News
News
Michael Adams at JEC
Congratulations to Michael Adams, who was selected to one of the six M18s in the Great Britain team at the Junior European Championships in Belgium from 2nd to 4th October. He did well; he was 27th (2nd Brit) in the sprint and 39th (3rd Brit) in the Long Distance.
Michael also had a good weekend at Race the Castles, coming 4th in the Open Men at both Edinburgh and Stirling (2nd and 1st in M18), while sister Louise was 11th in Open Women both days. She was running up a class to W18 (she is W16) and in that class came 2nd in Edinburgh and 3rd in Stirling.
British Sprints and Middle Championships 6th and 7th September
54 members of SYO travelled to the West Midlands to enjoy two days of orienteering in pleasant warm weather.
The Sprint race consisted of two races, heats and Finals, around Keele University campus. These type of races are not about technically challenging orienteering but about fast decision making, not about route choice but about not getting it wrong. Having got into the A final by the skin of my teeth my race in the Final was all about poor decisions and getting it all wrong!
Other SYO members got it right. Euan Tryner became M10 Sprint Champion and Jenny Peel W45 Champion. Lucy Wiegand came 2nd behind Jenny and Dave Peel was 2nd in M40 and Peter Gorvett 2nd in M65. Alex Rothman was third in M35 and Pippa Dakin 3rd in W16.
The Middle race took place at Brereton Spurs on Cannock Chase in glorious sunshine. I started early and found the bracken in the south of the area a bit of a handicap but other SYO members rose to the challenge. Euan Tryner and Jenny Peel repeated their successes and became Middle Distance champions as did Andrew Preston (M35) and Bll Edwards (M45). Lucy Wiegand repeated her result from the Sprint race and came 2nd in W45 and Brian Shaw had a good run to come 2nd in M70. Michael Adams came 3rd in M18 and Aidan Smith also came 3rd in M20 and Jenny Johnson 3rd in W35.
Perhaps the best non-podium run of the day was that of Ian Cooper who managed to beat Peter Gorvett and come 4th in M65.
Situations Filled and Vacant
Martin Ward has stepped down as Equipment Officer and John Franklin has taken over the position. Thank you to Martin for all his work as Equipment Officer over the last few years and best wishes to John.
Steph Young has resigned as Membership Secretary and we would like someone to take over the role - a temporary position to take us through to the AGM would be one scenario but a permanent replacement would be better. Please contact Colin Best (
European Youth Championships
SYO's Pippa Dakin was one of the stars of the Great Britain team at the European Youth Championships in Macedonia last week. Her 15th place in the W16 Sprint event was the best performance of the British team at the Sprint, and in the technical and tough Long event she very nearly went even better as she was in the top 10 until a mistake with just two controls to go dropped her back to 37th. Pippa ran a very solid 1st leg in the relay - leading for the first 3 controls and inspired the rest of her W16 team to get on the podium in 6th place.
Hear Pippa being interviewed after the races by GB Coach Jackie Newton Post Sprint Interview Post Relay Interview
Pippa had the 4th fastest time on leg 3 - which way would you go?
Pippa started orienteering just a few years ago and has benefited from the excellent support of SYO members who have put on the local events and training sessions which have been key to her success.
This weekend the older juniors including our own Aidan Smith will be training in Sheffield ahead of the Junior World Championships in Bulgaria later this months, and local Student and SYO coach Kris Jones will be competing in the World Championships Sprint in Venice. Check out the British Orienteering web site if you want to follow their progress.
Burbage Woods session
The woods in the Burbage Valley are being felled this autumn, just as they have become mature enough to run through.
Given late notice this had to be a low key event – I didn’t have long to plan it. Nonetheless, despite being a little more effort, it seemed as if some form of loops race was likely to suit the layout of the area best, and I also feel it would be nice to get the chance to do more head to head racing.
The courses were drafted on Sunday but during a trip round the woods on Monday I realised I had to move a lot of controls and change quite a number of legs – there is a lot more windblown now than three years ago and the vegetation shown on the map is now redundant. Although tough it is still a good area, particularly if you know there is always a route through the fallen trees somewhere.
Great to have 12 or so people in the mass start, one or two of a decent pedigree. Indeed old man Adams, strictly against the advice of his physio, came through in the lead on the first loop trailed by Jo Taunton of NOC. On the parallel loop Alex Rothman was leading chased by Mikey Adams and Rachael Rothman but Alex and Mikey had lost a little time early on. Next to appear from the woods was a slightly confuddled Nick Lightfoot who had been mixing legs from each of the two courses, and a rather more composed Jenny Peel. Colin Smith went through at some point but I forgot to record it, then Kim Baxter who had lost time and Louise Adams, Neil Sprot and Peter Guillame.
As the “gaffle unwound” the order changed a little – Mikey Adams stormed through passing his Dad on the opposite loop to take the win Joe Taunton was second, putting on a late burst to retain his credibility against the terminally injured M50, with Alex Rothman also pipping Charlie for 3rd. After a gap Rachel Elder appeared to win the Women’s race comfortably and then Colin Smith and Kim Baxter who had caught up some time.”
Shame no-one attempted the 9km variant but it did mean that, thanks to some swift control collecting by Joe, Colin and Kim, we were able to escape the midges before they had entirely eaten through my ankles.
Many thanks to everyone for coming and apologies for the logistical SNAFUS - thanks to Wendy for the pen and Peter Guillame for the midge repellent. A certain air of confusion really is Situation Normal whenever I organise something.
Richard Baxter
Times now they are finally downloaded...
1 Loop 1 Peter Tryner SYO M40 27:35 2 Nicholas Lightfoot SYO M50 31:28 3 Peter Gorvett SYO M65 43:06 4 Peter Guillaume SYO M65 43:22 5 Neil Sprot SYO M60 44:18 6 Brian Shaw SYO M70 45:47 7 Pauline Tryner SYO W40 52:42 8 Henry Marston SYO M65 60:55 2 Loops 1 Michael Adams SYO M18 51:14 2 Joe Taunton NOC M21 52:00 3 Alex Rothman SYO M35 52:39 4 Rachael Rothman SYO W21 57:59 5 Mark Chapman SYO M45 63:09 6 Colin Smith SYO M45 63:22 7 Sheila Sprot SYO W60 63:29 8 Kim Baxter SYO W35 63:55 9 Louise Adams SYO W16 63:56 10 Dominic Dakin SYO M14 69:24 11 Tim Wiegand SYO M45 81:05 ?? Wendy Billing SYO W50 ???:??