Day 4 Assembly

More than 70 members of SYO travelled to Deeside for the biannual Scottish 6 Days orienteering competition. Over 3500 competitors took part in the competition from little tots on the string course to those in their 80s. There was a large foreign contingent with people travelling from as far a field as Austraila, New Zealand, America and South Africa to take part. 

View from a control on day 4

The organisation was superb with the assembly areas based in stunning surroundings. The terrain and courses were very physically and technically demanding, providing an excellent challenge. The weather also played it's part in helping to create a great week with only the odd shower here and there, allowing plenty of opportunity for socialising with club members and orienteering friends from far and wide. SYO held an afternoon tea social after day 4; the demanding courses providing plenty of excuse to gorge on cake.

SYO Social

Prizes are awarded at the end of the 6 days of competition, with a competitor's best 4 scores counting. SYO had a very successful week with a number of members on the podium amongst very stiff competition. Congratulations to Nick Barrable 1st M40L, Peter Gorvett 1st M70L, Freya Tryner 1st W10A, Pippa Dakin 1st W20L, Jenny Peel 1st W45L and Lucy Wiegand 2nd W45L. We also had a number of almost podium places with Oli Johnson (M21E), Charlie Adams (M50L) and Andy Preston (M40L) all finishing in 4th place.

 Lucy, Freya & Peter celebrating their podium places.

It is with a sad heart but with joyous memories that I am letting SYO members know that Doreen Best passed away on 7th August in Weston Park Hospital after a brave, brave battle against cancer that had lasted many years.

Many of you will not know Doreen because many of you are relatively new to the club and Doreen's illness forced her to retire from the sport well over a year ago – the last event she ran in was the 2016 JK sprint around Leeds Uni. She was not a particularly keen competitor - she was more likely to come back from her course and tell me about the flowers she had stopped to look at on the way or about the birds she had seen rather than how quickly she had got to a control - but she was an active volunteer. Before her illness took hold she served on the SYO committee and was editor of the club’s newsletter, contributing with her comical doggerel poems and handdrawn front covers. You would have seen her helping at most SYO events, usually on Registration. When I was listed as the organizer at an event you can be sure that it was Doreen's organisational strength that was behind it and it was she who enabled me to appear efficient.

She was indeed my bedrock and I could not possibly have made the contribution to the sport and to the club that I did without her support and encouragement.

Her funeral service will be held at Hutcliffe Wood Crematorium on Tuesday 22^nd August at 12.30pm. There will be refreshments following the service at a venue to be confirmed. If you are able to attend please let me know. Please don’t feel the need to wear black if you do.

Her wishes were for no flowers but donations in lieu may be made to Weston Park Cancer Charity.

Colin Best

Last weekend the junior section of the club travelled en-masse to Northumberland - one of the most Northerly orienteering areas in England – to compete in the Yvette Baker Trophy competition.

Due to the long drive, most of the team travelled up to Druridge Bay on the Saturday, stopping off at the training event for some pre-event practice on the sand dunes. Post run the team decamped to the beach for football, paddling and dune jumping whilst the adults relaxed in the sunshine. Next stop was the Alnwick youth hostel where we enjoyed an early dinner, before Jacky gave an inspiring team talk. The team meeting was followed by cake, hot chocolate and nail painting in the team colours!

Sunday morning saw those that had stayed at the youth hostel head to Druridge Bay to meet up with the rest of the 32 strong team. It was a relaxed start for the juniors so they had plenty of time to socialise and apply face paint while the adults tested the courses. Those adults that made it out were rewarded with stunning views of the coastline, sparkling in the sunshine and surprisingly challenging courses in the small strip of dunes. Soon it was the turn of the juniors to race. Spectators had a great view of the competitors racing round the bottom of the lake to their penultimate controls and there was lots of cheering for the juniors as they ran into the finish.

Analysis of the results revealed lots of top 3 positions so expectations were high for a good result. In lieu of any official results, Dom got his pencil and paper out calculating a victory for SYO! Finally official confirmation arrived in the form of the prize giving where SYO were presented with the Yvette Baker Trophy for the first time in the club’s history!

Well done to all the juniors who ran – every result makes a difference by reducing the scores of other clubs and the large supportive team helps spur everyone on to achieving great results. However, particular congratulations must go to those whose scores counted in SYO’s overall result:

Henry McDonald – yellow boys - 100

Freya Tryner – yellow girls – 100

Robbie Lightfoot – yellow boys – 99

Olmo Combley – yellow boys - 98

Imogen Pieters – orange girls - 100

Max Mobus – orange boys – 99 (missing the win by 3 seconds!)

Jamie Lightfoot – orange boys – 98

Euan Tryner – light green boys – 99 (missing the win by 2 seconds!)

Alex Elliott – light green girls – 98

Dom Dakin – green boys - 98

A special mention must also go to Sam Doyle who won the yellow but was then deemed non-competitive because he was too old – a recent rule change that we hadn’t picked up on.

Thanks to Jacky for organising such a fantastic trip and for all the parents who acted as chauffeurs and cheerleaders – we couldn’t have done it without you. Next year’s final will be held on Sunday 1^st July in the West Midlands. Please put the date in your diary now as we will need a super strong team to defend our title.