Member News

A very warm welcome to new members Ben Anderson, Becky Ball, Catherine Beresford, Emily Davison, Liz & Tristan Edwards, Elisabeth Himsworth, Alec Johnston, Neva Mclean, Ewan Parker, Freddy Rolfe, Sally Smith, Lyndsay Snow, Adrian Snowton, Juriaan Ton and Steve Waters.

SYO has enjoyed tremendous success in the major domestic competitions over the last couple of months. Now we look ahead to local summer O, multiday holiday events and international competition. 

World Orienteering Day - Wed 17 May

Celebrate World Orienteering Day at the Wincobank Iron Age Hill Fort and surrounding ancient woodland. The woodlands contain interesting contour detail as a result of the area's rich industrial heritage and will provide a good challenge for experienced orienteers. There are also plenty of paths and open areas to cater for the less experienced and there are stunning views across the Don valley to enjoy!

There's a choice of 5 courses with start times 5.30-6.45pm. As it's World Orienteering Day why not bring along a friend to give it a try? Please enter in advance via the SYO entry system by Tuesday 16th May. Full details are available here.

As usual we require a couple of people to help on start & download and some control collectors. Helpers run for free - pick "Helper Free Run" when entering and email Pauline.

Saturday Series 8 - 20th May, Graves Park

Our next Saturday Series event is on 20th May at Meersbrook. Please note this is a change in venue from that stated on the flyer due to a clash with another event. The SFSS schools' league runs alongside the public event.

Graves is Sheffield's largest park and there's enough interesting terrain to offer challenging green and blue courses for experienced orienteers. There's no need to register in advance - just turn up on the day. More information available here.

We will need quite a few volunteers to enable this event to go ahead. If you are able to help for an hour or so, please email Pauline asap.

Upcoming urban & sprint races

It's the time of year where many events switch out of the forests to urban areas because of environmental access restrictions. Here are some dates to be aware of.

Next Sunday 21st May, EPOC host the Yorkshire Sprint Champs. This is a 2 part race - the cumulative time of both races will determine the overall podium positions. More information can be found here. Please note that entries close on Sunday 14th May.

SYO's next regional event is an urban race in south west Sheffield on Sunday 18th June. Assembly will be based at the newly rennovated General Cemetery. More details available soon. Entries will open on Fabian4 on 21st May.

SYO will also host a sprint race at Weston Park and the university on Saturday 8th July - the day before the Yvette Baker Trophy junior final. 

Event thank yous

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:

Event Officials

We are so grateful to all those that take on the main event official roles (organiser, planner & controller) at our events. Please take a look at the programme of events here and email Susan if you can fulfil one of the roles.

We particularly need to appoint officials (planner, organiser & controller) for the Brodsworth regional event on 1st October.

We have 3 vacancies for "on the evening" organisers for our Wednesday Evening Events at Haggside on 13th Sept, Owler Carr on 4th October and Silver Wood on 15th Nov . This is a really easy way to get involved in organising as the "in advance" jobs are done for you - risk assessment, entries, finding helpers etc. If you'd like to find out more about what it involves, please get in touch with Pauline. 

Trimtex Kit win

Earlier this year, Trimtex (GB's new kit supplier) launched a competition for UK Orienteering Clubs to win 1000 Euros of customized orienteering kit. UK clubs were asked to explain why they thought they should be selected as an orienteering hero of tomorrow. Mikkel Lund of Trimtex said:

"South Yorkshire Orienteers has managed to build up a huge group of young orienteers who attend their weekly training. It is really impressive that of the 130 junior members, 60-70 of them take part in their training every week. A lot of Scandinavians would love to have that many…

Their emphasis is on having fun, making new friends and learning new skills – they have succeeded with this through a successful coaching programme."

Trimtex are now busy designing a new SYO Junior top. We will have a minimum of 25 tops (probably more depending on how many adult size tops are ordered) to present to our juniors who have competed for SYO in a inter-club competition or relay over the past year. To be in with a chance of winning one of the fantastic new tops, please complete this google form by 21st May.

The applicable events are:

2022 - 
Mixed Sprint Relays in Leeds   11 June
YBT Final at Irchester   3 July
Peter Palmers at Sutton Park  11 September
CSC at Tulliallan   16 October

Juniors should be born in 2006 or later and ideally would wish to continue to represent SYO, wearing their junior tops at team competitions and other events, and will return them to the club if they are no longer used. We plan to gather the lucky winners together for a photo shoot to show off the fabulous new tops!

British Orienteering Volunteering Awards

These awards are presented annually to recognise the efforts of our clubs and volunteers who work tirelessly to ensure that the orienteering is accessible to all.

The Development & Innovation of the Year Award celebrates the efforts an individual, group, or club has put into delivering a new programme or initiative which supports the growth of orienteering. Oli Johnson and Dom Dakin were the deserving winners of this award this year. 

To celebrate SYO's 50th anniversary, Oli developed an orienteering course that followed the route of the Round Sheffield Walk – a 15 mile route through Sheffield's parks and woodlands! Designing a special map that joined up the entire route, the full 28km course was named the "Full Monty." It consisted of 50 controls and included 650m of climb and was made more accessible to less athletic club members, by being divided into eight smaller stages. Participants could compete the whole lot or as many stages as they wanted.

Dom was responsible for setting up the course as a MapRun activity and he also developed a website: “Round Sheffield Orienteer”, which included information about the different stages and a leader board.

Oli held a launch event, where we marketed the course to the local community. After the event the maps were available to purchase in a local running shop (which has proven to be very popular with running groups and members). A competition was held throughout the summer to see who could post the fastest time for the Full Monty and the different stages. The course is still available as a MapRun on the SYO website. The map itself is fabulous and a wonderfully innovative product in its own right!

Congratulations to both Oli and Dom on their award. 

GB Selections

Congratulations to the SYO club members that have been selected to represent GB in forthcoming international competitions.

Chloe Potter was selected for World Cup 1 in Norway 27-30 April, achieving 80th in the long distance, 75th in the middle and 23rd in the relay.

Euan Tryner, Miia Roller & Imogen Pieters have been selected for the Junior World Orienteering Championships in Romania 1-9 Aug and JEC in Belgium 26-28 Aug.

Freya Tryner and Anna Todd have been selected for the European Youth Orienteering Championships EYOC in Bulgaria 22-25 June. James Bryant has been selected as reserve.

Cat Taylor has been selected for the world mountain and trail running championship. Cat will be running in the short trail race in Austria from 7-10th June.

Forthcoming Junior Dates

SYO Junior Captain, Jacky Dakin, has identified some key dates for our junior contingent. First up is the Yorkshire Schools Champs on Saturday 17th June at Northcliffe Park, Shipley. Details of the event can be found here. The event must be entered in advance by Saturday 10th June.

On 9th July SYO host the YBT final at Sandall Beat, Doncaster. For those new to the club, the Yvette Baker Trophy is an inter-club junior competition. All juniors are eligible to take part as long as they can complete a yellow course. Entry details will be available in due course.

The final date to be aware of is the Peter Palmer Relays on 9th September in Stowe. This is a particularly exciting event as the relay begins at 4am in the dark and all the juniors stay together overnight in a huge sports hall! It is open to all SYO juniors M/W12 and above.

Holiday Multi-day Events

Many orienteers plan their summer holidays around the multi-day events. It's a great opportunity to socialise with club mates and enjoy orienteering in another part of the country.

Scottish 6 Days, Sun 30th July to Fri 4th Aug, Moray Coast. This is a wonderful event - very social, fantastic orienteering, lovely holiday vibe. 132 club members are already entered! Next price rise for entries is 30th June.

The White Rose  Friday 25th to Mon 28th August. EBOR run an annual event in North Yorkshire over the  August Bank holiday weekend. A camping field is part of the event, and they try to arrange competition areas so that, usually, you can walk from the campsite to the start each day. It's a family-friendly, relaxed, low cost event. Terrain can be tough but the other aspects of the event are fabulous! Prizes are the renowned 'White Rose mugs' - a different design each year!

British Orienteering News Archive

The British Orienteering Archive is a large collection of pre-digital era paper records of all kinds, beginning with the very early days of orienteering in the UK in the 1960s, held in the Special Collections Department of the University of Sheffield Library on Western Bank. The archive contains many maps from events right across the UK, from the early days of black-and-white OS-map photocopies, through the gradual introduction of special symbols and more colours, to maps close to present-day standards. Results and maps and much else from all major events held in the UK up to the late 1990s are included, and the collection contains all British Orienteering Federation Council and Committee minutes and the majority of regional newsletters from the 20^th century – and much more.  

The collection’s catalogue can be found here. Anyone can make an appointment to visit the collection, and examine and extract information from pre-chosen boxes.

Over the last few years the ‘guardian’ of the archive, has been Clive Allen, who lives in Denmark. He has visited the archive roughly annually and dealt with updates, new material donated etc. and extracted details of anniversaries, etc. for occasional publication by BO. Any historical queries, or offers of personal collections, received by BO Office are in the first instance forwarded to him.

Like all of us, Clive is getting older (80 last year) and would now like to hand over the guardianship. It’s not an arduous task in any way, but has masses of potential for someone interested in archiving and the history of orienteering in the UK, who might like to improve the way the collection is classified and eliminate some duplication. And a lot of the archive content is quite fascinating!

Who could be better to take over than a member of SYO, living right on the doorstep so to speak? You will be guaranteed a thorough hand-over, including being given the BO Photographic Collection and some historical material used for responding to queries that Clive currently keeps at home, and the opportunity to consult Clive or draw on his knowledge whenever it might be useful. If you’re interested and would like to know more, have a word first with Peter Gorvett, who is in touch with Clive.

Club Night

Club Night sessions are proving very popular with around 70-80 participants each week.  Priority is given to club members, so if you are interested in giving it a go, please email Pauline. The remaining programme up to the school summer holidays is:

Kit

We have a great array of club branded kit and have good range of stock items. Pictures can be seen here. 

Pricing is as follows - adult top £30, adult mesh £26, adult jacket £46, buff £6, adult vest £23, adult hoody £26, kids top £24, kids jacket £32, kids hoody £22

Please email Pauline if you would like to order any kit.

JK 2025 embargoes

South Yorkshire Orienteers will be hosting the JK in 2025. As this is a major event, the following SYO areas are now embargoed: Wharncliffe & Wheata Woods, Canklow, Wombwell, Tankersley & Hesley Woods and Sheffield City Centre. The exact areas can be seen on the British Orienteering website, here. 

Ideally, embargoed forest areas should be avoided, but it is acceptable to walk or cycle through them as long as you stick to the main trails and do not use a map. With regards to Sheffield City Centre you can visit for work, shopping, travel or entertainment but you should not be exploring with an orienteering map. You can also visit Hesley Woods for all scouting activities except orienteering!

If you do visit an embargoed area and feel you have gained an unfair advantage as a result, the emphasis is on you to declare yourself non-competitive if you subsequently take part in the competition.

Major events 2024

Attending a major orienteering event is normally a great experience. Not only is it a good opportunity to socialise with club mates but the races are held on the UK's best terrain. Both the JK and British Long champs also include a relay competition, which provides a great opportunity to race with other club members. These races are also normally selection races for juniors (M/W14 above) for the junior summer training camps. Here are the dates so you can incorporate them into your 2024 holiday schedule if you wish!

29/3 -1/4/24 Easter Weekend. JK Festival of Orienteering in the Midlands. The Relays, held on Monday 1st April, are at Stanton Moor in Derbyshire, so even if you don't wish to take part in the whole weekend, this could be done as a day trip.

13 & 14/4/24 British Long & Relays near Whitby

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.

Training Courses

We are always looking for ways to support our volunteers and have previously run courses on planning, first aid, organising, SI /download and event safety. If you would like some training or support in a specific area, please email Pauline and we'll get something arranged.

Interland Report

The 2023 Interland Match was hosted on 5^th March in Belgium. England competes annually in this pentangular match against the French, the two Belgian teams and the Netherlands.

The England team departed the UK on Friday morning and travelled via coach and ferry to Belgium. On Saturday the team had time for some sightseeing and a training event before arriving at Dommelhof Sports and Arts Centre, east of Antwerp.  The Interland race was staged in the Kattenbos forest. The terrain was typically Flemish with challenging sand dune orienteering interspersed with fast flat forest and lots of paths.

Twelve members of SYO formed part of the 48 strong team. Charlotte Chapman (W14), Freya Tryner (W16), Imogen Pieters (W20) and Euan Tryner (M20) all took 2^nd place in their age classes earning valuable points for team England. There were 4^th places for Lucy, Anna, Lawrence and James and 7^th places for Robbie & Nick B. A special mention to Alice, who would have finished 3^rd, if she hadn’t been the reserve and commiserations to Conrad who unfortunately mispunched.

The hosts, Orienteering Vlaanderen (the Flemish part of Belgium), won with England in 2^nd and France 3^rd. England won the Youth Cup for those competing in M/W20 and below.

A huge thank you must go to the adults from other clubs that drove the SYO juniors down to the coach and to Lucy Wiegand and Simon Hodgson, who drove them all back in the early hours of Sunday morning. Thank you also to John Rye and Barry Elkington for managing the team. The 2024 Interland Cup is to be hosted in the Ardennes in the south of Belgium (this time in the French speaking part) on 24th March.

British Champs Report

This weekend a large contingent of SYO travelled south to compete in the British championships. The long distance champs were held at Cold Ash on Saturday 25^th March. Courses were long and surprisingly technical, particularly for the younger juniors.

SYO took 4 individual titles – congratulations to Hannah Chapman (W12), Ella Baxter (W14), Imogen Pieters (W18E) and Laura Goy (W40). There were silver medals for Lucy Holt (W10), Charlotte Chapman (W14), Freya Tryner (W16), Kim Baxter (W45), Jenny Peel (W55), Jack Walwyn (M12) and Lawrence Hodgson (M14), while Eliza-Blue Elliott (W10), Anna Todd (W16), Lucy Wiegand (W55), Will Preston (M14), Euan Tryner (M20E) and Martin Ward (M55) all scooped a bronze medal. A special mention to Martha Preston who won W10B and Tim Holt and Susan Guy who took the honours in M and W45S respectively.

On Sunday the excitement switched to Hambleden for the British Relay Championships. SYO had 26 competitive teams taking part – a great achievement! We lifted the trophy in 4 classes: well done to our W40 team (Jenny J, Louise R and Lucy W), our M14 team (Pasco, Will and Maxwell) our W14 team (Ella, Alice and Charlotte) and our mini relayers (Louis, Stanley & Hannah). Well done to our men’s and women’s premier teams who both achieved podium places – silver for the women (Chloe, Kim and Imogen) and bronze for the men (Euan, Oli and Jonny). Four other teams picked up silver medals – M40 (Andy, Pete T & Nick B), M50 (Martin, Charlie & Dave P), W18 (Freya, Ciara and Anna) and W14 (Sophie, Lucy and Abigail); while two others collected bronze – W50 (Amanda, Jenny L & Jenny P) and M14 (Freddie, Oskar & Nathan). Congratulations to everyone who competed – a fabulous team effort!

JK Report

Over the Easter weekend over 100 club members travelled to the Lakes for the 4 day JK orienteering competition. First up was the sprint race at Lancaster University, where competitors enjoyed fast and furious racing in glorious sunshine. SYO took 10 podium places. Congratulations to Zac Garrat (M10), Oli Johnson (M45) , Hannah Chapman (W12) and Ella Baxter (W14) who were all crowned JK sprint champion. Well done also to our 3 silver medallists: Jonny Crickmore (M21 Elite), Imogen Pieters (W18 Elite) and Laura Goy (W40) and our 3 bronze medallists: Lucy Holt (W10), Peter Gorvett (M75) and Lawrence Hodgson (M14).  We also had winners on the shorter courses, with Yeliena Petrovska (W20S), Lesley Ward (W50S) and Mark Chapman (M55S) winning their course.

On Saturday it was the turn of the middle distance race at High Dam. The fells were bathed in glorious sunshine and there were fabulous views from the assembly area of the competitors racing into the finish. The action switched to Bigland on day 3 for the long distance race. Courses were very physically and technically demanding with the majority of courses finishing with very tricky controls on a steep rocky slope. Times for the 2 races are added together to determine the overall medallists. Congratulations to our 3 JK champions: Imogen Pieters (W18 Elite), Euan Tryner (M20E) and Peter Gorvett (M75). Well done also to 4 silver medallists: Hannah Chapman (W12), Freya Tryner (W16), Kim Baxter (W45) and Jenny Peel (W55) and our 4 bronze medallists: Louis Bryant (M12), James Bryant (M16), Nick Barrable (M45) and Lucy Holt (W10).  We also had winners on the shorter courses, with Yeliena Petrovska (W20S), Lesley Ward (W50S) and Mark Chapman (M55S) winning their course.

The 4^th and final day of competition was held at Dale Park, where it was the turn of the relays. We woke to torrential rain but despite the rather overcast conditions, the rain mostly held off until just after the prize giving. It was a great day at the office for SYO with 11 podium positions. Our juniors dominated their classes. In the mini relay the BEElieve team of Louis, Stanley and Hannah lifted the trophy with the Busy BEEs (Lucy, Zac and Jago) closely behind in silver medal position. In the Junior relay the BEEkeepers (Will, Sophie and Maxwell) raced round to take gold, while it was a dead heat for team BEEware (Oskar, Jack B and Freddie) in a race with LOC for 3^rd place. In the Intermediate women’s race, Freya, Ella and Anna all recorded the fastest leg times to bring BEEyonce into gold medal position.  Team BEEtboxers (Oscar, Caspar and James) also took gold in  the Intermediate men’s race.

A huge thank you to the NWOA for putting on a truely fabulous weekend of racing. Next year's JK is in the Midlands in its normal Easter slot. Hope to see you there!

British Sprints & Middles Report

Over the Coronation weekend, a dedicated band of SYO members travelled to Northern Ireland to take part in the British Sprint and Middle Champs. We were treated to sunny skies, friendly people, stunning scenery and excellent courses.The Sprint Champs were held in Armagh, where 5 SYOers were crowned British Champion. Congratulations to Martha (W10), Hannah (W12), Ella (W14), Oscar (M16) and Nick B (M45). Well done also to our 5 silver medallists: Alice (W14), Freya (W16), Laura R (W21Elite), Kim (W45) and Bill E (M55) and our 4 bronze medallists: Stanley (M12), Robbie (M16), Dave P (M55) and Janet (W60).

On Sunday the action switched to the British Middles at Drumkeeragh. We were treated to a stunning assembly area and a tough technical forest. We went one better than the day before, with 6 SYO members crowned British Champion. Congratulations to: Martha (W10), Hannah (W12), Ella (W14), Freya (W16), Jenny P (W55) and Nick B (M45). Well done also to our 7 silver medallists: Sophie (W12), Will (M14), Charlotte (W14) Oscar (M16), Laura R (W21Elite), Kim (W45) and Bill E (M55) and our 5 bronze medallists: Jack W (M12), Maxwell (M14), Robbie (M16), Pete T (M45) and Martin (M55).

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.