After 5 hours of minibus madness, music and MacDonald’s we arrived at the home of Winnie The Pooh for a quick stretch of the legs in the ‘Enchanted Forest’ before heading across to Michael Hall School the venue for this year’s Peter Palmer Relays.  The evening consisted of volleyball, basketball, burgers, a quick look at the arena, a football match against Cumbria and Sweden, and then a few hours’ trying to sleep on the gym floor before the 5.00am start of the race.

West Cumberland were the pre-race favourites having won for the last 3 years and despite losing all but one of last year’s team they still had strength throughout including three W18s on the Yellow course!  Octavian Droobers also had an experienced team as did local club Southdown Orienteers and this year two Swedish clubs sent strong teams as part of an exchange with their Tio Mila relay.  With lots of keen youngsters, SYO opted to spread experience more widely managing to field three teams in the main 6 person overnight race and 2 teams in the DayBreak relay. 

The Killer Bees had the slower of the two gaffles on the first leg and lost touch with the pack in the bracken filled forest section coming home 9 minutes down in 10^th place but ahead of the Swedish team OK Linne. Dom ran an excellent race to bring the team back into contention in 3^rd place but still 10 minutes down on West Cumberland and Southdown who suspiciously had been given the same gaffle throughout! The last leg proved decisive for West Cumberland pulling away to take the win while Southdown just managed to hold on to 2^nd place in a sprint finish with OK Linne. The Killer Bees slipped back behind the Swedes but with strong runs from Freya, Anna and Euan managed to hold on to 4^th overall and crucially 1st place in the Joan George handicap class for the 4^th year in a row! 

Matthew coped brilliantly with the challenge of the first leg bringing the Bumble Bees back in 11^th place and Sam T, Oscar and Jamie all picked up places to bring the team back in 5^th place and 2^nd in the Joan George class beating all the other second teams. The Wanna Bees finished a very creditable 10^th place out of 18 teams with Conrad and James having particularly good runs. In the DayBreak Relay the Bees Knees and Worker Bees teams battled it out in the middle of the pack until the last leg when Robbie put in the 2nd fastest time to move from 6^th to 3^rd place and sneak a podium position. 

Saxons Orienteering Club delivered a great event including a proper DJ with dry ice, and a magnificent setting bathed in early morning sunshine with medals, trophies and chocolate on board we piled into the minibuses for the long but not quite as loud trip home to Sheffield.

Many thanks to Jacky for managing the teams, Nick for commentating and writing the race report above and Jacky, Dave, Nick and Rob for driving the mini-buses. Next year’s Peter Palmer Junior Relays take place during the weekend 12 - 13 September in the Lake District on WCOC home terrain! 

The SYO Saturday Series is designed to introduce newcomers of all ages to the sport of orienteering. There are courses to suit all abilities and anyone can come along - just turn up between 12.20 and 3pm and have a go. The series also incorporates the Sheffield Federation of School Sports schools' league. There are 9 league events over the year followed by a fun event and prize giving. The league is open to Y3 and above and there is even now an adults' league; won this year by SYO's Paul Norman!

The new series kicks off on Saturday 21st September at Endcliffe Park. More details here.The other dates are:

Sat 5th Oct - EIS, Olympic Legacy Park
Sat 23rd Nov - Shirebrook Valley
Sat 11th Jan - Whirlowbrook Hall
Sat 8th Feb - Botanical Gardens
Sat 14th Mar - Norfolk Park
Sat 18th Apr - Parkwood Springs
Sat 16th May - Millhouses Park
Sat 6th June - Graves Park
Sat 11th July - Prize giving

We have hundreds of printed flyers if you would like some to give out at a community group or your child's school or you can download a copy here.

The series culminates with a fun event and prize giving. Prizes are awarded to 1st 3 in each age class and there are also team prizes and school prizes. We even reward attendance with a prize for those who attend all 9 events. We celebrated the end of the 2018/19 league with a score event and prize giving at Millhouses Park at the end of July. Well done to all the prize winners - the overall winners are listed below, full list of results here. Thanks to Richard Baxter for the photos.

Primary School - Nether Green
Secondary School - High Storrs

G4 Team - Dobcroft
B4 Team - Nether Green
G5 Team - Hunters Bar
B5 Team - Nether Green
G6 Team - Dobcroft
B6 Team - Hunters Bar
G7 Team - High Storrs
B7 Team - High Storrs
G8/9 Team - Tapton
B8/9 Team - High Storrs
G10/11 Team - High Storrs
B10/11 Team - Penistone

G4 - Imogen, Ecclesall
B4 - Lawrence, High Storrs
G5 - Ella, Hunters Bar
B5 - Oli, Nether Green
G6 - Anna, Dobcroft
B6 - Robbie, Nether Green
G7 - Freya, High Storrs
B7- James, High Storrs
G8 - Imogen, High School
B8 - Conrad, High Storrs
G9 - Carys, Notre Dame
B9 - Euan, High Storrs
G10 - Naomi, Home Schooled
B10 - Max, Tapton
G11 - Alex, High Storrs
G12 - Isabelle, Notre Dame