We won the Cup! Have a look at it (and the rest of our silverware) in our Virtual Trophy Cabinet.

Sunday 1st July saw 10 teams from the best junior clubs in the country gather at Arrow Valley Country Park in Redditch for the final of the Yvette Baker Competition. SYO took a team of 56 runners (far more than any other club) by coach and a convoy of cars. Our aim - to retain the trophy for the 2nd year running!

Conditions were sweltering so we quickly set up a city of tents in the shade of some large trees and set to work with the facepainting and nail varnishing in our team colours. Then it was time for our first starters to make their way to the start and soon there was a steady stream of yellow and black heading out for their runs. Within no time at all our first finishers on the yellow course were back with some good times under their belts; followed by finishers on the orange and light green. It was a long wait though for finishers on green who had a greulling 6.4km, through grotty vegetation in 30 degrees heat! Eventually though all our runners had returned producing some excellent times across all the classes.

While the results were being calculated vast quantities of ice-cream were consumed and the older juniors chilled out in the shade listening to music, while the younger ones enjoyed the playground and bouncy castle. Finally it was time for the prize giving. There was an anxious wait as BOK were announced in 3rd place on 856 points, WCOC in 2nd on 868 points and then yes SYO in 1st place on 889 points - a fabulous win! 

Well done to everyone who ran - everyone's results help to push down the scores of the other teams - but particular congratulations to our counters:

Charlotte C - yellow girls (100 points)
Freya - orange girls (100 points)
Euan - light green boys (100 points)
Conrad - orange boys (99 points)
Imogen - light green girls (99 points)
Robbie - yellow boys (98 points)
Anna - yellow girls (98 points)
Dylan - orange boys (98 points)
Isabelle Ho - green girls (97 points)
Jamie - light green boys (97 points)
Isabelle Ha - yellow girls (97 points)

Thank you to Jacky for captaining the team so superbly and to all the parents supporters. Next year the final is on 7th July in Hatfield Forest near Bishop's Stortford. Please put the date in your diary!

For the keen orienteers in our membership, the summer means a chance to combine a holiday with a multi-day orienteering competition. As usual a number of families ventured far and wide to compete at events including the OO Cup in France, the Lakes 5 day and the Croatia Open.

OO Cup, France

The OO cup is traditionally held in Slovenia but this year the organising team decided to venture further afield to the Jura region of France. The slightly more accessible location led to a swell in entry numbers with over 3000 participants. There were 5 days of competition in incredibly physical and technically challenging terrain. Every day counted so a mispunch or retiral was very costly! Conditions were sweltering but the organisation and course planning were excellent as usual. 

A good number of SYO members made the journey to this one as the event fell at the start of the school holidays. Fortunes were mixed for many. In the Junior categories, Oscar P, Nathan P, Euan T & Freya T all achieved top 10s on individual days. Best overall result of the week went to Will P 7th on M10 shadowed. 

The Lakes 5 Day

Every 4 years the Lakeland clubs host a 5 day orienteering competition. Many SYO members entered this one attracted by the good quality Lakes terrain and its relative proximity to home. Unfortunately, whilst the rest of the UK basked in the Europe wide heatwave, there was a permanent raincloud over the Southern Lakes which persisted throughout the 5 day competition! 

Nonetheless participants still managed to enjoy themselves and there were some fabulous overall performances by SYO Juniors. Results are based on your best 4 days of competition. Congratulations to Conrad 3rd M12A, Freya 2nd W12A, Imogen 3rd W14A, Euan 1st M14A, and Louise 1st W20L!

Croatia Open
While most of us were getting soggy in the Lakes the Wards and the Baxters were enjoying the wonderful weather, courses and terrain of the Croatian 6 days. This is a very small and friendly competition, comprising of urban and forest orienteering with all 6 days to count! Martin, Kim and Ricky all entered M40 and came 1st, 2nd & 3rd respectively while in W10 Ella came 2nd overall.

Over the August bank holiday weekend, a large contingent of SYO Juniors travelled to North Yorkshire with their families to take part in the annual White Rose competition. This year the 4 day event was held at Duncombe Park, which provided a stunning setting for the event campsite. As in previous years the races were all held within walking distance of the campsite, with the added bonus this year of the lovely town of Helmsley being within a stone’s throw.

The weekend begins on the Friday night with a 30 minute night score, this year held around the parkland of the Duncombe Estate. 

Saturday saw the start of the main competition; the results of which are obtained by adding together the time taken on the Middle and Classic distance races. First up was the Middle Race through the wooded slopes of Duncombe Park. The latter part of the courses in particular offered a technically challenging control pick through World War 2 remnants. Later starters benefited from the elephant tracks trampled through the nettles and bracken by those first out in the forest. (In an orienteering first I was even offered a very tempting glass of red wine by 2 elderly gentlemen relaxing by the river, as I emerged from head high bracken. Not sure what that says about my general racing demeanour!)

Next on the itinerary was a wonderful sprint race in the late afternoon sun around Helmsley Castle. Hundreds of orienteers charging around the ramparts was a fabulous sight. Winning times were super quick and there were some excellent results by our juniors. It is particularly nice to see some of our newer members sweeping up the prizes. Well done to:

Young Junior Men – 1^st Lawrence, 3^rd Sam T
Young Junior Women – 2^nd Anna
Junior Men – 1^st Euan, 2^nd Sam C
Junior Women – 2^nd Isabelle H

Overnight there was a dramatic change in the weather and Sunday dawned with dark grey rainclouds overhead. Before long the rain was bucketing down and it didn’t stop all day. This didn’t deter most people though from heading out to the start of the Classic distance race. Like the previous day early starters were hampered by the summer vegetation, although the planner made the best of the ominous sounding “Windy Pits!” Running at the same time as the Classic race there was also the trail orienteering competition, although long start windows meant ‘keen beans’ could manage both competitions.

Although the trail orienteering competition didn’t produce any SYO winners, there were plenty in the overall competition. Again, it was fantastic to see many of our new members and very young juniors collecting their White Rose mugs on the podium alongside our normal prize-winners. Congratulations to:

M10B – 1^st Stanley
M14A – 1^st Sam C
M16A – 1^st Euan
W10B – 2^nd Hannah
W10A – 1^st Charlotte
W12A – 2^nd Anna
W14A – 1^st Freya, 3^rd Alex
W16A – 2^nd Isabelle

In the Water Trophy, which is presented to the family with the best results over the weekend, Pete, Euan & Freya Tryner picked up 2^nd place. The podium places in the quiz were a clean sweep by DVO (perhaps we need to work together better as a club next year) and sadly there were no SYO winners in the photo O competition either.

As the rain continued to fall some less hardy members headed for home but a fair few brave souls stayed a further day for the team competition. For our juniors in the M/W12 minus class, Alex J, Stanley, Will P and Hannah all collected mugs!

Many thanks to Steve Rush for the fabulous photos. Next year the White Rose will be based in Scarborough for a more ‘urban feel’ and will come at the end of the ‘Race the Castles’ week that will begin the previous weekend in Lincoln and South Yorkshire. Put the date in your diary!

We won the Cup! Have a look at it (and the rest of our silverware) in our Virtual Trophy Cabinet.

The Peter Palmer Relays are an annual junior team event held partly in the dark and partly in daylight. During the autumn of 2017, SYO received a slightly desperate email asking whether we would consider hosting the event as no other volunteers had come forward. As we have such a strong junior membership and knowing how much the juniors benefit from it, we soon agreed. Nick Lightfoot kindly stepped forward as planner and without remembering ever agreeing Jacky Dakin was suddenly wearing the organiser's hat!

Fast forward 10 months and the weekend of the Peter Palmer's was almost upon us. The doorbell rang constantly as headlights, a new generator, a big screen, batteries, maps and goodness what else arrived and the dining room was a hive of activity as Pete tried out the radio controls and results screen! No doubt the Lightfoot & Dakin houses were in a similar state as Nick bagged the maps and Jacky gathered all the paraphernalia required for organising the event!

Saturday 8th September dawned - the day of the Peter Palmer’s - but first only the matter of the Saturday Series 1 event at Endcliffe Park to get out of the way. Pete & I looked at the weather forecast and breathed a sigh of relief - it's due to rain, numbers will be down. How wrong we were! 549 runs, hundreds of new registrations, torrential downpours and resolution of a conflict at a wedding venue later it was finally over. Thank goodness for the many club members who stepped up to help, some for the first time, in very chaotic conditions.

By 5pm the cars had been loaded up with equipment and we were off to Tankersley in north Sheffield. The organising, planning and computing teams headed off to build the arena in the woods while Amanda and I established ourselves at the sports hall for meeting and greeting, not only all the SYO juniors, but also the club teams from around the country.

Eventually all 31 SYO juniors had arrived and laid out their sleeping mats and bags in our designated area in the hall; so we headed up en masse to take a look at the woodland arena so we knew what to expect in the morning. Then it was time for the 5 a-side football and banner making competition. Conveniently the Paces campus happens to be situated adjacent to state of the art 3G floodlit pitches so Paul was able to organise a fabulous football tournament complete with prizes.

After an hour of frenetic competition, it was time to gather for a team meeting. After handing out dibbers, numbers and going over important final details, it was time to celebrate Dom’s birthday with large slices of chocolate cake. Then the juniors climbed into their O kit ready for a quick get up and it was time for lights out.

In next to no time, 4.15am arrived and the first of the alarms were ringing. It was a hive of activity as people grabbed their belongings and adjusted their headtorches. Jenny, Amanda & I headed off to the arena with the 1^st and 2^nd leg runners, while Paul remained in the hall to hustle later runners up to the start at the right time.

The juniors quickly donned their facepaint and our 1^st leg runners – Ryan, Max & Jamie - lined up ready for the mass start. The arena looked fabulous with fairy lights decorating the download tent and tea lights lining the run in. The minutes ticked down and suddenly it was 5am and the 21 first leg runners were off into the dark!

From the first moment Nick agreed to plan, he had a strong vision of what he wanted the 2018 Peter Palmers to be. In his mind it was absolutely vital that the relays were made as exciting as possible with live commentary, spectator run-throughs, radio controls and live results. He certainly achieved this with Pete, Jacky, controller Ranald and the rest of the team’s help and this really added to the wonderful atmosphere.

Within 10 minutes the first runners were through the radio control and excitingly included in that pack was Ryan running the first leg for SYO Killer bees. Thirty two minutes later WCOC 1 were back handing over to their 2^nd leg runner and five minutes after that Ryan appeared handing over to Dom in 6^th place having had a very good run. Dom then had a flyer gaining the fastest time on leg 2 and handing over to Sam C in 2^nd place. Sam also delivered a fantastic run with the 2^nd fastest time on the light green leg retaining SYO Killer Bees 2^nd place. Next up was Imogen who also ran very well to clock the 2^nd fastest orange time. She handed over to Alexandra and Freya, who were both 1^st time Peter Palmer runners. Leg 5 is a yellow course and up to 3 runners can run at once. Unfortunately our 3^rd yellow runner, Ciara, broke her finger badly just before the competition so couldn’t take part. Seventeen minutes later Freya was back to hand over to Euan on last leg. We were still in 2^nd place overall but in first place on the Joan George (the competition for younger teams). As Euan appeared twice through the spectator run-through it was clear that WCOCs 2^nd team were hot on our heels. Would Euan hold him off? Sadly it was not to be and they appeared in the finish run in together with WCOC 2 crossing the line just in front of Euan. However there is always a nervous wait at download, as it is vitally important to visit all the correct controls and unfortunately in this instance WCOC 2 had missed a control. SYO claimed 2^nd place overall (behind WCOC 1) and first place in the Joan George competition.

Meanwhile the competition continued. How were SYO’s other teams doing? In the main competition SYO Bumble Bees were now up to 8^th, whilst the Worker Bees were in 19^th place. Over in the Daybreak Competition (a new 4 leg relay starting at dawn) our Honey Bees and Carpenter Bees were in 2^nd & 3^rd places respectively. Sadly the Bumble Bees had a mispunch on last leg (interestingly at the same control as WCOC 2) but the Worker Bees pulled up to finish 16^th. In the Daybreak the Honey Bees (Isobel, James, Oliver, Emil & Alfie) finished in a brilliant 2^nd place with the Carpenter Bees (Joe, Josie, Carys, Claudine & Toby) in a fabulous 3^rd position.

Well done to all the juniors who took part, particularly those who were taking part in their first Peter Palmers. A special mention must go to Jamie & Max for stepping up alongside Ryan to run the very nerve wracking pitch black night leg; also to Matthew who ran a very good time on leg 2 and Alfie who managed the red leg in a good time with very little orienteering experience. The prize winners all received a good supply of chocolate which hopefully they shared amongst the whole team!

So it just remains to re-iterate our huge thanks to Jacky, Nick, Pete, Ranald (from DVO) and the rest of the SYO helper team for a fabulous job done. Thank you also to Rob Lines for the photos. The 2019 Peter Palmers will take place in the South East on the 7^th & 8^th September, where we shall very much look forward to just competing!

See the Results from the event here. Why not have a look at our Photo Album from the event, to see more great pictures like these. There's also this video, kindly made by Ben O'Donnel, which gives you a flavour of the event.

Some of our SYO Juniors have been selected to compete for Yorkshire at the Junior Inter-Regional Championships (JIRCs) this weekend (29th/30th Sept). There are 12 regional squads in the country, with the Yorkshire & Humberside Junior Squad (YHJS) being just one of these. YHJS will be competing against the likes of Scotland and the North-West, both of whom have performed strongly in previous years.

The event consists of an individual race on the Saturday (this year to be held on the nearby Chatsworth Estate), and a relay on the Sunday (at Carsington Pastures), with a M/W14, 16 & 18 making up one relay team. 

These SYO juniors have been selected to be on the team. They will join juniors from the rest of the Yorkshire clubs (AIRE, EPOC, EBOR, CLARO & HALO), to make up the 24 in the Yorkshire team. 

We wish all those taking part Good Luck! All the action from the weekend can be followed on Derwent Valley Orienteers' Website.

More information about the Yorkshire and Humberside Junior Orienteering Squad can be found here - including info on how to get into the squad. Why not have a chat to some of these juniors to find out what they enjoy about being in the squad?

The entries for the British Schools Orienteering Championships are now open.  SYO will help to coordinate entries (you enter by school), and we are organising 2 coaches to travel down to the event, which is near Blackburn. To book your seat on the coach, follow this link to the online form.

See the message below (emailed to all SYO Juniors) from Jacky (Junior Team Captain) for more details about the event. If you or your parent didn't receive this email, please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

If you have any questions, please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., and she'll be happy to help. We hope lots of you can make the event, so you can represent your school in this nation-wide competition!

Some of our SYO Juniors have been selected to compete for England this weekend (6th/7th October) at the Junior Home Internationals (JHIs). England will be up against Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, to see which nation can take the JHI title at the end of the weekend.

This year, the event is being held up in Pitlochry (Scotland), with the areas for both days close to there. As it is such a long journey, the English team is travelling up today (good excuse for a whole day off school!). The teams are staying in hostels over the weekend, and as entertainment, on Saturday night there will be a ceilidh.

Just like the Junior Inter-Regionals (JIRCs) that were last weekend, the event consists of an individual race on the Saturday, and a relay on the Sunday, with a M/W14, 16 & 18 making up one relay team. 

These SYO juniors have been selected to be on the team. They will join juniors from the rest of the English clubs, to make up the 24 in the England team. 

We wish all those taking part Good Luck! All the action from the weekend can be followed on Edinburgh Southern Orienteers' and the Scottish Orienteering Association Websites.

Every year the 12 regional squads come together for the Junior Inter-Regional Championships. Teams consist of 24 runners from the M/W14, 16 & 18 age classes and are comprised of the best juniors from all over the UK.

This year the JIRCs were held in Derbyshire over the weekend of 29th / 30th September. Fifteen SYO juniors were selected to be part of the Yorkshire & Humberside team. The individual day was held in the stunning surroundings of Chatsworth.

Congratulations to:

W14 - Imogen 4th, Alex C 5th, Freya 11th.
W16 - Alex E 12th, Isabelle H 14th
M14 - Euan 3rd, Max 7th, Matthew 19th, Conrad 30th
M16 - Sam C 14th, Sam D 27th, Will 29th, Jamie 34th.
M18 - Dom 8th. 

Special mention must go to Jamie, Will, Sam C, Conrad & Freya who all ran up an age class and commiserations to Ryan who picked up the wrong map.

The relay day was held on Carsington Pastures where racing was fast & furious. While many of our juniors had good runs, it was Imogen that achieved the best result (running with Evie AIRE & Tara EBOR) to come 3rd in the girls' relay. Overall Yorkshire & Humberside finished 3rd behind Scotland and the North West.

In 2019 SYO will host the competition over the weekend of 28th / 29th September. The individual day will be held on a brand new area (Cowms Rocks) and the relay on Tankersley. 

Well done to all of the team!

More information about the Yorkshire and Humberside Junior Orienteering Squad can be found here - including info on how to get into the squad. Why not have a chat to some of these juniors to find out what they enjoy about being in the squad?