Published 28th March 2023

This weekend a large contingent of SYO travelled south to compete in the British championships. The long distance champs were held at Cold Ash on Saturday 25^th March. Courses were long and surprisingly technical, particularly for the younger juniors.

SYO took 4 individual titles – congratulations to Hannah Chapman (W12), Ella Baxter (W14), Imogen Pieters (W18E) and Laura Goy (W40). There were silver medals for Lucy Holt (W10), Charlotte Chapman (W14), Freya Tryner (W16), Kim Baxter (W45), Jenny Peel (W55), Jack Walwyn (M12) and Lawrence Hodgson (M14), while Eliza-Blue Elliott (W10), Anna Todd (W16), Lucy Wiegand (W55), Will Preston (M14), Euan Tryner (M20E) and Martin Ward (M55) all scooped a bronze medal. A special mention to Martha Preston who won W10B and Tim Holt and Susan Guy who took the honours in M and W45S respectively.

On Sunday the excitement switched to Hambleden for the British Relay Championships. SYO had 26 competitive teams taking part – a great achievement! We lifted the trophy in 4 classes: well done to our W40 team (Jenny J, Louise R and Lucy W), our M14 team (Pasco, Will and Maxwell) our W14 team (Ella, Alice and Charlotte) and our mini relayers (Louis, Stanley & Hannah). Well done to our men’s and women’s premier teams who both achieved podium places – silver for the women (Chloe, Kim and Imogen) and bronze for the men (Euan, Oli and Jonny). Four other teams picked up silver medals – M40 (Andy, Pete T & Nick B), M50 (Martin, Charlie & Dave P), W18 (Freya, Ciara and Anna) and W14 (Sophie, Lucy and Abigail); while two others collected bronze – W50 (Amanda, Jenny L & Jenny P) and M14 (Freddie, Oskar & Nathan). Congratulations to everyone who competed – a fabulous team effort!

Published 13th March 2023

SYO's defence of the Compass Sport Cup got off to a great start on Sunday at the Park Hall heat. Despite the small number limit imposed on the team, we outclassed ourselves to take the win with 2475 points. HOC who finished 2^nd on 2366 also qualify, while WRE qualify for the small clubs final. Well done to the 50 members who competed - it was a great team effort.

Congratulations to our 11 course winners – Andy, Chloe, Charlie, Peter G, Robbie, Anna, Will, Kim, Steve, Ella & Brian – and our other counters: Oli, Euan, Pete T, Immy, Lucy, Freya, Amanda, Robyn, Pauline, Paul B, Janet, Ciara, Oskar and Alice.

Thank you to POTOC for putting on a very well organised event. The final will be held a month later than normal on 12^th November at New Beechenhurst in the Forest of Dean. Please save the date!

Published 8th March 2023

The 2023 Interland Match was hosted on 5^th March in Belgium. England competes annually in this pentangular match against the French, the two Belgian teams and the Netherlands.

The England team departed the UK on Friday morning and travelled via coach and ferry to Belgium. On Saturday the team had time for some sightseeing and a training event before arriving at Dommelhof Sports and Arts Centre, east of Antwerp.  The Interland race was staged in the Kattenbos forest. The terrain was typically Flemish with challenging sand dune orienteering interspersed with fast flat forest and lots of paths.

Twelve members of SYO formed part of the 48 strong team. Charlotte Chapman (W14), Freya Tryner (W16), Imogen Pieters (W20) and Euan Tryner (M20) all took 2^nd place in their age classes earning valuable points for team England. There were 4^th places for Lucy, Anna, Lawrence and James and 7^th places for Robbie & Nick B. A special mention to Alice, who would have finished 3^rd, if she hadn’t been the reserve and commiserations to Conrad who unfortunately mispunched.

The hosts, Orienteering Vlaanderen (the Flemish part of Belgium), won with England in 2^nd and France 3^rd. England won the Youth Cup for those competing in M/W20 and below.

A huge thank you must go to the adults from other clubs that drove the SYO juniors down to the coach and to Lucy Wiegand and Simon Hodgson, who drove them all back in the early hours of Sunday morning. Thank you also to John Rye and Barry Elkington for managing the team. The 2024 Interland Cup is to be hosted in the Ardennes in the south of Belgium (this time in the French speaking part) on 24th March.

Published 27th February 2023

On Sunday 26^th February almost 700 competitors from around the country descended on Burbage Moor for the Northern Championships. Despite a biting northerly wind, conditions stayed dry and at times we were even blessed with a few rays of sunshine. Courses were technically challenging, especially in the boulder field, and incredibly physically demanding with most participants having to do battle with the thigh deep heather at some point. A whopping 14 members were crowned Northern Champion. Congratulations to:

W10 – Lucy Holt
W12 – Hannah Chapman
M12 – Alex Johnson

W14 – Charlotte Chapman
M14 – Maxwell Groom
W16 – Freya Tryner
M16 – James Bryant
W18E – Imogen Pieters

W21E – Chloe Potter
M35 – Joe Taunton
W40 – Rachael Rothman

W45 – Kim Baxter
W60 – Janet Adams
W75 – Jill Gorvett

Well done also to our other podium finishers: Eliza-Blue (2^nd W10), Neva (3^rd W10), Zac (2^nd M10), Jack N(3^rd M10), Sophie (3^rd W12), Jack W (2^nd M12), Louis B (3^rd M12), Ella (2^nd W14), Lawrence (2^nd M14), Pasco (3^rd M14), Anna (3^rd W16), Oli (2^nd M21E), Chris (3^rd M35), Alex R (2^nd M40), Rosie (3^rd W40), Jenny J (3^rd W45), Jenny P (3^rd W55). A special mention also goes to some of our younger, newer juniors who had very successful runs on the junior B classes – M10B 1^st Ged, W10B 1^st Martha, M12B 1st Albert and W12B 1^st Eliza.

Finally a huge thank you to the event’s key officials for putting on a fantastic event – Steve Dempsey (organiser), Karl Marshall (planner), Anne-Marie Duckworth (controller, DVO), Peter Gorvett (assistant controller), Peter Tryner (SI and entries manager) and Ian Cooper (mapper). And last but not least thank you to the many club members who put in long cold helping shifts and without whom the event wouldn’t be possible.