Junior News
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
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.
SO Juniors win Bronze at the British Mixed Sprint Relays
SO fielded eleven teams at the British Mixed Sprint Relays on 17th Sept 23 at Brunel University. We had some very good results including one of our junior teams on the podium.
Emma, Kai and Emily raced around the University at top speed and placed 3rd in the 12- competition. Brilliant result against some very competitive teams.
Other notable performances were the Super Vet 55+ teams of Peter, Sue and Neil who came 4th and Steve, Jane and Ian who came 6th.
See provisional results here. Further SO photos can be found by reading on...
SO Juniors compete at YBT Final
Southdowns Orienteers Junior Squad travelled to Yorkshire to compete in the Yvette Baker Trophy Final on 9th July 23.
This is the annual Junior Inter Club competition where the best clubs from each region across England and Wales compete. Our Junior Squad earnt their place for the South East back in March.
Medal success at South East Sprint Champs 2023
SO won six medals at the South East Sprint Champs which took place in the Ham Estate near Kingston. The incredible heat didn't make it easy. All competitors had to run two courses - one in the morning and the other 90 minutes later. Older juniors (14 and above) and seniors had courses which zigzagged across the urban area. The younger juniors were on common land for the first part and urban for the second part. Congratulations to Emma who became South East Sprint Champion.
We came away with one Gold, three Silvers and two Bronze. Read on for the list of medal winners...
Check out their courses here.
SEOA Cloth Badges awarded to our Juniors
At the AGM we awarded a number of juniors with their SEOA Colour Coded badges. These can be won by any member of the South East Orienteering Association. The rules require that you complete three colour coded courses and come in the top 50% or have a time within 150% of the winning time. Congratulations to all the juniors who have qualified for a badge.
If you weren't there to collect it, please get in touch with Will to arrange collection.
Read on to see the list of successful juniors...