News
News
SYO record breaking medal haul
A huge contingent of SYO members travelled across the Pennines to compete in the British Sprint Champs and brought home a record beating array of medals and trophies!
The weekend of racing kicked off with the Mixed Sprint Relays in Skelmersdale. The post-war social housing provided tricky technical urban orienteering, which really kept runners on their toes but there was also plenty of opportunity to stretch the legs out in the fast parkland sections. Assembly was based in a huge amphitheatre, which provided excellent spectating views and the superb commentary added to the excellent race atmosphere. Even the rain showers were not as bad as forecasted!
SYO took their maiden mixed sprint Elite title with excellent performances by Kim, Euan, Jonny and Laura. In the U12 relay it was a clean sweep for SYO with SYO bumble bees in first (Pasco, Ella and Charlotte), SYO mini bees in 2nd (Hannah, Louis & Freddie) and SYO Beetles (Oskar, Sophie & Jack) in 3rd. In the U16 class SYO Bee Awesome (Jamie, Immy & Conrad) took gold, while SYO Bee Good (James, Freya & Olmo) took silver. It was silver in the vets class for SYO Beehave (Richard, Amanda & Martin) and also in the super vets for SYO Bee Keenie (Tim, Robyn & Mark).
Sunday saw the turn of the individual sprint champs. Courses for the heats and finals were in more of Skelmersdale’s the intricate housing estates, which made an interesting change to the normal university campus terrain. Racing was fast & furious and mistakes costly. The SYO contingent performed superbly for the second day in a row taking 8 golds, 9 silvers and 6 bronzes! Congratulations to:
Men’s Open – gold Jonny
M10 – gold Jack, silver Louis
M12 – bronze Freddie
M14 – silver James
M18 – gold Euan, silver Max
M20 – bronze Dom
M50 – gold Martin
M60 – gold Tim
M70 – silver Paul J, bronze Peter G
Women’s Open – bronze Laura
W10 – gold Hannah, silver Sophie
W12 – gold Charlotte, silver Ella
W14 – silver Freya, bronze Anna
W16 – gold Immy
W45 – silver Kim, bronze Louise R
W50 – silver Amanda
Huge thanks to DEE and MDOC for putting on a superb weekend of orienteering.
SYO victorious at the YBT Final
On Sunday 4th July our junior team travelled to the National Arboreteum to compete in the final of the Yvette Baker Trophy. This was a fabulous venue with surprisingly tricky terrain and lots to do for all the family. Despite many of our older more experienced juniors being unavailable due to Covid isolation or competing at the Saunders, our young team (our oldest counter is only 12!) ran fantastically and managed to retain the trophy for the 4th year in a row! All the juniors who competed deserve our congratulations as every score helps but a particular well done to our 9 counters:
Ella Orange Girls 100
Anna Light Green Girls 100
Hannah Yellow Girls 100
Sophie Yellow Girls 99
Pasco Yellow Boys 99
Charlotte Orange Girls 99
Maxwell Orange Boys 99
Beth Orange Girls 98
Oskar Yellow Boys 95
Huge thanks to team captain Jacky for co-ordinating the team. Next year's final is at Irchester Country Park, near Wellingborough on Sunday 3rd July 2022 - save the date!
Junior Tour Selections
International Call-ups for SYO
Well done to SYO's Cat Taylor who has been selected for the World Orienteering Champs team in the middle distance and forest relay disciplines. Well done also to Jonny Crickmore who has been selected as reserve for the sprint. WOC will hopefully take place early July in the Czech Republic
Congratulations also to our juniors. Euan Tryner has been selected for Junior World Orienteering Championships due to be held in Turkey in September and the European Youth Orienteering Championships scheduled for Lithania in August. Imogen Pieters has also been selected for EYOC.
Success in the Sun for SYO
122 club members travelled north to the Lake District at the weekend to compete in the biggest UK orienteering event for almost 2 years.
The weekend began in Keswick on Friday evening for our older juniors with junior selection sprint races for the M/W16s -20s. Keswick was heaving with traffic and people, providing the ultimate urban challenge with tricky courses traversing the town centre. Early starters had it particularly tough as it was exceptionally busy early on. Immy ran well to take 2nd place on W16 and on a very competitive M16 course Conrad & Dylan had good runs taking 7th & 8th place respectively.
Saturday dawned warm and sunny and the action switched to Summerhouse Knott in the Southern Lakes for the British Middle Champs. Courses were very technically challenging and even the very best made mistakes, which makes SYO’s tally of 6 British Champions even more impressive. In the youngest junior classes Louis and Hannah topped M and W10 in their first major championship races and Alice had her first big success winning W12. Immy had a great run to win W16 and it was a double win for the Peel adults with Dave taking the win on M55 and Jenny on W50. There was a host of silver middles too for Maxwell (M12), James (M14), Euan (M18), Pete T (M45), Peter G (M70), Sophie (W10), Ella (W12), Freya (W14), Laura (W35), Kim (W45) and Lucy (W50) and also a clutch of bronzes for Stanley (M10), Beth (W12) and Anna (W14)! Fabulous to see so many of our juniors taking medals in their first major competition.
Sunday saw the turn of the Northern Championships on High Dam – a fabulously physical and technical challenging area. Courses were long and tough and many of us were out for a very long time, with the heat making it even more difficult! Yet again SYO produced a number of super performances with 8 course wins - Maxwell (M12), Euan (M18 Elite), Pete T (M45), Peter G (M70), Hannah (W10), Charlotte (W12), Kim (W45), Jenny P (W50); 8 2nd places – Louis (M10), James (M14), Oli (M21 E), Alice (W12), Freya (W14), Immy (W16), Laura (W35) and Lucy (W50) and 2 3rds – Stanley (M10) and Ella (3rd).
Northern Champs trophies are awarded to the 1st placed competitor in a Northern English club. SYO were by far the most successful club with a whopping 17 Northern Champions! Particularly impressive is the almost clean sweep in the junior classes with Louis, Maxwell, James , Conrad and Euan taking M10 to M18 and Hannah, Charlotte, Freya and Imogen taking W10 to W16! In the male senior classes Andy P (M40), Pete T (M45), Martin (M50) and Peter G (M70) were all crowned Northern Champions and Oli impressively took M21 E despite being a M40! In the senior female classes Laura (W35), Kim (W45) and Jenny P (W50) all took Northern Champion kudos.
For some of our members this was their first time competing in really challenging Lakes terrain and everyone should be very proud of themselves for finishing on High Dam, particularly those juniors who were out for over 2 hours but kept going and showed excellent determination to complete the course – well done!
A huge thank you to WCOC, LOC and MDOC for putting on an excellent weekend of orienteering.