Members

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!

Junior selection races announced for 2019

All juniors M/W14+ have an opportunity to be selected for regional training camps and international competitions taking place in 2019. Do you fancy going to an orienteering camp next summer? Or perhaps you'd like to represent England at the next Junior Home International! The selection races have just been announced....

Juniors dominate Southern champs

Four Southdowners were crowned Southern Champions at the steep-sided event at the Devil's Punchbowl. Congratulations to the trio of Heap children Tommy (M14), Scarlet (W16) and Stan (M18) who were joined by Roger Maher (M80). Full results and analysis can be found at https://www.southernnavigators...

SO success at SE long distance champs

We had a very successful day at the South East Long Champs at Holmbury Hill on 11 Nov 2018.

Undulating woodland on the Surrey Hills (with the summer vegetation still prominent) made for enjoyable, if physical, courses. SO recipients were dominant at the prize giving with 23 medalists.

Ten more club members become first aiders

Ten of us attended training to either renew or gain our "Emergency first aid at work" certificate.

The training is provided by Steve Blount and he makes it an enjoyable experience by adding in many anecdotes. Training is available for any club member aged 16+ and the club pays for the training in order to increase coverage of first aid assistance at our events. Contact Steve Blount if you would like to take part in the next session.