Over 100 members of the club travelled to Sherwood Pines near Mansfield to take part in the Compass Sport Cup Heat. Thankfully the day was mostly dry and sunny and, in contrast to last weekend, there was very little mud to be found anywhere. Conditions were quick and many members raced round their courses in very swift times. 

SYO won convincingly by 97 points over DVO. We had 7 course winners - Oli, Al, Kim, Tim T, Paul B, Dom and Freya - who scored the maximum 100 points. Our other scorers were Chris W, Charlie, Jenny P, Peter G, Euan, Jill, Pete T, Imogen, Martin, Jaimie B, Amanda, Alex C, Olmo, Isabelle H, Lucy, Jenny J, Alex R & Michael. (Ian and Colin S also scored 95 points the same as our last scorer). Well done to everyone who took part, even if you didn't score, as you all helped push down the score of other  clubs.

The final is on 20th October at Pippingford Park near Crowborough in the deep south! Please put the date in your diaries - we need as many members as possible to attend so we can hold off BOK and FVO to retain our trophy!

Related: view SYO's CompassSport Cup history.

The name “Spring in Sheffield” clearly sealed the fate of the weather last weekend – there was no way it was ever going to be anything other than grim! Future weekends will be called “Stormy Sheffield” or “Sheffield in the depths of Winter” and the weather will be glorious! However despite the rain, sleet, snow, hailstorms and mud SYO delivered two fantastic days of competition in two very different areas. The weekend also formed part of Sheffield City Council’s Festival of the Outdoors.

Saturday's Ponderosa urban orienteering race offered fast and furious orienteering through intricate areas of social housing and inner city parkland. The races, which attracted close to 500 entrants,  were part of the UK orienteering league and the Elite orienteering league. There were many positive comments on Colin’s tricky courses. The inclement conditions meant participants and helpers alike were very appreciative of Bill’s indoor event centre and the “SYO Junior Café” proved very popular.

The Elites were first out into the terrain with a challenging sprint race and then it was the turn of the juniors, veterans and non-elites. The men’s elite race was won by Will Gardener (OD), Dom was the highest placed SYO runner in 20^th place. The women’s elite race was won by Megan Carter-Davies (MWOC) with Mary the highest placed SYO female in 4^th place. In the other classes there were good results for Peter G winning the ultra vet class and Lucy taking 3^rd on women’s open. SYO showed the strength of their junior section with Euan winning the junior men’s race and Matthew taking 3^rd place. In the young Junior races it was a clean sweep for SYO with Robbie, James & Joseph taking 1^st, 2^nd & 3^rd in the young junior men and Freya, Anna & Charlotte finishing 1^st, 2^nd & 3^rd in the young junior girls.

Sunday saw the turn of the Northern Championships. The race, with close to 900 entrants, was again part of the UK and Elite orienteering leagues. We are sure everyone’s hearts sank as the sleet lashed down and they drove through the grotty industrial tracks to the swamp that constituted the assembly area. It was slightly unfortunate that the lovely tree-lined assembly had just been felled prior to the competition but, on the upside, at least the building of 800 houses had been delayed to the end of March! Fortunately helpers and participants made the best of the grim conditions and were surprisingly chipper as they went about their business.

Wharncliffe is incredibly physically and technically challenging and Oli and Jenny’s courses tested competitors to the limit. While the challenge of competing and volunteering affected many members’ results, there were still plenty of hardy SYOers that performed superby. Well done to the following:

W10A 1^st Charlotte, 2^nd Alice, 3^rd Ella
W10B 1^st Ellen
W12A 1^st Freya, 3^rd Anna
W14A 1^st Imogen
W16B – 1^st Hannah D
W18L – 1^st Isobel
W35L – 2^nd Rachael
W40S – 1^st Susan
W45S – 1^st Emily
W50L – 3^rd Janet
W70L – 3^rd Jill
M10A – 1^st Maxwell, 3^rd Lawrence
M12A – 1^st James, 3^rd Robbie
M12B – 1^st Ben A
M16A – 3^rd Euan
M16B – 1^st Alfie
M40L – 1^st Kim (not a mistake!)
M45L – 1^st Pete T
M50L – 1^st Dave P
M70L – 3^rd Peter G
M75L – 1^st Brian

A huge thank you to everyone who braving the horrendous conditions while helping over the weekend but particular thanks to Lucy, Bill, Oli, Jenny & Colin who fulfilled our major official roles. A big thank you also to the two controllers – Steve Kimberley and Andy Yeates.

Well done to 6 members of SYO who competed for England at the Interland competition in France on Sunday 10th March. The star performer was Ryan who won the M20 class. There were good results for the rest of the SYO contigent too. Well done to Nick B and Tim T who were 2nd in M40 & M50 respectively, Alex C who was 4th in W14 and Amanda who was 7th in W40. Jamie also took part as a travelling reserve.