Published 15th October 2019

Forty seven SYO juniors travelled to Heaton Park in Manchester on Saturday 12^th October to compete in the British Schools Score Championships. The sun shone, which was lovely for spectators and competitors alike and made a decent change to many recent events! Competitors had 45 minutes to find as many of the 30 controls had they could. Four juniors, including SYO’s Euan and Dom, managed to score the maximum 300 points in the time allowed. The SYO juniors all excelled themselves with 19 individual medal wins! Congratulations to:

Y5 Boys - Will P 3^rd
Y6 Girls – Charlotte 1^st, , Ellen 2^nd
Y6 Boys- 1^st Oscar, 2^nd Jake
Y7 Girls – 1^st Anna
Y7 Boys – 1^st Robbie, 2^nd Joseph, 3^rd Ben A
Y8 Girls – 1^st Freya, 2^nd Ciara
Y8 Boys – 3^rd Isaac
Y9 Girls - 2^nd  Millie
Y9 Boys – Sam T 1^st, Ben T 2^nd
Y10/11 Boys – 1^st Euan, 3^rd Olmo
Y12/13 Girls – 2^nd Alex E
B12/13 Boys – 3^rd Dom

There were also excellent results in the team competitions. In the primary competition Nether Green won the primary boys while Hunters Bar took 2^nd in the primary boys and 3^rd in the primary girls. In the secondary competition, High Storrs won the lower secondary girls and lower secondary boys competitions. Visit the SYO Facebook page for more photos of the event.

Next up is the British Schools Champs on Sunday 17^th November in Black Park near Slough!

Published 17th September 2019

Published 13th September 2019

After 5 hours of minibus madness, music and MacDonald’s we arrived at the home of Winnie The Pooh for a quick stretch of the legs in the ‘Enchanted Forest’ before heading across to Michael Hall School the venue for this year’s Peter Palmer Relays.  The evening consisted of volleyball, basketball, burgers, a quick look at the arena, a football match against Cumbria and Sweden, and then a few hours’ trying to sleep on the gym floor before the 5.00am start of the race.

West Cumberland were the pre-race favourites having won for the last 3 years and despite losing all but one of last year’s team they still had strength throughout including three W18s on the Yellow course!  Octavian Droobers also had an experienced team as did local club Southdown Orienteers and this year two Swedish clubs sent strong teams as part of an exchange with their Tio Mila relay.  With lots of keen youngsters, SYO opted to spread experience more widely managing to field three teams in the main 6 person overnight race and 2 teams in the DayBreak relay. 

The Killer Bees had the slower of the two gaffles on the first leg and lost touch with the pack in the bracken filled forest section coming home 9 minutes down in 10^th place but ahead of the Swedish team OK Linne. Dom ran an excellent race to bring the team back into contention in 3^rd place but still 10 minutes down on West Cumberland and Southdown who suspiciously had been given the same gaffle throughout! The last leg proved decisive for West Cumberland pulling away to take the win while Southdown just managed to hold on to 2^nd place in a sprint finish with OK Linne. The Killer Bees slipped back behind the Swedes but with strong runs from Freya, Anna and Euan managed to hold on to 4^th overall and crucially 1st place in the Joan George handicap class for the 4^th year in a row! 

Matthew coped brilliantly with the challenge of the first leg bringing the Bumble Bees back in 11^th place and Sam T, Oscar and Jamie all picked up places to bring the team back in 5^th place and 2^nd in the Joan George class beating all the other second teams. The Wanna Bees finished a very creditable 10^th place out of 18 teams with Conrad and James having particularly good runs. In the DayBreak Relay the Bees Knees and Worker Bees teams battled it out in the middle of the pack until the last leg when Robbie put in the 2nd fastest time to move from 6^th to 3^rd place and sneak a podium position. 

Saxons Orienteering Club delivered a great event including a proper DJ with dry ice, and a magnificent setting bathed in early morning sunshine with medals, trophies and chocolate on board we piled into the minibuses for the long but not quite as loud trip home to Sheffield.

Many thanks to Jacky for managing the teams, Nick for commentating and writing the race report above and Jacky, Dave, Nick and Rob for driving the mini-buses. Next year’s Peter Palmer Junior Relays take place during the weekend 12 - 13 September in the Lake District on WCOC home terrain! 

Published 31st August 2019

This summer saw over 100 of our members travel north to Strathearn to the biannual Scottish 6 days competition. The first day was held in the super tough terrain of Auchingarrich. SYO got off to a fabulous start with 18 podium positions. There were wins for Will P (M10A), Freddie (M10B), Charlotte (W10A), Anna (W12A), Robbie (M12A), Alex C (W14A), Cat (W21E), Lesley (W50S) and Peter G (M70L). Freya (W14A), Stanley (M10B), Andy P (M40L), Nick B (M45L), Charlie (M50L) and Lucy (W50L) all took 2nd place; while Lawrence (M10A), Max (M16A) and Jamie (M14A) all picked up 3rd place positions.

Day 2 saw us transfer to the new area of Edenchip – the mix of open fell and woodland and less technically challenging terrain providing a sharp contrast to day 1. SYO's early start block in the tough terrain meant podium positions were harder to come by today. However there were still some excellent performances with wins for Freddie (M10B), Charlotte (W10A), Robbie (M12A) and Nick B (M45L). Finlay (M10B) and Jenny J (W40L) took 2nd place; while Jamie (M14A), Alexandra (W14B) and Mary (W21E) all gained 3rd place.

I’m sure many competitors will agree that day 3’s Dundurn and Cnoc a’Mhadaidh provided a superb day of competition - technical terrain, challenging courses, a fab arena and glorious weather! SYO members continued to perform magnificently with 15 top 3 positions. Well done to Freddie (M10B), Nick B (M45L), Charlie (M50L), Tim T (M55L), Charlotte (W10A), Cat (W21E), Jenny J (W40L) and Lesley (W50S) who all topped their classes. There were 2nd places for Lawrence (M10A) and Dave P (M50L), while Freya (W14A), Euan (M16A),Will (M10A), Stanley (M10B) and Andy P (M40L) all finished 3rd.

Day 4 of the Scottish 6 Days provided a complete contrast to day 3, with fast runnable open fell and easy navigation. SYO didn't fare quite so well results wise as the previous day, although there were still 9 podium positions to celebrate. Well done to Freddie (M10B), Tim (M55L), Charlotte (W10A) and Nick B (M45L) who all finished in 1st place; while Stanley (M10B), Anna (W12A), Jenny J (W40L) and Lucy (W50L) all finished 3rd.

Day 5 saw us return to the classic orienteering area of Craig a Barns - a super technical and physical Scottish forest. Despite an early start block there were some good results with Nick B (M45L), Charlie (M50L), Cat (W21E) and Tim (M55L) all finishing their courses in the fastest time. Laura (W35L) and Robbie (M12A) finished in 2nd place and Lucy (W50L) and Stanley (M10B) came 3rd.

The final day saw the introduction of a middle race for all but the shortest courses. Grandtully provided beautifully runnable and surprisingly technically challenging (particularly without a compass) terrain. Surprisingly SYO picked up the least number of podium positions on this day (clearly we love a bit of grot!). Well done though to Brian who picked up a win on M75L, Tim T (M55L) and Dave P (M50L) who both took 2^nd position and Jamie (M14) and Andy P (M40L), who took 3^rd.

Prizes are presented to the top 3 overall in each class, with the best 4 out of 6 races counting. SYO managed an excellent 11 podium places overall. Congratulations particularly to winners Freddie G (M10B), Nick B (M45L), Charlie A (M50L), Tim (M55L) and Charlotte (W10A) – that’s double the number of winners we had in 2017! Well done also to the other podium finishers – Will P 3^rd (M10A), Stanley 2^nd (M10B), Robbie 2^nd (M12A), Peter G 3^rd (M70L), Jenny J 3^rd (W40L) and Lesley 3^rd (W45S).