Published 6th February 2017

SYO members did battle with the brambles in Ecclesall Woods at the weekend with the help of the rangers.  It is going to be a long process but even the 2 hours we put in made a difference.

The next session is arranged for Saturday March 4th from 1 - 3.  You might not get a chance to run through the area we cleared this weekend but surely Colin Drury will put a control in it for the event in the autumn?

Published 11th January 2017

It was a great start to the year for SYO with a victory in the Robin Hood inter-club competition at The Dukeries event in Nottinghamshire on Sunday. This is the first time SYO have won the trophy since the competition began in 1998. Well done to everyone who competed, particularly the scorers: Jaimie Buckley, Lucy Wiegand, Pippa Dakin, Alex Elliott, Isobel Reuber, Jenny Lightfoot, Jill Gorvett, Megan Hill, Isabelle Groom, Andy Preston, Ryan Elliott, Seb Mobus, Euan Tryner, Jamie Lightfoot, Dom Dakin, Dave Peel, Brian Shaw, Oscar Peel and Dylan Jenkinson. It is fantastic to see some new people scoring for the club alongside our more established scorers!

Running alongside the Robin Hood Trophy was an inter-club junior competition between SYO, DVO and NOC. It was a resounding victory for SYO who scored 1198 points, with DVO in 2nd on 970 and NOC in 3rd with 670 points. Well done to all the juniors who ran - it was a fantastic team effort. Particular congratulations go to the SYO course winners:

white girls - Megan Hill
white boys - Oscar Peel
yellow girls - Isabelle Groom
yellow boys - Dylan Jenkinson
orange girls - Isobel Reuber
orange boys - Jamie Lightfoot
light green boys - Euan Tryner
green boys - Seb Mobus
short blue boys - Dom Dakin
blue girls - Yasmin Field
blue boys - Ryan Elliott

Published 9th December 2016

The 2016 annual club champs were held in the glorious Autumnal Ecclesall Woods on Saturday 3rd December. 54 adults and older juniors set off together on a 45 minute mass score event with the aim of collecting as many controls as possible in the time limit. This year there was a secret twist in that an additional 10 point bonus was awarded for each control collected in sequential order. Kim Baxter, Martin Ward, Andy Preston, Tim Tett and Charlie Adams collected all the controls in sequential order but it was Martin Ward who emerged first from the forest in a time of 43:21.

However, once Peter Gorvett's fiendish handicapping system had been applied it was all change at the top with the overall victory (and 1st junior male) going to Sam Doyle. Louise Adams was 1st female junior, Julian Pieters 1st senior man, Louise Preston 1st senior woman, Arun Sahni 1st vet man and Pauline Wilson 1st vet woman.

Whilst the more experienced orienteers were enjoying the score course, the younger members ran a a challenging 2.4km yellow course. Conrad Reuber flew round the course in 14:41 with James Bryant 2 minutes behind. Fastest female was Charlotte Chapman in 24:32.

Post race members adjurned to the function suite at the Abbeydale Sports Club for (very!) hot showers and a delicious buffet lunch. Lunch was followed by the very brief AGM before it was time for the annual awards ceremony, which honoured our members' best achievements:

Best Relay Team: Euan Tryner, Imogen Pieters & Jamie Lightfoot
Best Individual Relay Performance: Max Mobus
Best Male Junior Performances: Euan Tryner
Best Female Junior Performances: Freya Tryner
Best Overseas Performance: Jenny Peel
Best Senior Male Performances: Andy Preston
Best Senior Female Performances: Kim Baxter
Best Veteran Male Performances: Tim Tett
Best Veteran Female Performances: Hilary Bloor
Most improved junior: Alex Elliott
Most improved senior: Bronwen Doyle

 The final part of the day concentrated on thanking the club's volunteers for the hundreds of hours they dedicate to orienteering. All the major officials and coaches received a small prize and the club's mappers (Ian Cooper, Ray Waight and Tim Tett) were presented with a framed copy of their maps. Melinda Riley won 'offcial of the year' for organising a very successful compass sport cup final and Ian Cooper was awarded the trophy for the 'outstanding contribution to orienteering 'for all his mapping, planning, organising and coaching work.

 Finally a special presentation was made to Colin Best for his contribution to the development of orienteering in South Yorkshire and particularly his work with schools.

Thank you to Charles Hird for planning an innovative and challenging score event that made fantastic use of such a small part of Ecclesall Woods and to Emily Pieters for organising so efficiently and finding such a great venue. 

Published 27th November 2016

There were amazing results for many of our junior members at the British Schools Champs at Sutton Park. 70 Sheffield children competed from 16 different schools plus a contingent of home schooled children.

Nether Green Junior School won the trophy for the best overall primary school and Hunters Bar Y5 girls took team silver. In the secondary school category High Storrs Y7 boys took the victory and the Y9 girls were bronze medalists.

There were plenty of individual successes too for SYO juniors: Freya Tryner 1st Y5 girls, Imogen Pieters 1st Y6 girls, Jamie Lightfoot 1st Y6 boys, Conrad Reuber 3rd Y6 boys, Euan Tryner 1st Y7 boys and Dom Dakin 2nd Y10 boys.