Last weekend a group of 25 University of Sheffield Athletes and 5 Sheffield Hallam Athletes, who all run for ShUOC, travelled to Ilkley for the British University and College Sports Championships for Orienteering.  After making sure we were all ready and knew what to expect we travelled with high hopes of success and were keen to set our seasons off in style.

In the individual race ShUOC dominated the men with Dave Schorah (Hallam) winning ahead of Jonny Crickmore and Will Gardner (both Sheffield).  With another two members inside the top-10 (Jonny Malley and Matt Elkington), Sheffield University stormed to individual mens victory being 35points ahead of distant Edinburgh University.  In the womens race, a typical scene unfolded with strong running from both the Edinburgh (10points) and Durham (38) girls placing Sheffield Universities (39) girls in 3rd overnight.  This meant that for the first time in years Sheffield went in to the relays with a 6point lead ahead of fierce rivals Edinburgh equivalent to 2 places, basically our girls had to outperform Edinburgh's boys.

Overnight - much fun was had by all as we re-acquainted ourselves with friends, although unfortunately, Sheffield managed to lose its hold upon the beer race trophy.  We must have focussed too much on physical performance!

Going in to the relays the teams were finalised with a few disappointments and some nerves.  Our boys were ready and well capable of finishing with 2 or even 3 teams on the podium, if things went our way on the day and our girls knew the situation.  3-2-1-Go and the boys were off.  Matt E and Jonny M led the way with Bristol, Durham and Oxford close by.  10mins later and the girls went off too!
 
At this point it was a wait and see.  Listening to the action via radio announcement - Matt E was still with the leaders, with Jonny M just behind the leading group, although the hill sorted it out with Bristol back first with Sheffield, Durham and Oxford all close.  Whilst unfortunately - Jonny M lost quite a bit of time coming in with Chris Owens(Sheffield 3), though not quite out of the race, with Will Gardner going out chasing hard.  

Jenny Evans managed to have a stormer of a race to bring the girls back in 3rd!  Just behind Cambridge and Durham, but ahead of Edinburgh!  Again the wait was on.  In the boys we knew Oxford were the main rivals with 3 strong runners and a bit of a gap ahead of us, whilst the girls were hoping to stay up there and hoped for a podium.  Oxford came and left and 3mins passed 'til Sheffield 2 with Ben Malliphant appeared, roughly 1min ahead of Will (Sheffield 1).  Clare Howes brought the girls back in 3rd after another strong run behind Edinburgh and Durham, setting Tamsin off with a decent gap over Edinburgh 2.  
 
The boys thought it was over, fighting for a Silver with Oxford now long gone.  Yet after a bit of a wait we saw Sheffield 1 and Sheffield 2, anchored by Jonny C and Olly Williams respectively, punch the last control and jog along the run-in unaware they'd caught and passed Oxford.  The girls had overtaken Durham to take 2nd place!

I hope everyone had a good summer and below is what will be going on in the first week. You can just turn up to whatever you want and the sessions on a weekday are all free of charge.

Monday -- 5:30pm - 6:30pm -- Circuits in Goodwin Activity Room 2.

Circuits is an all round general body exercise session, you go round in groups performing different activities e.g situps, starjumps. To get there go into the gym/pool entrance of Goodwin and turn right, tell the staff you are doing circuits with ShUOC and they will let you through.

Monday -- 8:30pm onwards -- Pub at Fox and Duck in Broomhill

 A good chance to meet the other club members.
 
Tuesday -- 6:00pm -- Intervals. Meet at entrance gates of Goodwin at 6.

Intervals are a great form of training where you alternate between running fast and then resting. We do this round a grass field in endcliffe park.

Thursday -- 6:00pm -- Hill training. Meet at gates of Goodwin at 6 

Similar to intervals but utilising the Sheffield terrain to provide the challenge.

Sun- Give it a go fell running

 For this we will get a coach from Bar One out to the Peak District, where we will split into groups depending on how far/fast you want to run. Then come back and have some food and drinks at bar one if people want. A more detailed email about this will be  sent in the next couple of days. Tickets are available from the box office.

For those who are interested in doing some orienteering we will be hosting a session on that some point next week.

I look forward to seeing some of you later this week

Jonny Crickmore
(Captain)

Perfect for training, socials and trips away.
We are one of the cheapest clubs to join with membership only £10!!

Upcoming events:

Friday 27th September (Today!!) - Sports Fair
Come along and visit our stall at sports fair, here you can have a chat to some current members and sign up to our mailing for more information.

Sunday 6th October- GIAG Fell running
A trip into the beautiful peak district for a run around the fells. All abilities welcome as there will be different length runs. Tickets available at Box office.

Wednesday 9th October – Freshers Meal
Our first social is a classic. A meal at BB's on Division Street followed by a few drinks and then up to ROAR. Come along for just the meal or both parts and it is a great chance for everyone to meet each other.


Our weekday training sessions are free to all members.

Monday 17:30 -- Circuits at Goodwin
Monday 20:30 – Pub at Fox and Duck in Broomhill, where we get cheaper drinks.
Tuesday 18:00 – Interval running at Endcliffe Park
Thursday evening – Orienteering training or hill training
Weekends--Orienteering or Fell running                           

For those who have been watching the BUC's website, the final details have been there for days. For those who haven't the BUC's final details are now here

This is a reminder that the entry deadline for this years BUC's orienteering championships is this Thursday, the 31st January at midnight. The deadline for accommodation and social forms is Friday the 1st of February.

All details and forms can be found here:

http://www.bucs.org.uk/calendar_popup.asp?itemid=11264&surround=true

Start lists are now available here

Final details for the Sheffield City Chase are here

We look forward to seeing you on the weekend.

For those fresh faced members of the club, the title of this will mean nothing, so let me explain:
SPOOK is a club for all ex-members of ShUOC and once a year they decend upon Sheffield for a weekend of carnage where they learn they are no longer as good as the current crop at Orienteering, Drinking, Football or dishing banter. It's hard to sell this weekend without getting too excited so I'll leave it by saying, most ShUOC members describe the weekend as better than Christmas.
The details to the weekend are all below, if you want to attend things (in particularly the meal - worth it) then please email the spook address : spookweekend@gmail.com  and post on the forum in relevant places to chat about teams etc.
Or, if you haven't seen the email yet, with menu choices, email the spook address and ask to be added to the list/sent the email.

The first few events coming up this term to get in your diary are:

Sunday 30th September: Give-it-a-go Fell Run
6th-7th October: UK Cup/Relay League Orienteering Finals
20th - 21st October: British University Orienteering Tours Oxford weekend

To find out more about local orienteering, visit South Yorkshire Orienteer's website.
To find out more about local fell running, visit Dark Peak Fell Runners' website.

read on for more details...