Published 20th October 2022

What a win! It didn’t seem possible to beat FVO on home turf and retain the Compass Sport Cup but on Sunday the unbelievable came true with some truly epic racing by SYO at Tulliallan & Devilla.

Eighty SYO members made the long trip to Scotland last weekend with the aim of winning the CSC final. The SYO coach departed at the crack of dawn arriving in Stirling for Saturday’s warm up urban race. A chance to stretch out the legs post journey was very much appreciated after the long journey north, with James, Kim, Alice, Colin B, Martin, Nick B, Andy & Nathan all taking podium positions. This seemed a good omen for tomorrow’s main event and the team headed to the Stirling YHA for much needed re-fuelling, socialising & rest.

The coach departed early, arriving at Tulliallan in plenty of time for the first starters. Soon the first finishers were in reporting of tough terrain and tricky controls but their performances were good and SYO were notching up the points. Over the next few hours the lead changed several times and, as expected, it was a 2 horse race between us and FVO. It was a nail biting wait for the final scores to be calculated but eventually the results were declared……..SYO 2425, FVO 2419…….victory by the most slender of margins! FVO put up a tremendous fight but we performed exceptionally well. Our score of 2425 is a new points record – an amazing 28 points clear of our previous record set at Tankersley in 2021 – and illustrates just how well we ran as a club.

The 6 point winning margin could be attributed in part to our 9 class winners compared to FVO’s 3 – congratulations to Peter G, Robbie, Freya, Tim, Kim, Martin, Laura R, Brian and Nick B. It’s great to see the full spread of ages from 14 to 80 topping the results! Congratulations also to the other counters – Cat, Euan, Andy, Lawrence, Nick L, Alice, Charlotte, Anna, Oli, Aidan, Jonny, Pete T, Ciara, Jenny P, Charlie and Amanda; and a special mention to our juniors who dominated, particularly in the orange classes. But it’s not just down to the point scorers, it’s also a numbers game with the non-scorers pushing down the scores for other clubs. To get such a high number of participants in Scotland is very impressive – everyone who took part should be very proud – a truly fabulous team effort!

Of course the CSC final is not just about winning the cup, with huge kudos attached to clocking the fastest run in! FVO’s Jamie Goddard retained his golden boot from 2021 in an impressive 27 seconds but Euan put up a good fight to finish fastest of the SYO contingent in 4^th, with Olmo just 1 second behind. Louise Adams (formally SYO) was the fastest woman down the run in, clocking 33 seconds. Ciara was the fastest SYO female in 35 seconds, posting the same time as WOC sprint gold medalist Megan Carter-Davies.

A huge thank you to Jacky for masterminding the coach and accommodation, to Amanda for captaining us to victory and to FVO for putting on a fabulous event. Next year we’re off to the South West where the final will be organised by BOK on the 12^th November 2023 – a month later than its usual slot.

Published 11th October 2022

Published 10th October 2022

More than 50 Sheffield school pupils travelled to Shipley Country Park in Derbyshire on Saturday to compete in the British Schools Score Championships. It was a gorgeous day and the juniors ran brilliantly to scoop up an array of medals and trophies.  Congratulations to Hunters Bar Junior who won the primary boys competition and Ecclesall who finished 2nd. In the secondary competition, High Storrs won the Lower Secondary Boys competition with Tapton in 3rd while in the Upper Secondary Girls competition Silverdale took 2nd place with High Storrs in 3rd.

 

Published 8th October 2022

The 2022 Veteran Home International took place in Snowdonia last weekend. Eight members of SYO competed: Oli, Nick B, Charlie, Laura, Jenny J, Kim & Amanda represented England and Bronwen represented Wales.

The Individual event was on Saturday, in conjunction with the Welsh Championships, and was at Gwanas, SE of Dolgellau. This is an area of rough open hillside, mostly tussock with plenty of contour detail, crags and marshes, and some pasture fields at the end of the courses. The weather forecast had been poor, so cagoules were compulsory, but although it was windy, the rain held off during the event. Podium positions were achieved by Oli (1^st M40), Nick (3^rd M45), Laura (2^nd, W35) and Kim (1^st W45). England finished 5.5 points ahead of Scotland after the individual competition.

The Relays were at Llechweddgain, SE of Trawsfynydd, a little further north. This is another open moorland area, with similar terrain to the previous day. The weather was fine and mild, with blue skies and sunshine, though it clouded over later on. There are 2 classes in the relays: WMW (2 women plus 1 man), and MWM (2 men plus 1 woman). The aggregate of each team’s BOF ages must be 145 or greater. In the WMW relay Laura was part of the team that finished 2^nd, while in MWM Amanda & Oli were part of the winning team. England won the relays and the overall competition with a resounding lead of 33.5 points.