News

British Championship Medals

Roger put in a sterling performance at the British Champs to win back his British Champion title, winning the M85 competition by over 12 minutes. Silver medals were won by Mike Gammon in the M90 class and Ruth Rhodes in the W80 class and bronze by Scarlet Heap in the W20 Elite course. Congratulations to them all.

A large team of Southdowners took part in the British Champs at Hambledon in March. We all had some really long courses, but enjoyed the challenge and the atmosphere at the event. Some of our youngest members also ran their first white course unaccompanied at a British Champs and put in an excellent performance.

Hairless Wonders

At the British Relay Championships at Hambledon SO won gold in the Men over 50s category. Congratulations to Will, Alan and Darrell for beating off stiff opposition - particularly from perennial winners SYO. The team name (So Little Hair) has been around for many years as it accurately described the scalps of the team members that used to include Kenny Leitch. Big kudos to Will who shaved his hair the night before to make sure that he lived up to the spirit of the name.

Interland 2023 - a junior's perspective

On 5th March three of our juniors (Ben, Tommy and Scarlet) travelled to Belgium as part of the England team for Interland 2023. England competes annually in this match against the French, the two Belgian teams: the Flemish OV and French speaking Fédération Régionale des Sports d’Orientation (FRSO), the Netherlands – Nederlandse Oriënteringsloop Bond (NOLB). This year as guests, a team for Luxembourg competed hors concours. The Interland race was staged in the Kattenbos forest by Lommel, 64km E of Antwerp. Typically Flemish terrain featured small well mapped relief, predominantly coniferous trees, some semi-open heathland, “challenging sand dune orienteering; fast in the open forest, blocks of limited visibility”.

Read on for the results and a report from Ben who was selected to join the England team for the first time.

Southdowns Juniors victorious in YBT heat at Balcombe.Well done to the junior squad. A solid effort by all our runners.

23 juniors took part in this year's heat at Balcombe. The size of the squad is really encouraging and we hope to get this number over 30 for the YBT final.

Provisional results can be found here

The final takes place in Sheffield on 9th July, and you don't need to have run in the heat to run in the final, so save the date. We will likely be traveling up by mini bus.

There will be a lot more competition at the final but it’s always a great occasion. The area is planned to be Sandall Beat Wood - a local nature reserve https://www.doncaster.gov.uk/services/culture-leisure-tourism/sandall-beat-wood The map is on routegadget here. Last used in 2020

Thanks to everyone that helped with organisation and also Mole Valley for a great event.

Will

Junior Team Manager

A busy time ahead for team SO

March and April are a busy time for SO members with the regional heats of both the CompassSport Cup and the Yvette Baker trophy taking place as well as the British Orienteering Championships and JK which both involve team relays.

Good luck to our 21 juniors taking part in YBT on 19th March

A team of 21 SO juniors are looking forward to taking part in the heat of the Yvette Baker Trophy, which takes place at Balcombe on Sunday 19th March.

This is the annual inter-club competition for M/W10's to M/W18's. It's a great opportunity for juniors to take part in competition and for those just starting out, they can run in a pair on a yellow.

The final takes place in Sheffield on 9th July, and you don't need to have run in the heat to run in the final, so save the date.

Spring club nights 2023

Club nights returned on Tuesday January 3rd.

We will meet as a group at 6:30pm each Tuesday although we hope to make most of the activities available online to attempt at your leisure.

Please sign up using the Doodle Poll and indicate (when appropriate) whether or not you would like a map provided (cost £1) or are happy to print off your own.

CompassSport Cup entries

The CompassSport Cup is the national inter-club team competition and is structured so that any club member can enter - with the 25 scorers coming from a range of different age classes. It consists of a regional heat and a final and this year SO are hosting the regional heat at Worth Lodge. Given home advantage we have every chance of reaching the final which is in the beautiful Forest of Dean in November.

Although entries are officially made by club captains I have set up a racesignup page for SO members to use for entry which I shall then use for start time allocation and the formal entry process. Note that this page is not visible from the racesignup home page and can only be accessed by those with the above link.

Save the date for Club Competitions and Relays

Orienteering relays and club competitions are a great way to make new friends. The club is very inclusive when it comes to competitions and relays and we like as many members as possible to take part. Read on for dates to save.

Ben and Scarlet selected to run for England

A huge well done to Ben Chapman M14 for being selected to run for England at Interland 2023 which will take place in Belgium in March. Ben has been a dedicated orienteer for many years now, setting a great example to those juniors around him. He is also a member of the South East Junior Squad (SEJS).

Scarlet W20 is one of our oldest juniors who has been very successful, with a number of England representations to her name. She is now at University, still orienteering and has also been selected to run at Interland. She's going to be running up in the W21 age class, so has the longest course to contend with.

The team of 42 runners, from M/W14 to M/W60, will travel to Lommel in Belgium for the annual 5-way Interland competition against 2 Belgian teams (Flemish and French speaking), a Dutch team and a Northern France team.

Tommy selected for GB Talent South Squad

Congratulations to Tommy Heap M18 on his selection to join the Great Britain Talent South Squad.

Following good performances at selection races earlier in the year, and recent race results, he and 3 other juniors from the South East Junior Squad (SEJS) have been selected to join the Talent Squad this year. They will benefit from extra coaching sessions and a wide range of additional expert guidance through the winter season. This is part of the GB Programme.

Coaching at Washington Common

This weekend’s coaching session at Washington Common looked at the importance of using a process for orienteering. This method leads to a consistent approach to tackling each leg and more predictable and positive outcomes. During the session the athletes came up with a simple process which was to always fold the map, select an attack point and then tick off (or ‘collect’) features on the way to the attack point. In this video of a really hard leg in Sweden, this exact same process is used.

Simon Greenwood RIP

Sadly, Simon Greenwood passed away at the beginning of December. Simon was a very active and well-known orienteer who most of us will have seen regularly at local and major events.

Besides being an enthusiastic competitor, Simon contributed enormously to the sport. He was vice chairman and president of Saxons, our neighbouring club; chairman of SEOA for over 20 years; and planned many major events.

Autumn club nights 2022

The Autumn club nights return on Tuesday October 4th. Many thanks to Euan Marsh for getting these up and running.

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 Doodle Poll and indicate (when appropriate) whether you would like a map provided (cost £1) or are happy to print off your own.

Coaching at Inholmes Wood

This morning’s training session analysed video from this summer’s World Cup in Davos, Switzerland. Participants noted that Emil Svensk wasn’t running too fast, and was focused on navigation. His map was neatly folded and his thumb compass was used to ‘thumb the map’ to maintain map contact. In most of the video, Emil is either looking at his map or looking around the terrain. He spends very little time just running without actively navigating. Today’s training exercises encouraged participants to look closely at the map for large features and then match these to the terrain as they make progress towards each control.