

 22      2    Joe R                     None  Male masters    3:59:01   12   700     0      700


 2       1    Kawika Tarayao            None  Male open       3:54:29   39  2510     0     2510

 3       2    Team All gas no breaks    LAOC  Male open       3:57:58   34  2330     0     2330

 4       3    Lorenzo Rossi             LAOC  Male open       4:05:00   30  2090   150     1940

 5       4    Sergey Biryukov           LAOC  Male open       3:33:52   33  1910     0     1910

 6       5    Drew Lavey                None  Male open       3:40:54   28  1890     0     1890

 7       6    Christian Hirt            None  Male open       3:54:47   30  1810     0     1810

 9       7    Adam Reilly               None  Male open       3:33:30   27  1570     0     1570

 11      8    Team Laughing Stock       None  Male open       3:53:52   18  1140     0     1140

 13      9    Steve Tischler            SDO   Male open       3:19:47   17  1040     0     1040

 16      10   Michael Alemu             None  Male open       3:34:03   17   880     0      880

 20      11   Team Purple Llamas        None  Male open       3:37:39   14   760     0      760

 23      12   Alan Perez                LAOC  Male open       3:49:28   13   680     0      680

 28      13   Michael Grunberg          None  Male open       2:45:51    9   450     0      450

 31      14   Michael Hart              LAOC  Male open       4:13:55   14   770   420      350

 32      15   William Reilly            None  Male open       1:16:12    2    60     0       60


 14      1    Team Bloated Sloths       None  Mixed age team  3:41:56   19  1040     0     1040

 18      2    Team Angry Unicorns       None  Mixed age team  3:50:27   15   880     0      880

 21      3    Team Nayiri & Sebastian   None  Mixed age team  3:05:40   15   720     0      720

 25      4    Team Ladybugs             None  Mixed age team  3:09:53   10   550     0      550

 27      5    Team Troop 737            LAOC  Mixed age team  3:30:48   10   510     0      510

BonelliAnnualYouthMeet2024.png

Los Angeles Orienteering Club, 2025

bottom of page