Members

SO has three South East Night Champions

Congratulations to Anna Chapman (W45-50), Peter Chapman (M55-60) and Roger Maher (M80) who all became South East Night Champions at Wimbledon Common on Nov 19th, 2022.

Others also gained podium positions with Rob Lines (M55-60) getting a silver and Liam Marsh (M20-M40) getting a bronze.

Got the Orienteering bug?Try these other events over the next month

If you are a member of Southdowns Orienteers then you are also eligible to attend any other Orienteering events that are on.

During November many SO members will be running at the events which are run by other clubs in the South East and we would love to see you there.

We also run our Tuesday evening Club Night Activities which is another opportunity to get out to run and navigate in a fun atmosphere.

Read on for more info ...

Summer Adventures

After the Hawth event, we take a break for the Summer season and are back to it in September.

Many of our members will be heading off to different parts of the country to take part in multi-day Orienteering events, including Lake District, Yorkshire and Sweden, amongst others I'm sure.

In addition some of our juniors have been selected for tours and events in Stockholm and Gothenburg ... more on this in the next news article ...

Read more for information about each of these events.

JK Success in Wales over Easter

Well done to everyone who took part in the JK2022 - the annual international Festival of Orienteering - which always take place over the Easter weekend. We competed in very varied terrain from University to iron workings to mine workings to a military training site. Great competition, technical areas, social assembly areas and great weather made for a great weekend. Special congratulations to Mike Gammon M90 who became JK Champion, Emils, Tommy and Nick Jarvis who won the JK Men's Short Relay event and Ruth Rhodes W80 who became JK Sprint Champion. Take a look at the maps and routes here. More photos if you read on ...

Pat Maher takes M85 British Champion title by 20 seconds

Pat Maher took his first British Champion title at the British Long Champs at Golden Valley near Liphook on 26th March. He won it by only 20 seconds - close competition! Mike Gammon made it onto the podium in silver in M90, Heather High also raced to silver in W16A (missing the top spot by only 31s) and Amelia Bartlett running in W20 Elite won bronze in another well fought competition.

SO has five new Southern Champions

Congratulations to Emma Chapman (W10), Scarlet Heap (W18), Chris Hooker (M60), Di Turner (W70) and Roger Maher (M80) who have now become Champions of the South of England. They all took part in the Southern Long Distance Champs at South Ashdown on 12th Dec 2021.

Success at South East Sprint Champs 2021

A number of SO members travelled to Chatham Dockyard for an exciting sprint around the dry dock. The courses included whether to run over a ship or around it, under a submarine or around, through tunnels and even into a huge multi-storey lifeboat warehouse.

SO took home lots of medals!

Junior Home International 2019 Success

Congratulations to Ffion Jones, Stan Heap, Scarlet Heap and Tommy Heap who were selected to compete at the Junior Home Internationals in Northern Ireland this weekend. Great results for Tommy Heap winning the M14 Individuals and Scarlet Heap winning the W16 Relay leg, with solid performances from both Stan and Ffion for their teams.

England SelectionsCONGRATULATIONS!

Huge congratulations to the trio of Heap juniors, Tommy M14, Scarlet W16 and Stan M18 on their selection to the England team. A fantastic achievement!

They will be competing at the Junior Home Internationals in Northern Ireland on October 12th and 13th. The full team can be viewed here.

Ralph Phillips appointed as new Club Chair

Great news - Ralph Phillips has agreed to stand as Club Chair and was voted in at the committee meeting on Friday. Ralph can generally be found in the SI tent at events or can be contacted by email. Club committee meetings take place every month, so if you've got something that needs discussing, please contact Ralph.

New club secretary and social secretary appointed at AGM

Welcome to our new club secretary, Liam Marsh and social secretary, Jane Lambert. They were appointed at the AGM on 1st June and will join the large team who help to keep our club active and vibrant. Please contact them via the contact page if you have any good ideas.

Annual Prize Giving

This year the senior performance shields went to Ali High and Roger Maher for their performance in major competitions over the last 12 months. The girls performance certificates and vouchers were awarded to Scarlet Heap in 1st, Ffion Jones in 2nd and Heather High in 3rd. The boys performance certificates and vouchers went to Tommy Heap in 1st, Stan Heap in 2nd and Ben Chapman in 3rd.

Medals at the British Champs in South Yorkshire

Roger Maher M80 does the double and becomes British Champion and JK Champion. Roger is going as strong as ever and combined fast running with careful navigation across the Yorkshire Dales to bring home another victory.

Other notable successes over the weekend were Tommy Heap M14 who gained a bronze medal in the long distance and our two relay teams; Men's Short team (Sam Leitch, Stan Heap, Will Heap) and Junior Ad Hoc team (Tommy Heap, Ben Chapman, Ffion Jones) who gained silver medals.

Congratulations to Lucy and Matt

On Sunday 28th April life-long Southdowns member Lucy Jepson, daughter of Chris Jepson married Matt Carrington at Colgate Church.

Lucy has been Orienteering since birth and introduced Matt to Orienteering when they met. She has been teaching Matt some techniques but we think he may have a way to go to catch Lucy! Congratulations Lucy and Matt. We look forward to seeing you in a forest soon!

England Selections

Congratulations to Scarlet Heap W16,Tommy Heap M14 and Jonny Crickmore M21 on their recent selection to represent England at the Interland competition being held in France in March. A huge well done!