Member News

A very warm welcome to new members Peter Bridgeland, Fred & Zac Garrat, Duncan Gillespie, Bram & Jem Atkinson-Gillespie, Eliza Jones, Rian Koehler, Ana Lopez, Tommy Moore, Sam Nolan, Jack Norton, Esther Savage, Otis Scrimshaw and Ginevra Tricklebank.

It's been a fabulous few months for SYO with a number of excellent events celebrating our 50th anniversary, success by our members at key competitions and culminating in winning the Compass Sport Cup in Scotland a week ago! Enjoy our newsletter reporting on all this plus details of what's coming up in the future!

Burbage Mines Night Event - Wed 2 Nov

Our next Wednesday evening event is at Burbage Mines. Full details here. This is a small but very complex area of mine workings. Courses are short but technically & physically challenging. There’s a choice of 5 courses, including a course for those new to night orienteering. Start times are 5.30pm-6.45pm. You must enter in advance via the SYO entry system by Monday 31^st October.

BSOC - Sun 20 Nov

We host the British Schools Championships at Graves Park on the 20^th November. Full details here. This is open to all school pupils Y5 to Y13, including home-schooled. This will be a fabulous opportunity to take part in a big competition on your doorstep. Those younger than Y5 can also take part if they are very confident on white. A child can take part individually even if a school team isn’t entered. Please email Jacky if you would like more advice on how to enter. Entries must be made in advance by 3^rd November.

We will need lots of volunteers on the day. Please email Amanda asap if you can help.

Sat Series 3 - Botanical Gardens - 12 Nov

The 2022 / 23 Saturday Series has got off to a fantastic start with a bumper attendance for the first 2 events. The next one is on the 12^th November and will provide good British Schools event practise! The green and blue courses extend to Collegiate Campus and the University campus and provide an excellent urban orienteering challenge. There is no need to enter in advance – just turn up on the day 12.30-2.30pm.

We expect it to be a particularly busy one. Please email Pauline by Wednesday 9^th if you can spare an hour or so to help.

Event Officials

We are so grateful to all those that take on the main event official roles at our events. Please take at the programme of events here and email Pauline if you can fulfil one of the roles.

Upcoming positions to fill are:

Planner & organiser – Beauchief golf course – Wed 11^th Jan
Organiser – Bowden Housteads night event – Sat 4^th Feb
Planner – EIS & Olympic Legacy Park – Sat 28^th Jan
Planner – Lees Hall golf course – Wed 1^st Mar
Planner – Parkwood Springs – Sat 29^th Apr
Planner & Organiser – Wombwell regional – Sun 30^th Apr

Wednesday and Saturday events are ideal for first time planners and help and mentoring will be provided. If you would like to give it a try email Pauline.

Club Champs, AGM & Awards

The annual club champs, social, AGM and awards will be held on Saturday 3^rd December. The orienteering will be the normal fun / informal event in Graves Park followed by lunch and awards at the Sheffield Transport Club at Meadowhead. Put the date in your diary – more details to follow shortly.

Join the SYO committee

The SYO committee meet quarterly and are responsible for the strategic direction of the club. At the AGM, a number of key positions will become available: Chair, Club Captain & Event Officals Co-ordinator. We also always welcome enthusiastic people to join with or without portfolio. Please email Pauline if you’d like to discuss taking on any of these positions.

We’d like to extend our thanks to Martin and Amanda for their dedication and hard work in these roles. We will recognise their outstanding contribution at the forthcoming club awards.

Ramsley Moor Event - Sun 27 Nov

Our next regional event is at Ramsley on 27^th November. This is a real gem of an area offering fabulous technical and physical orienteering. Entries will be open on Fabian4 shortly.

Helpers receive a 50% discount on their run. Please enter using discount code SYOHELPER and email Lucy with any job / timing preferences.

Kit Order

It’s time to get those Christmas kit orders in again. We have a great array of club branded kit. Pictures can be seen here. We also can still order the anniversary design tops.

Pricing is as follows - adult top £28, adult mesh £25, adult jacket £38, buff £6, adult vest £18, adult hoody £25, kids top £23, kids mesh £21, kids jacket £30, kids hoody £21

This year for the first time, we are also taking orders for O trousers, O socks and gaitors. Take a look at the Bryzos website. The EURO rates will give you a rough idea of the prices but final prices will take account of customs & delivery charges and will be spread across the entire order.

Please email Pauline with your order by Friday 4^th November.

Coaching Session

There will be a coaching and training session on Saturday 19th November at Canklow, Rotherham. The session will run 1.30-3pm and is suitable for all ages and abilities. For British Schools competitors, this is a last chance to get some practise in before Sunday’s race. Coaching sessions are free to members. You must pre-book by Thursday 17^th November by emailing Pauline

Club Night

Club Night sessions are proving very popular with around 70 participants each week. The sessions are currently full to new joiners under 14, although there is limited space for those aged 14 plus. Priority is given to club members, so if you are interested in giving it a go, please email Pauline. The programme for the next half term is:

Wed 2/11 Burbage Mine Event (entries now open). Starts 5.30pm-6.45pm.
Wed 9/11 Ecclesall Woods 6.45-8pm
Wed 16/11 High Storrs 7-8.30pm
Wed 23/11 Millhouses 6.45-8pm
Wed 30/11 Chelsea Park & Brincliffe Edge 6.45-8pm
Wed 7/12 High Storrs 7-8.30pm
Wed 14/12 Collegiate Campus 6.45-8pm

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Round Sheffield Orienteer

The Round Sheffield Orienteer competition took place during July & August with trophies presented to stage and overall winners at the 50^th celebration party at Cutlers.

For those that missed it, the RSO follows the route of the 15-mile Round-Sheffield walk (see route here) and comprises of several orienteering course segments. It is still available to have a go at for fun and you can compare your results with our winners. It can be completed all in one go or over several sessions. Results and timing are via the Maprun app. Anyone can take part at a time and pace convenient to you. Hard copy maps are cost £2 and are available from My Race Kit running shop on Sharrow Vale Rd.

Visit our dedicated Round Sheffield Orienteer webpage, here, for more info.

Children's University

South Yorkshire Orienteers are signed up to the Children's University scheme. Children can earn points competing at orienteering events and by attending club night. Please email Susan if you would like claim points for attending SYO sessions.

SYO Retain Compass Sport Cup

What a win! It didn’t seem possible to beat FVO on home turf and retain the Compass Sport Cup but on Sunday the unbelievable came true with some truly epic racing by SYO at Tulliallan & Devilla.

Eighty SYO members made the long trip to Scotland last weekend with the aim of winning the CSC final. The SYO coach departed at the crack of dawn arriving in Stirling for Saturday’s warm up urban race. A chance to stretch out the legs post journey was very much appreciated after the long journey north, with James, Kim, Alice, Colin B, Martin, Nick B, Andy & Nathan all taking podium positions. This seemed a good omen for tomorrow’s main event and the team headed to the Stirling YHA for much needed re-fuelling, socialising & rest.

The coach departed early, arriving at Tulliallan in plenty of time for the first starters. Soon the first finishers were in reporting of tough terrain and tricky controls but their performances were good and SYO were notching up the points. Over the next few hours the lead changed several times and, as expected, it was a 2 horse race between us and FVO. It was a nail biting wait for the final scores to be calculated but eventually the results were declared……..SYO 2425, FVO 2419…….victory by the most slender of margins! FVO put up a tremendous fight but we performed exceptionally well. Our score of 2425 is a new points record – an amazing 28 points clear of our previous record set at Tankersley in 2021 – and illustrates just how well we ran as a club.

The 6 point winning margin could be attributed in part to our 9 class winners compared to FVO’s 3 – congratulations to Peter G, Robbie, Freya, Tim, Kim, Martin, Laura R, Brian and Nick B. It’s great to see the full spread of ages from 14 to 80 topping the results! Congratulations also to the other counters – Cat, Euan, Andy, Lawrence, Nick L, Alice, Charlotte, Anna, Oli, Aidan, Jonny, Pete T, Ciara, Jenny P, Charlie and Amanda; and a special mention to our juniors who dominated, particularly in the orange classes. But it’s not just down to the point scorers, it’s also a numbers game with the non-scorers pushing down the scores for other clubs. To get such a high number of participants in Scotland is very impressive – everyone who took part should be very proud – a truly fabulous team effort!

Of course the CSC final is not just about winning the cup, with huge kudos attached to clocking the fastest run in! FVO’s Jamie Goddard retained his golden boot from 2021 in an impressive 27 seconds but Euan put up a good fight to finish fastest of the SYO contingent in 4^th, with Olmo just 1 second behind. Louise Adams (formally SYO) was the fastest woman down the run in, clocking 33 seconds. Ciara was the fastest SYO female in 35 seconds, posting the same time as WOC sprint gold medalist Megan Carter-Davies.

A huge thank you to Jacky for masterminding the coach and accommodation, to Amanda for captaining us to victory and to FVO for putting on a fabulous event. Next year we’re off to the South West where the final will be organised by BOK on the 12^th November 2023 – a month later than its usual slot.

SYO Event Reports

Since our last newsletter we have held a number of very successful events and it is so important to acknowledge the contribution of our wonderful event officials and mappers, without whom the events wouldn’t have gone ahead. So here’s a huge thank you for a job well done to:

Round Sheffield Orienteer – Oli
Ranmoor Urban – Louise & Andy Preston & Mark & Jacky Dakin
Calver Score – Mariia, Nataliia, Yeliena and Yana.
Ecclesall Woods regional – Ian Cooper, Robyn Stanyon & Martin Ward
Endcliffe Park – James Bryant, Pauline & Pete Tryner & Colin Best
Hathersage – Steve Dempsey & Pauline Tryner
Bole Hill – Caspar Reynolds, Pete & Pauline Tryner & Colin Best
Stanage – Bronwen Doyle, Jacky Dakin & Colin Best
Mappers – Ian Cooper, Steve Dempsey & Ryan Elliot

Your vouchers and scratch cards will be on their way shortly!

SYO juniors lift 3 trophies at Peter Palmers

On Saturday, after the event at Endcliffe, 34 SYO juniors travelled to Sutton Coalfield to compete in the Peter Palmer relays. For the uninitiated, this is a junior competition that starts in the early hours of Sunday morning. After a brief stop for pizza, the team arrived at the sports centre ready for the 5 aside football! This quickly morphed into 20 aside – SYO against everyone else – in which SYO was victorious with the winning call scored by John! We were off to a good start…..

At 10.30pm the lights went out and we all settled down on the sports hall floor supposedly to sleep, although there was an inordinate amount of giggling, coughing and rustling before eventually there was anything resembling silence! Then, in what seemed like no time, the first leg runners and supporters were up and off to the start. By 5am Conrad, Max and Matthew were all lined up on the start line with the other first leg runners surrounded by a thick blanket of fog. There was a minute’s silence in memory of the Queen and then they were off into the darkness. 

After two hours and 42 minutes of furious racing, the rest of team Killer Bees joined Euan on the run in to take the Peter Palmer trophy; the first time we have won this trophy since 2013! Then, before we’d had chance to finishing celebrating, James appeared and was joined by his teammates to win the Joan George plate, awarded to the best “young team.” They were quickly followed by the SYO Wannabees, who took 4^th place overall and 2^nd place in the Joan George competition. Three teams safely in! Attention turned to the Daybreak competition, could we possibly win the daybreak bowl as well? Right on cue, Alice appeared from the mist. Yes we could! 3 out of 3 trophies – an excellent night of racing! Congratulations to all our juniors, who all performed brilliantly on very little sleep and in difficult foggy conditions.

Killer Bees -  Max, Jamie, Imogen, Olmo, Ciara + Charlotte + Penny, Euan – winners of the Peter Palmer trophy
Bumble Bees – Matt, Robbie, Freya, Ella, Nathan + Freddie + Oskar, James – winners of the Joan George plate
Wannabees – Conrad, Anna, Caspar, Maxwell, Hannah + Lucy + Margaux, Oscar
Bees Knees – John, Will, Rafferty + Jack, Alice – winners of the Daybreak bowl
Worker Bees – Pasco, Alexandra, Walter + Wilson, Lawrence

A huge thank you to COBOC for hosting a fantastic competition, Jacky for co-ordinating the team and all the parent chauffeurs!

VHIs report

The 2022 Veteran Home International took place in Snowdonia last weekend. Eight members of SYO competed: Oli, Nick B, Charlie, Laura, Jenny J, Kim & Amanda represented England and Bronwen represented Wales.

The Individual event was on Saturday, in conjunction with the Welsh Championships, and was at Gwanas, SE of Dolgellau. This is an area of rough open hillside, mostly tussock with plenty of contour detail, crags and marshes, and some pasture fields at the end of the courses. The weather forecast had been poor, so cagoules were compulsory, but although it was windy, the rain held off during the event. Podium positions were achieved by Oli (1^st M40), Nick (3^rd M45), Laura (2^nd, W35) and Kim (1^st W45). England finished 5.5 points ahead of Scotland after the individual competition.

The Relays were at Llechweddgain, SE of Trawsfynydd, a little further north. This is another open moorland area, with similar terrain to the previous day. The weather was fine and mild, with blue skies and sunshine, though it clouded over later on. There are 2 classes in the relays: WMW (2 women plus 1 man), and MWM (2 men plus 1 woman). The aggregate of each team’s BOF ages must be 145 or greater. In the WMW relay Laura was part of the team that finished 2^nd, while in MWM Amanda & Oli were part of the winning team. England won the relays and the overall competition with a resounding lead of 33.5 points.

JHIs report

JIRCs report

At the end of September twenty SYO juniors travelled to Northern Ireland, as part of the Yorkshire & Humberside Junior Squad, to compete in the Junior Inter-regional championships – the most prestigious of all the junior competitions! We decided the easiest way to get there was to fly from Manchester to Belfast, which added greatly to the excitement levels! Accommodation was based in a school in the coastal town of Newcastle, where we slept on camp beds in 2 big halls. It is safe to say that it wasn’t a hugely conducive environment  for sleeping!

Day 1 of JIRCs is the individual day and it was with great excitement that we set off for a Tyrella, a challenging sand dune area on a military base. In 2021 YHJS finished 2^nd in the individual competition and we were hoping to equal that achievement again. In fact it soon became clear that we were having a fabulous day and our athletes were performing their socks off. Could we actually beat the Scots?! Yes we could! 4 class wins out of 6 (Anna W14, Freya W16, Emily W18 and Euan M18) and 3 2^nd places (Ella W14, Robbie M14 & Immy W18) were enough to put us into the lead and lift the individual trophy for the first time since 2011. Well done also to our other scorers – Oscar, Conrad, Jamie, Lotte & James.

Post competition we headed back to Newcastle for a fabulous meal as a squad, before the evening ceilidh and prize-giving.

We awoke bright and early on the Sunday for the relays and headed back to Tyrella for the 2^nd day of competition. The relay teams are made up of a 14, 16 and 18, with the 16s setting off first. There was great excitement early on when Freya returned first in the girls competition and the excitement continued when Immy set off less than a minute behind the leading Scottish girls team on last leg. However, a problem dibbing at the last control meant that, despite recording the fastest leg time, she crossed the finish line in 2^nd place. Not long after our 2^nd girls team of Lotte, Ella and Emily crossed the line in 7^th place ensuring enough points to lift the girls overall winning trophy!

In the boys relays we had a few mishaps with injury and mistakes but nonetheless there were still some excellent performances and our top 2 boys teams finished in 6^th (Conrad, Robbie & Euan) & 10^th (Oscar, James & Olmo). This was enough to ensure Yorkshire finished 2^nd in the relays and 2^nd overall. Another fabulous JIRCs competition. Well done to all the SYO juniors who took part – Caspar, Oscar, Robbie, Ella, Anna, Charlotte, Alice, James, Conrad, Freya, Lotte, Ciara, Alexandra, Imogen, Euan, Olmo, Sam, Dylan, Jamie and Evan (who was selected but was too ill to compete). Next year we head to Wales!

Sheffield Success at British Schools Score

Lift Whatsapp Group

We have set up a whatsapp group so people can more easily arrange to share lifts to events. If you require lifts, are happy to car share or can offer lifts to others, please email Pauline with your mobile number and I'll add you to the group.

Social Media

Social Media is an important marketing and advertising tool and SYO are keen to use it for publicising the club, sport and our events. We also regularly report on events and celebrate members' achievements. Please like our page , join the SYO group and follow us on Twitter. The more likes we get on our posts, the more people see our page, so please try to engage regularly.

Interestingly the recent post about tree planting has received 77 likes - it would be good if the orienteering ones got even half that engagement!