Published 9th September 2024

This weekend our team of 32 juniors, aged 11 to 18, travelled to the Lakes to compete in the Peter Palmer Relays. The teams arrived early evening and settled into the tents that had been pre-erected for them. They enjoyed fish & chips, rounders, football and socialising all against a stunning Lakeland backdrop. Thankfully they escaped the torrential downpours that plagued South Yorkshire this weekend!

The 6 leg Peter Palmer relays kicked off at 5am in the pitch black! We fielded 3 teams in this category, including 2 in the Joan George trophy for younger teams. From the beginning, the action was very exciting for supporters as the lead changed several times though the competition. The 4 leg daybreak bowl began an hour later, where we also had 3 teams in action. Supporting was enhanced by a run through 2/3 through the course and the use of GPS trackers for all competitors.

Our juniors performed brilliantly scooping an array of prizes. Congratulations to:

Peter Palmer Relay

2^nd place – SYO Killer BEEs – Oscar, Lawrence, Freya, Will, Hannah and James
3^rd place & winners of the Joan George – SYO BEE Happy – Ella, Robbie, Charlotte, Nathan, Jack W & Florrie and Caspar
7^th place & 3^rd place in the Joan George – SYO Busy BEES – Maxwell, Anna, Lucy, Louis, Zac & Jago and Joseph

Daybreak Relay

1^st place - SYO Bumble BEES – Pasco, Sophie, Adrian and Alexandra
2^nd place – SYO BEEs Knees – Penny, Jack B, Sam and Rhys
SYO Worker Bees – Freddie, Abi, Finn & Stanley (team mispunched but some great individual runs).

By 8.30am all the teams were finished and the juniors enjoyed bacon butties and the prize-giving before long journeys home!

A huge thank you to Jacky, Dom and all the parent drivers and supporters and WCOC for putting on such a fantastic event.

Published 13th August 2024

The World Masters Orienteering Championships took place in Turku in Finland last week. The world masters competition is for those aged over 35. The oldest competitor was a Finnish W97! The competition comprises of a sprint qualifer, sprint final, middle qualifer and middle final. If you have a bad run in the middle final you get demoted for the long race, although the upside is that a good run results in promotion!

A handful of SYO members competed. Particular congratulations go to Peter Gorvett, who won gold in the sprint in the M75 age class. This is an amazing achievement on a challenging and super competitive course.
Other notable performances were by Nick Barrable, who was 8th in the sprint on M50 and Charlie Adams for 8th position in the middle on M60. Well done to both.

Published 8th August 2024

During the last week of July many of our members took part in holiday orienteering competitions. A large contingent travelled to South Wales to compete in the Croeso 6 day. Events took place on open fells with very varied weather conditions throughout the week. The best 4 results of 6 count towards the final scores. Well done to all those that completed a tough 6 days of competition but particular congratulations to our 14 medallists:

W12 – 2^nd Jemma

W14 – 1^st Lucy, 2^nd Sophie
W16 – 1^st Ella, 2^nd Alice

M12 – 1^st Jack W, 3^rd Nedd
M14 – 1^st Maxwell, 3^rd Louis
M16 – 2^nd Caspar, 3^rd Lawrence
M35 – 2^nd Joe
M50 – 1^st Nick B
M75 – 1^st Peter G

While many were battling the Welsh hillsides, another large contingent were competing out at the Oringen 5 day in Sweden. This is a huge competition with almost 18,000 entrants! Orienteering took place in very technical forests and most classes had over 200 competitors. Everyday counts towards your final position so a mispunch or major error is heavily penalised. Noteworthy performances were Rachael 13^th on D40, Jenny P 28^th on D55, Dave P 32^nd on H55, Pete 35^th on H50 and Freya 5^th on D18. However standout performance of the week was Euan finishing 10^th in H20E against a top class international field.