Published 21st October 2019

Forty members of SYO braved the long drive to Pippingford Park (and the appropriately named Windy Ridge) in Sussex yesterday to take part in the CSC Final against 9 other clubs from across the country. 

Pippingford Park is a Mole Valley major event favourite having been previously used for the British Night Champs in 2014 and the JK relays in 2017. The area offers varied terrain comprising of wooded valleys and well contoured heathland. Early starters were hampered by bracken and heather but the courses soon sped up with some very quick times posted as the event progressed. Courses were enjoyable and although not particularly technically challenging, plenty made mistakes. A late surge of good results saw us race up the leaderboard into a surprise second place behind Forth Valley Orienteers and ahead of Southdown Orienteers. 

Well done to everyone that competed - you all made a difference - but particular congratulations to our 25 scorers: Pippa, Nick B, Amanda, Alex C, Peter G, Mary, Kim, Dom, Lucy, Martin, Conrad, Charlotte, Pete T, Charlie, Freya, Aidan, Imogen, Alex E, Colin S, Pauline, Mark C, Richard, John, Tom and Sam C.

Next year the final is at Sutton Park on 18th October - put the date in your diary; we need to win that trophy back from Scotland!

Published 16th October 2019

The Home Internationals for orienteering are held in September and October, with the relay and individual competitions taking place over 2 days. 

The Senior Home Internationals for M/W20s and 21s were held in early September on complex sand dune areas in South Wales. Nick B and Cat were both selected for the English team and helped England to a 9 point win over Scotland.

Next up was the Veteran Home Internationals for M/W35 to M/W65. This time the English team travelled to Scotland. The six SYO team members selected all performed strongly. On the individual day on the Pentland Hills Kim took 1^st place on W40, Amanda (W45), Lucy (W50) and Nick B (M45) all took 2^nd place and Rachael and Andy P were both 3rd on W35 and M40 respectively. England delivered excellent results over the 2 days resulting in an impressive win overall by 57 points!

The final Home International competition was for the juniors in the M/W14, 16 & 18 age classes, which this year was held in Northern Ireland. Jamie was the only SYO representative but he had a super run to finish 2^nd on the individual day. Unfortunately despite some very good English performances, Scotland’s particularly strong showing in the relays ensured the win for them overall.

Published 15th October 2019

At the end of September eachyear the country's best juniors gather for a weekend of fierce competition at the Junior Inter-Regional Championships, which this year was hosted by SYO. An amazing eighteen SYO juniors (out of a possible 24) were called up to run for Yorkshire.

The individual day was held on Cowm's Rocks - a brand new orienteering area behind the Snake Pass Inn. This was always going to be a physical and technical challenge but even more so in the brutal conditions experienced on the day! True Yorkshire grit showed through though with some excellent results by SYO juniors. Congratulations to Imogen for winning W14 and for Jamie taking 3rd on M14. There were also very well-deserved top 10 positions for Euan (4th M16), Alex C (4th running up on W16), Freya (5th running up on W14), Alex E (8th W16) and Dom (10th M18). Well done to Dylan, Ciara, Sam T and Claudine for making their Yorkshire debuts and to Max, Sam C, Isabelle H, Conrad, Sam D and Will G for also performing well for the team - you all made a difference and helped Yorkshire to a tie on 2nd place with North West after day 1.

Following the individual competition the teams transferred to an overnight stay at Kingswood Outdoor Centre near Doncaster. Warm showers and food were followed by the prize giving for the individual and then a ceilidh just to ensure everyone was thoroughly worn out!

Relay day dawned and it was still raining torrentially, although spirits seemed to be high as the teams arrived at Tankersley. There were some excellent relay performances, particularly Imogen, Alex C and Evie (from AIRE) taking the win in the girls relay! There were other notable performances from Dom and Sam T who brought their teams up 5 places and Freya who took her team up 4 places; although all our juniors performed well to help Yorkshire to 3rd place in the relay competition. Overall, over the 2 days competition, Yorkshire finished in 3rd (just six points) behind the North West in 2nd and Scotland in 1st.

A massive thank you to all the volunteers who completed some very long shifts in cold, wet conditions over the 2 days but particular thanks to Jacky for organsing the overnight accommodation, Pete for managing all the SI, Charlie and Dave P for planning, Amanda and Mark C for organising, John (DVO) and Tony (AIRE) for controlling and Pauline for her role as weekend co-ordinator. 

Check out the photo album for the weekend on the SYO Facebook Page.