Published 13th August 2024

The World Masters Orienteering Championships took place in Turku in Finland last week. The world masters competition is for those aged over 35. The oldest competitor was a Finnish W97! The competition comprises of a sprint qualifer, sprint final, middle qualifer and middle final. If you have a bad run in the middle final you get demoted for the long race, although the upside is that a good run results in promotion!

A handful of SYO members competed. Particular congratulations go to Peter Gorvett, who won gold in the sprint in the M75 age class. This is an amazing achievement on a challenging and super competitive course.
Other notable performances were by Nick Barrable, who was 8th in the sprint on M50 and Charlie Adams for 8th position in the middle on M60. Well done to both.

Published 8th August 2024

During the last week of July many of our members took part in holiday orienteering competitions. A large contingent travelled to South Wales to compete in the Croeso 6 day. Events took place on open fells with very varied weather conditions throughout the week. The best 4 results of 6 count towards the final scores. Well done to all those that completed a tough 6 days of competition but particular congratulations to our 14 medallists:

W12 – 2^nd Jemma

W14 – 1^st Lucy, 2^nd Sophie
W16 – 1^st Ella, 2^nd Alice

M12 – 1^st Jack W, 3^rd Nedd
M14 – 1^st Maxwell, 3^rd Louis
M16 – 2^nd Caspar, 3^rd Lawrence
M35 – 2^nd Joe
M50 – 1^st Nick B
M75 – 1^st Peter G

While many were battling the Welsh hillsides, another large contingent were competing out at the Oringen 5 day in Sweden. This is a huge competition with almost 18,000 entrants! Orienteering took place in very technical forests and most classes had over 200 competitors. Everyday counts towards your final position so a mispunch or major error is heavily penalised. Noteworthy performances were Rachael 13^th on D40, Jenny P 28^th on D55, Dave P 32^nd on H55, Pete 35^th on H50 and Freya 5^th on D18. However standout performance of the week was Euan finishing 10^th in H20E against a top class international field.

Published 11th July 2024

Congratulations to our fabulous junior team, who retained the Yvette Baker Trophy on Sunday 7th July in a tight fought competition. Our 37 strong team battled torrential rain to win the trophy for the 7th time in a row. Well done to everyone who ran, particularly our scorers:

Ella, Anna - green girls

Maxwell, Will - green boys

Hannah - light green girls

Rafferty - light green boys

Florrie, Beau - orange girls

Eliza-Blue - yellow girls

Thank you to Happy Herts for a fantastic event.

Published 9th July 2024

There was a fabulous turnout to the 2023 /24 Saturday Series finale at Forge Dam. Well done to all those that gave the score courses a go and a huge thank you to our merry band of volunteers. Particular thanks to Will Preston, aged just 14, who planned his first event and dad Andy, who controlled. The orienteering was followed by the prize-giving for the SFSS Schools’ League and the SYO adults’ league. GB orienteer Chloe Potter was on hand to present the prizes. The primary school category was won by Hunters Bar, closely followed by Westways in 2^nd and Nethergreen in 3^rd. In the secondary school category, High Storrs lifted the trophy with 2^nd place going to Mercia and Tapton in 3^rd.

Medals were presented to the top 3 in each age class and certificates were given to all those that did 5 or more events. Congratulations to:

G4 1^st Eliza-Blue, 2^nd = Liberty, 2^nd = Phoebe
B4 1^st Fred, 2^nd Mattie, 3^rd Vincent
G5 1^st Esther F, 2^nd Esther I, 3^rd Queenie
B5 1^st Joseph, 2^nd Edwin, 3^rd = Daniel 3^rd = Reuben
G6 1^st Lucy, 2^nd Emily, 3^rd Siri
B6 1^st Zac, 2^nd Alex 3^rd = Oscar, 3^rd = Adrian
G7 1^st Beau, 2^nd = Eliza, 2^nd = Esther
B7 1^st Jack, 2^nd Alex, 3^rd Edan
G8/9 1^st Lucy, 2^nd Abigail, 3^rd Sophie
B8/9 1^st Lawrence, 2^nd Jasper, 3^rd Freddie
G10/11 – 1^st Penny, 2^nd Ella, 3^rd Anna
B10/11 – 1^st Caspar, 2^nd Pasco, 3^rd Walter
G12/13 – 1^st Freya, 2^nd Lotte, 3^rd Ciara
B12/13 – 1^st Evan, 2^nd John, 3^rd Joseph

The winning year group teams won chocolates and we also recognised the dedication of those that attended all 9 events in the series with prizes! In the hotly contested adults’ league, Adrien Gallet took the honours in the male category, while Chloe Potter scooped the female prize. A huge thank you to everyone that came and supported the prize-giving and to the hundreds of volunteers that made this years’ Saturday Series so successful. The 2023/24 league kicks off in Endcliffe Park on 21^st September.