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This weekend, ShUOC hosted the British University Orienteering Champs (BUCS) in the glorious Peak District! The annual event combines an individual race on Saturday with a relay on Sunday, and of course, a visit to the hosting city’s nightlife. This year, nearly 200 students from 19 universities travelled from across the country to proudly defend their university's honour.
To the surprise of us all, the weather Gods were kind to us this weekend, blessing us with sunshine throughout. This certainly helped make the weekend more enjoyable, as everyone was able to socialise pre and post race to discuss the various mistakes we made. The individual race at Birchen Edge kicked off the weekend - a classic Peak District area with complex boulder fields and vast expanses of tussock grass, which the planner made sure to make us visit in much detail. The competition was fast and furious on all six courses, which offered varying levels of technical and physical difficulties, allowing people of all experience levels to enjoy themselves. Despite some frozen portaloos and the first-aid car getting stuck in the mud, the event ran smoothly! After the individual, everybody headed back to their accommodation before descending on Trafalgar Warehouse (strategically located outside of the JK sprint embargo) for the start of the evening's festivities. Each university had a different time period assigned to them for fancy dress and the array of costumes on display was great to see, even if some EUOC members were a little confused about the difference between cavemen and cavers! Once everyone had refueled from the day’s race and had a chance to catch up with old friends, the meal ended with the real main event of the weekend as ShUOC extended their decade-plus winning streak in the annual BUCS beer race in emphatic fashion. The evening then carried on out into the wilds of Sheffield’s nightlife. We’ll leave the rest up to your imagination, but, judging by how worse for wear some of the relay teams looked on Sunday morning, people seemed to have had a good time. On Sunday, the relays were hosted at Carsington Pastures, a fast area with a vast number of old mining features and multiple compass-confusing giant wind turbines (let us pretend that’s the reason we made mistakes). Edinburgh uni had a very successful day, claiming the win in both the men’s and Women’s relay, whilst also finishing 3rd in the men’s, and 2nd in the women’s. Sheffield weren’t far behind, coming second in the men’s and 3rd in the women's. This gave Edinburgh the overall victory, with Sheffield not far behind in 2nd, and Oxford in 3rd. Of course, the event isn’t all about winning. Many people take up orienteering for the first time whilst at uni, some even participated in their first real event at the individual. The effort from the smaller universities to get people to the event and into the sport as a whole is very admirable, and worthy of recognition. Without them the weekend would be much less exciting, so we’re very grateful for all the effort they have put in. BUCS is not only a weekend of catching up and drinking with university students, but also such a positive weekend for orienteering as a whole through spectating and participating in two races against some of the best in the country, whilst also combining a social aspect which is key to making the sport as enjoyable as possible. We would also like to express our gratitude to the DVO, SYO, and PFO helpers who planned, organised, controlled, and assisted on SI throughout the entire weekend. Many of them didn’t even get to run. Without the help of these lovely volunteers, the weekend would never have been possible, so we are extremely grateful for all they have done. By: The ShUOC Committee Team We went on a trip to O-ringen
And camped between youths that were drinken Swam in forested lakes Courses full of mistakes Many berries and bönor were eaten - Limerick by anonymous SPOOK member summarising the trip As exams draw to a close, and the academic year comes to an end, ShUOC has been out and about! ShUOC attended the SYO event on Wednesday at Scholes Coppice with some great results! Blue: 1st Joe Thomas, 2nd Ben Stevens, 3rd Adrien Gallet, 5th Dom Green, 8th Chloe Potter, 19th Liam Overett, 25th Max Watson. And then on Saturday, there was more orienteering at Meersbrook Park!! Blue: 1st Adrien Gallet, 2nd Ben Stevens, 4th Maya Hampshire Wright, 19th Abbie Walker, dnf Max Watson. On Sunday, ShUOC had its summer day out run (although the weather at times was determined to make us think it wasn't summer...)!! A gorgeous run down the Loxley Valley up to Our Cow Molly for some icecream, and a trip down to plunge pool in Rivelin Valley on the way back made for an excellent run!!!! And finally, over in Wales Cynog Williams has competed in more Fell Races, taking 1st at the Ras Mynydd Graig Goch fell race!!! Here's to another amazing year with ShUOC, thank you to everyone who has made it so enjoyable and successful!!!!  It was another action packed week for ShUOC last week!!!!! On Tuesday, a large group took part in the Totley Moor Fell Race, crashing up and down the hillside! 2nd Tom Perry, 7th Eve Pannone, 20th Jonty Cope, 23rd Ben Stevens, 39th Abbie Walker, 45th Maya Hampshire Wright, 61st Rebecca Ward, 91st Liam Overett. Then on Wednesday more ShUOCers ran the SYO O event at Rother Valley. Green: 9th Max Watson Blue: 6th Ben Stevens, 11th Liam Overett There were also a huge number of other local races last week outside of the Sheffield area! Up in Scotland, the infamous Jura Fell Race took place! Massive well done Alex Mason (37th) and Andrew Macdonald (70th) who competed!!! A brutal race in a beautiful place! In Wales, Cynog Williams raced in the Moel y Gest Fell Race, and claimed 2nd place, while on the Isle of Man Harry Kneen took 3rd in the Bradda Niarbyl Fell Race! Outside of Fell and O, Louis James and Hannah Noble both competed in the Newark Summer League Race on Wednesday, and then later in the week, Hannah also ran in the Notts Development League 5km!!! On Saturday, ShUOC also hosted some incredible Orienteering training up on Kinder Scout. An incredibly detailed map and a very technical area proved brilliant training, and the views up there were incredible as per usual!!!! Well done all who have raced this week!!!!!   Deep in the depths of Sheffield, and out in the bogs of the Peaks, ShUOC has been out and about. On Tuesday, ShUOC sent 3 strong mixed teams out to the Rother Valley Relays, a 4 x 5km race. Well done to Maya, Adrien, Abbie and Dom, whose team placed 2nd!! And well done to Anna, Ben, Rebecca, Adam, Jonty, Liam, Eleanor and Jack who made up the other 2 teams as well as Alice, Chloe and Alex, who also ran for Hallamshire Harriers teams!! Some excellent runs, and even some new 5km PBs!! On Saturday, some of ShUOC ran in the SYO Graves Park O! Blue: 1st Adrien Gallet, 2nd Dominic Green, 4th Matthew Hall, 5th Chloe Potter, 7th Maya Hampshire Wright, 8th Ben Stevens, 9th Rebecca Ward, 11th Liam Overett, 13th Abbie Walker, 22nd Max Watson. On Saturday, the Mount Famine Fell Race also took place, where Tom Perry claimed 3rd place!! Incredible running!!!!! And then on Sunday, DVO hosted an event at Hardwick Park!!! A strong run from Eleanor Ellis saw her take 10th on the Brown Course!! Well done to all of ShUOC on another epic week!!! 📸 Touchline Photography, Carol Wolstenholm |
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