Member News

A very warm welcome to new members Chloe Bate, David & Evelyn Best, Reuben Davies, Izzy & Jimmy O'Hara, Elaine & Karen O'Hara-Styles, Chris Robinson and Ben Stevens. We are also delighted to welcome back Cari Littler and Paul Johnson as members.

Congratulations to Imogen Pieters, Chloe Potter and Jonny Crickmore who have been selected to represent GB at the forthcoming Euromeeting in Stirling.

A huge thank you to Adam Bradbury who has completed a major behind the scenes update of the SYO website.
 

Rivelin Event - Sunday 1st October

We have a regional event at Rivelin on Sunday. There's a full range of courses on offer from white to brown to suit all ages and abilities. More info here.

There will be entry on the day available but if you can, please enter in advance via Fabian4 by Friday 29th September as this reduces the volunteer requirement on the day & ensures you get the map of your choice.

Wednesday Evening Event - 4th Oct

Our next WEE is a dusk event at Owler Car. This area has not been used for an event before. It is an ancient woodland with a complex network of paths, some interesting contour detail and a rich variety of vegetation. We have the normal 4 courses on offer - yellow, orange, green & blue. More details available here.

You need to enter in advance for this event via the SYO entry system - there's no entry on the day. Entries close Tuesday 3rd October.

Please email Pauline if you can help. We need a couple of people on start and some control collectors. No experience is required and volunteers get a free run.

Saturday Series 2 - Bolehill - 7th Oct

Our next Saturday Series event is at Bolehill on 7th October. Longer courses extend along the Rivelin valley. More info here.

As usual we require lots of helpers. Please email Pauline if you can help for an hour or so. No experience is required and volunteers get a free run.

The league results have been uploaded here after the first event at Endcliffe. If you have changed schools since last year, please let us know. 

SYO training weekend - 23rd-25th Feb

This is an exciting new initiative to build on the existing coaching provided by SYO. The weekend course will be lead by Dave Peel (former British Orienteering Team coach) and will provide an opportunity to learn from some of the UK's most experienced coaches. Based at Elterwater Youth Hostel (which we have sole use of for the weekend) in the heart of the Lake District we'll have access to some of the best terrain in the UK. In addition to the orienteering there will be plenty of time to socialise with other club members.

The weekend is aimed at adults and older juniors looking to take their orienteering skills to the next level - participants should be M/W14 or older and compete at some national orienteering events. Under 18s need to be accompanied by an adult on the weekend.

At this stage we welcome expressions of interest from people interested in attending so we can gauge take up - please email Dave.  Further details and booking info will be sent out in the near future.

Compass Sport Cup Final - Sun 12th Nov

Your club needs you! The CompassSport Cup Final wll be held in the Forest of Dean on the 12th November. We are aiming to retain our title but will need as many people to turnout as possible.

For those new to the sport, the Compass Sport Cup is the main inter-club orienteering competition - a bit like the FA cup final but for orienteering. Competitors run different colour courses depending on their age & gender. The easiest competitive course is orange, which is for M/W14 and under. The way the scoring system works is that even if you do not count for the team you can lower the scores of other club runners so a huge turn out is vital. There are normally non-competitive courses for accompanying friends and family.

There is also an NGOC event the day before if you wish to make a weekend of it.

We aren't taking entries yet but wanted to give members plenty of notice of the date. We are also considering hiring a coach if there is sufficient interest.This will be a (longish) day trip but will hopefully encourage as many people as possible to attend. If you think you would like a place on the coach please email Pauline by Sunday 1st October.

New secretary required

SYO require a new club secretary. The role involves dealing with correspondance, taking minutes at committee meetings and completing the annual club return to British Orienteering. No experience is necessary. If you'd like to find out a bit more about what the job entails, please email Pauline.

The club would like to pass its thanks onto Judith Cudden, who has done a fabulous job over the past few years.

Club Champs, AGM & Awards

The 2023 club champs, AGM, lunch and awards will be held on Saturday 16th December. The fun event will be held at Ecclesall Woods with the post race lunch & awards at Lee Hall golf club. Please put the date in your diaries.

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.

Upcoming positions that we particularly need to fill soon are:

Wed 15th Nov - Silver Wood - organiser
Sun 26th Nov - Big Moor & Curbar Edge - Controller
Wed 17th Jan - Crookes & Broomhill urban- Organiser & Planner
Wed 31st Jan - Coneygree & Lees Hall - Planner
Sat 24th Feb - Loxley Night event - Organiser
Wed 20th Mar - Loxley - Organiser & Planner
Sun 21st Apr - Hugset - Planner, Organiser & Controller.

Wednesday and Saturday events are ideal for first time planners and help and mentoring will be provided. Wednesday event organisers are required mainly "on the day" as most of the "in advance" jobs are done for you - risk assessment, entries, website details, finding helpers etc so this is an easy way to get involved in organising. 

VHIs

The Veteran Home Internationals take place this weekend in the Forest of Dean. Good luck to the 7 SYO members, who will be representing their home nations:

M45 Nick B, M55 Martin, W40 Laura G, W45 Kim, W50 Amanda & W55 Lucy - all representing England

W55 Jenny P - representing Scotland.

Event Thank yous

Club Night

Club Night sessions are proving very popular with around 90-100 participants each week.  Priority is given to club members, so if you are interested in giving it a go, please email Pauline. The programme up until Christmas is:

Photo & Junior Website Manager requests

Adam has requested some updated photos for the website. They need to be suitable to be used as banners across the top of the website. If you have any suitable photos, please email Adam.

We also require somebody to update / manage the junior section of the website. If you are interested or would like to find out more about what the role entails, please email Jacky.

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 £29, adult mesh £26, adult jacket £45, buff £6, adult vest £23, adult hoody £26, kids top £24, kids jacket £34, kids hoody £22

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

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.

Peter Palmers Report

This year's Peter Palmer Relays were held in the rather magical Stowe gardens.

 Arriving on Saturday evening in a heatwave, the SYO teams played football, set out their sleeping bags in the open-sided sports dome, queued for the Fish & Chip van, followed the glowstick trail across the golf course to inspect the Arena and had a team talk followed by double birthday cake to celebrate Abigail & Dom's birthdays.

Seasoned team members enjoyed meeting up with friends from across the country, whilst those who were new to the competition must have been wondering what they'd let themselves in for!

Awake at 4am, by 4:30am many people were heading off in the dark to the Arena, to cheer on their first-leg runners. SYO had 4 teams on the start line, & the cheering for the mass start at 5am was so loud that it could be heard back at the sports dome - over 1.2km away. Team members then turned their attention to face paint & glowsticks whilst they waited.

As first leg runners began to approach the finish, the darkness was dotted by headtorches, with the final few controls requiring zig-zag running across the open tussocky grass.There was strong competition, and the first leg runners were really pushing themselves; times of 30 mins/ 5.3km are very impressive. 

For the Peter Palmer Trophy, our Killer Bees team were being particularly challenged by WCOC Wildcats. Meanwhile our teams Bumble Bees, Wanna Bees, and Worker Bees were all competing for the Joan George Trophy.  

Our second leg runners headed out in darkness, followed by a magnificent sunrise, then - fittingly - at 6am the mass start for the DayBreak Bowl - including SYO Bees Knees.

There was a great atmosphere in the Arena, as the darkness lifted to reveal the parkland with Lord Cobham's Pillar, and the Gothic Temple. It was very exciting spotting SYO runners on the horizon as they ran past the temple, giving time to warn the next leg runner of their imminent arrival.

After many hours of competition, our results were:

Peter Palmer Trophy: SYO Killer Bees 2nd 

Joan George Trophy: SYO Bumble Bees 1st, SYO Wanna Bees  2nd, SYO Worker Bees  mp

DayBreak Bowl:  SYO Bees Knees 2nd 

Thank you to SMOC for putting on such a fantastic event and to Jacky for captaining the teams so successfully. Thank you also to all the parent drivers & supporters!  PP24: 7/8 September  - save the date!

British Mixed Sprint Relays Report

The mixed British Sprint Relays were held last weekend at Brunel University. A large contingent of SYO athletes travelled to the outskirts of London to represent the club and brought back a vast array of medals. Chloe, James, Jonny & Laura started proceedings by executing 4 perfect runs to lift the elite title. 

In the young junior class our Minibeests team consisting of Jack W, Louis & Hannah took just 16 minutes to retain their title from last year, while team Beeyonce (Robbie, Freya & James) went one better than last year and cruised to victory in the junior class. The 4^th win of the day went to Andy, Kim & Nick B in the vets class showing SYO’s class across the age ranges!  Richard, Robyn and Tim raced round in the Super vets class to take silver while Charlotte, Alice and Joseph were absolutely delighted with their bronze medals in the Junior class.

A special mention to Joe, Beverley & Jack (in the SYO/ShUOC mixed team) who just missed out on a podium position taking 4^th in the adhoc class and Anna, Ella & Will who were also 4^th in the Junior class. Well done to everyone who took part, especially Rob who was pressganged into competing an hour before kick off!Thanks to LOK for putting on a very enjoyable and well executed event. Next year the Sprint relays take place at Birmingham University on 22^nd June 2024.

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.