SO have four new Southern Night Champions

Competing at the Oldhouse Warren SOG earlier in the day proved to be good practice for the Southern Night Championships hosted by the British Army in terrain consisting of army barracks, firing ranges and bracken-infested woodland. Congratulations to James Yule (M20), Neil Crickmore (M60), Ruth Rhodes (W80) and Roger Maher (M80) who were all victorious and came away with a range of trophies.

Autumn Club Nights 2023

Autumn club nights return on Tuesday September 26th. Many thanks to Euan Marsh for once again taking the lead on these.

We will meet as a group at 6:30pm each Tuesday although we hope to make many of the activities available online to attempt at your leisure. Courses will be saved in the Club Night folder on MapRun (UK/Sussex).

Please sign up using the Strawpoll and indicate (when appropriate) whether you would like a map provided (cost £1) or are happy to print off your own.

SO have five new Southern Champions

This year's Southern Championship took place at the November Classic in the New Forest on 5th Nov. This is a popular event for Southdowners and is always well attended.

Emma Chapman W12, Ben Chapman M14, Will Heap M50, Julia Jarvis W55 and Alan Velecky M55 all tackled the long courses over fast but pretty wet terrain and beat off stiff competition to become Southern Champions. They were each awarded a trophy, as well as a coveted Southern Championships Beanie Hat:

In addition the following members made the podium and got a beanie hat.

2nd M21E Nick Jarvis (he was 2nd by 1 second), 3rd W10A Harriet Nichols, 3rd W12A Emily Waters, 3rd M18E Tommy Heap, 3rd W80 Ruth Rhodes

We encourage participants to carry a mobile phone

A learning point from October's coaching conference was how many orienteers were not aware that carrying a mobile phone for use in emergencies is permitted (and has been since at least 2016!).

As a club we definitely encourage participants to carry a phone and also suggest that you might like to do the following:

• Set up the ICE number and emergency details if your phone allows this.
• Add the club mobile number 07526-792817 (on at every event and located with the SI team at download)

Competitors are not permitted to use mobile phones to assist with navigation. They are permitted to be used to call for assistance in the event of an emergency.

SOG Planners & Sunny Sussex Officials Needed

Planners are required for the Spring 2024 SOG series events at Abbots Wood, Great Walstead and Friston Forest.

If you have planned before or would like to have a go for the first time, please speak to/email any of the club committee members listed on the contacts page. An event advisor will be available to support you through out the planning process and on the day of the event.

We also need a Planner and Organiser for the Sunny Sussex evening event at Chichester University / Oaklands Park and an Organiser for the Sunny Sussex Level B event at Houghton. All of the Sunny Sussex events are coordinated by Anna Chapman who can guide you through the roles.

​Peter Palmer Junior Team Relays 2023

One of the premier junior relay events of 2023 took place at Stowe Park, Buckinghamshire, in the early hours of Sunday 10 September. SO had a full team (hooray!) with a mix of very experienced and novice relay runners.

The SO team arrived in small groups at the event base in the early evening of the day before. Part of the tradition of the event is that all teams prepare for the early morning start by taking over a large hall and sleeping on the floor. Some of the other club teams participated in a football tournament, though our SO team (quite sensibly) preferred to minimise the chance of injury and save their energies for the running during the main event.

Virtual Orienteering

During Covid times many clubs, including SO, set up a number of so-called virtual courses which club members could do on their own using the MapRun app. Instead of finding control flags participants used the GPS facilites of a smartphone or smartwatch to confirm that they had reached the desired locations. The courses that we set up are still available to use and links to them are listed below. In some cases the course may have expired - if you come across any of these please contact the club captain who can reset them.