Published 22nd September 2023

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.

Published 18th September 2023

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!

Published 13th September 2023

The senior home internationals took place in South Wales last weekend. 4 SYO members represented their countries - Chloe Potter, Laura Robertson & Jonny Crickmore running for England and Joe Thomas for Wales. Laura and Jonny put in great performances on the individual day finishing 3rd and 4th respectively. Overnight England & Scotland were tied on points.

 

It was Chloe's turn to shine in the relays, bringing home England 6 in 1st place on leg 1. Jonny had another good day at the office, recording the fastest leg time & bringing England 2 in 2nd place, seconds behind Scotland 1.

 

 

Published 10th August 2023

Over 100 of our members travelled to the beautiful Moray coast to compete in the Scottish 6 days and enjoyed a glorious week orienteering on some of the best terrain the UK has to offer.

 

Four of the days were on the technically challenging sand dune areas of Culbin, Rose Isle and Lossie; the other day was on Darnaway – another great area but runnable beach forest rather than sand dunes. The astute amongst you, might have noticed that this was only 5 days – although traditionally a 6 day competition, this year it was only 5. Weather was mixed throughout the week so, whilst there were a few downpours, there were also days of glorious sunshine with plenty of opportunities for relaxing on the beach post-race. There was also lots of time for socialising with friends, family & club members, including a very well-attended SYO afternoon tea kindly hosted by the Wards & Peels at their holiday castle.