​The weekend, ShUOC competed in the British Sprint Relay Orienteering Champs. A storming run from the elite team meant they placed 4th, while the AdHoc equalled this with a brilliant 4th in their category!! Well done too to our SPOOK alumni who flew round the campus at Brunel University. 

The same weekend, Adrien Gallet, Chloe Potter and Laura Harrison competed in the London City Race the day before with Chloe placing 1st in Women's Elite, and Laura in 24th, and Adrien placing 30th on Men's Elite! 

In fell running, some members competed in the 3 Shires Fell Race. 3rd Ben Sharrock, 15th Cynog Williams, 164th Alice Gamble. And in the Peak District, others competed in the Stanage Struggle. Freya Tatham was 2nd Female overall in 33rd place, Fresher Harry Kneen in 6th, Louis James in 23rd, and Liam Overett in 71st!! 

Well done to all who have been racing this past week! Time to look forwards now to Freshers Week, and welcoming all our new and potential members!!

​After a sensational 3rd place at BUCS in March, ShUOC felt well placed to represent GB&NI on the World (by which I mean European) Stage. So confident in fact we left two thirds of our A team at home.
 
To St. Gallen, Switzerland we travelled, to the historic (est. 2019) European University Sports Association (EUSA) Orienteering Champs or EUOC. Not to be confused with EUOC. Or indeed EUOC. 
 
How would we compare against the best of Europe's elite educational establishments? (those that had realised the competition existed anyway)
Would the hills of the Steel City have prepared us for steep alpine terrain?
Does Switzerland even exist?
Time to find out...
 
Harry arrived first in St. Gallen, having elected to take the train for reasons of eco smugness and to perform some tourism en route. The sun was beating down on a shiny city centre that reeked of watch-making wealth (approx. 90% of swiss GDP). He was soon joined by Dom in our toasty hotel room then by OUOC for a chaotic all-you-can-see buffet tea at the nearby supermarket complex. "Please only come back for more food 3 or 4 times" we were implored. 
 
Meanwhile the rest of ShUOC were attending an impromptu bird funeral at Gatwick. They did eventually arrive, by which point it was...
 
Day 2!!
Breakfast - an opportunity to start Czeching out the competition - then we headed to the model area, undeterred by scathing reviews from those who'd already been.
After recovering from initial shock that up was in fact down on this area, down we went: to fake some footage for the insta (#slavetothesocials), stumble across a few kites, and brush up on our knollege of the terrain.
But what are the mystery blue star map symbols you ask? Well that would be telling...
 
No orienteering training would be complete without a swim so we took a bus to St Gallen's answer to Crookes Valley Park. A far superior answer as it happens. Complete with very entertaining log.
 
But the fun times were only just getting started... bring on the first General Technical Meeting. We only needed to send one representative, so naturally to assert our numerical dominance, we sent eight. After a "punklich" start, the organisers laid down the law: there would be no national flags on the podium, no nudity, and no scraps. Plus the key aims of EUSA:
"We are here now"
"We are growing up"
 "I'm not responsible for your problems during the night".
 
By the way, bids are still open for the 2025 champs... Sport Sheffield you listening?
 
Finally what we'd all been waiting for: the opening ceremony! Captain El "head of delegation" Ellis proudly carried the banner for ShUOC. Then after the obligatory dose of self-congratulation by the invited bureaucrats, there was the obligatory dose of "culture" as St. Gallen Jodelchörli performed their excellent yodel songs. With uplifting "bim bom"s in our hearts it was onto...
 
Day 3:
Sprint day...
 
First up the qualifying heats - who would be in Pole position for the final? 
 
ShUOC executed the perfect strategy for getting back early for tea by landing zero runners in the A Final. More stair-training needed on the ShUOC weekly training schedule perhaps? Alice exhibited most dedication to the cause by making two unnecessary laps of a building on her way out of number 7. Maya gave us a close scare by being within one place of the A Final.
 
Afternoon, the rain showers came to lubricate the steps of St. Gallen Altstadt (old town). Fortunately everyone Finnish-ed in one piece. Although El is going to Hell thanks to her flawless negotiation with a street preacher. I'm pretty sure Hell's only a town in Switzerland anyway...
 
Day 4:
Middle distance... Proper orienteering time :) The real test of whose compass work israel-ly good and whose contouring iS-painful to watch.
 
An early start (cheers El Capitan) on board the "lanky tram" to Gais. 
We were feeling Hungary for victory. Or was it lunch? I forget. Anyway, we checked our swiss-german horoscopes in the local paper, tag-teamed the sudoku and were good to go...
 
Our elite dynamic duo: Dom "that reentrant was probably as deep as me" Green and El "I like going in first" Ellis were given GPS vests to track their rapid progress through the surprisingly tasty, albeit vertiginous, terrain. I enjoyed a clean run navigationally though my legs felt like used frubes every time I turned uphill. This seemed true of most ShUOCers, except Alice "I'm only a fell runner" Gamble, who eats unnecessary extra climb for breakfast.
Best run of the "woman course" was Maya "no chance am I writing her full surname every time" HW and in the men was Adam "got a massive toe" Conway.
 
Joke of the day goes to Misi from Imperial-sincewhendidtheyhaveanOclub?-College: What do you call a cow in an igloo?
 
Eskimoo
 
Day 5.
Sprint relays: Two by two...
 
A fitting race format for the day the weather got biblical. Thus far Thor's wrath had been confined to the evenings but today he'd heard Noah was in town (or at least Noa from Technion Institute of Technology) so the rains came pouring.
 
First to take on the narrow alleys of Appenzell were the Men-Men teams: Adam "interesting" Conway handing over to ...and being handed back to and then handing over to again... Dom "well the ball's in me isn't it?" Green, while Harry was handing over to team German expert Evan "sick's just food waste with extra steps" Bowers. 
 
I'd better give CUOC's James Ackland and Pete "this ain't my first rodeo" Molloy some credit here for doing quite well in this race as I'm sure they were too humble to splash it over social media.
 
In the Woman-Woman, queen of the run-ins Maya was in the driving seat of the leg 1 pack (assuming she drives a canal boat), running undercover on El's dibber. Eleanor Hampshire Ellis then fired up the afterburners (it's an aerospace thing) and they stormed in to finish first British team. And well within the top 95% overall.
 
Finally the Woman-Men class into which Alice "can we run over the yellow bits?" Gamble had been placed with a new Polish friend, up against OUOC's cute couples: captains of chaos Lois and Sam, and siblings Alex and Ryan "my mouth's the one thing that's not small" Elliot.
 
Luckily they put a GPS on the Gamster so we could watch her stunning progress through the pack, hot on the heels of the AebersoldtheirsoulsforaEUOCmedal siblings. And afterwards providing the insights as ever: "It was very damp. I was running a lot faster today though".
 
Racing complete, all that remained was the closing ceremony and banquet. After the stunt cheerleading, rousing speech from organiser-heartthrob Mr Daniel Studer and of course singalong rendition of What a Wonderful World the party could really get started... or so we thought 
What we would call classic British bangers was what the well known Aebersold brother wanted, instead we got bass and rave. Numerous attempts made by both the elite and the UK to change the music was quickly dismissed by DJ Raven. Instead the party turned to inside volleyball and dance circles. 
 
The night drew in and slowly we all left the party house and returned back to the hotel, to wake up 6:30hrs later to head back to the airport. 
 
*****
 
Huge thanks to our Head of Delegation Fi for all the orienteering advice and insight, to Alice and Sophie/Scarlet for the pre-trip admin, the organisers and volunteers of EUOC for the great event, and Riccardo Cassanova for the good times.

​ShUOC members have been busy all across the world this week, the Italian Alps where Eve Pannone has raced in the Tre Rifugi Relay, to Welsh orienteering coaching in the forests of Finland, or running in France and Switzerland!

In the UK, many members, both ShUOC and SPOOK took part in the regional SYO event at Weston Park & Sheffield University! Course A: 2nd Tom Perry, 3rd Joe Thomas, 4th equal Thomas Entwistle & Adrien Gallet, 7th Ben Stevens, 36th Laura Harrison, 40th Eleanor Ellis.
Still in Sheffield, ShUOCers attended the Steel City 10km race, well done to Liam and Joe who ran, and to Adrien for volunteering!

Up in Sedbergh, many ShUOCers turned up at the English Champs fell race. 7th Ben Sharrock, 98th Henry Webb, 147th Alex Mason, 282nd Alice Gamble.

Additionally across the county ShUOC member have been taking part in other events. Well done to Abbie Walker, who was 2nd Female at the Branches & Bays 10km! At the Rickys Fell Race, Louis James was 15th, well done!! And at the Burnham Beeches half marathon, Evan Bowers crossed the line in 7th place with a time of 1:24:56!!!! Well done all who have raced these past weeks!!!!!!

Finally, congratulations to everyone who received A Level results last week, and if you are looking to join the club either from Sheffield Hallam or Uni of Sheffield, welcome, we can't wait to meet you all!!!

📸 Adrien Gallet, Trail Outlaws 
 

​This past week ShUOC has been up in Moray, Scotland for the Scottish 6 Days Orienteering, exploring the technical Scottish terrain!
W20L: 10th Rebecca Ward, 12th Eleanor Ellis, 13th Maya Hampshire Wright.
M20L: 5th Tom Perry, 8th Dominic Green, 16th Jason Hayman
M21E: 8th Joe Woodley, 35th Joe Thomas, 50th Thomas Entwistle, 52nd Evan Bowers. Adrien Gallet, Joseph Goodwin.
M21L: 15th Harry Scott

Great effort from all ShUOC and SPOOK competing, very technical terrain out there!

In the world of fell running, some members ran the Salt Celler race in Derbyshire!
1st Cynog Williams
2nd Henry Webb
90th Andrew Macdonald

Further away, in the depths of Wales, a group travelled to the Maesgwyn Detour fell race.
11th Alex Mason
28th Eve Pannone
102nd Alice Gamble

Well done to all ShUOC who have raced and competed this past week!!

📸 Huw Williams

​ShUOC has been busy across the country these last couple weeks! 
In Scotland, some members have been coaching and volunteering at the annual JROS camps, supporting the progress of juniors in the sport! Even further north, Joe Goodwin has been competing in the Coast and Islands event, competing on the beautiful terrain up there!!!!
Closer to home, some members ran the Airienteers Fat Rascal Races. 
Day 1 - Holt Park and Tinshill. MO: 8th Adrien Gallet. WO: 3rd Chloe Potter, 9th Laura Harrison. 
Day 2 - WO: 7th Laura Harrison. 
We have also had members competing in fell races close to home too! Cynog Williams took home the win at the Blackamoor Chase, with Toby Antcliffe coming back 3rd! Great racing from both, well done!! 
Further away, some of ShUOC travelled for the Chapelfell Top English Champs race. In the women's race, Eve Pannone took 3rd place, and Alice Gamble took 31st, and Madeleine Davis in 65th! In the men's, Ben Sharrock took 9th, 16th Cynog Williams, 35th Henry Webb, 64th Alex Mason. Well done to SPOOK members who also ran! 
And finally, well done to Andrew Macdonald for completing the Castle Howard Half Marathon in 3rd place!! 
Well done all who have been racing and training!!!!
 
Next week, many members will be at the Scottish 6 Days Orienteering event, if you have any questions about the club, feel free to talk to us! 
 
📸 Dougie Niesbet, Joe Goodwin

Over the summer our members have been orienteering in regions across the UK, from North Yorkshire to the South West. This weekend just gone saw members competed in the Eurocity race weekend in Harrogate & Knaresborough. Well done to Dominic Green who took the win in Harrogate! Back in Sheffield some members raced at the SYO event in Sandall Beat, well done to those who ran here, as well as all the other races across the country! 

On the 12th July, some members ran the local Bamford Carnival Fell race! A brilliant run from all who took part, with ShUOC members stealing the top spots!! 
Across the boarder, Andrew Macdonald took part in the XTerra Snowdonia Trail Marathon, finishing in 3rd place!!! Even further still, a couple members have travelled to Italy to compete in the WMRA World Cup races, the Piz Tri Vertical and the Fletta Trail! Outstanding work from those competing, big congratulations on your races! And finally, Tom Perry competed in the Big Stone Fell Race in the Peaks, taking home 3rd place!!

Well done to all in ShUOC who has been racing!!!! 

📸 Wendy Carlyle

There has been lots of orienteering these past couple of weeks in Sheffield! Firstly was the SYO event at Millhouses Park! Blue: 1st Dominic Green, 3rd Chloe Potter. Green: 7th Alice Gamble. And then last Wednesday other members competed in the SYO event at Kiveton Community Woodland. Blue: 1st Chloe Potter, 3rd Joe Thomas, 6th Adrien Gallet. Well done all!

This weekend, the Saunders Lakeland Mountain Marathon took place in Coniston. It was a tough event, with some interesting weather at times, but was a great weekend! Congratulations to Harry Scott and Jack Baker, who came 3rd overall on the Harter fell course. Well done too to Liam Overett and Joe Thomas who placed 30th on the same course! There was great racing on the Carrock Fell Course too! Well done to Maya Hampshire Wright and Rebecca Ward who were 2nd female team and 16th overall. Well done to Matthew Hall and his partner who placed 27th on the same course! And finally well done to Charlie Wilkinson and his partner who placed 43rd on the Fairfield course!

A couple of weeks ago, some members competed in the local DCRO Dash fell race near Castleton. Congratulations to all who ran, and a shout out to Cynog Williams who came 1st overall in the race!
Sticking to fell races, some members also travelled to Scotland to compete in the Meall an t-Suide race! Congratulations to all who competed, some great results!!
The same weekend, Tom Perry took part in the Langdale Gala Fell Race, taking home 2nd place! Well done all!

​Summary of the ShUBOC summer trip to Jukola 2023
We arrived on Tuesday to be greeted by a drunk Finnish man, who welcomed us with his controversial jokes. On Wednesday, 11 of us wandered the streets of Helsinki visiting the O shop, and Suomenlinna finnishing the day with a bit of Skog, the first taste of Finnish woodland. In the evening we played baked sardines in the Sauna, in which we spent longer than recommend amount of time in. Thursday saw us head to Luuki, where we trained in area with O kites and got mauled by mosquitos. In the afternoon, we had a dip in the lake. Friday the last day of training, we headed to Sipoonkorpi National Park. Post training we had another dip in the lake, after being interviewed about Finnish Grilling culture. The evening saw the big ShUOC vs UBOC indoor O champs where ShUOC took home the gold medal.
Saturday we headed over to the Jukola arena and arrived just in time to watch the Venla mass start and practice on the model event. At 11pm we saw Harry and Dan head off into the woods in the mass start. Following Harry was Maya, Adam, El, Ben, Goodwin and Dom. However Ben decided his run was going far too well and left his map behind in a bit of marsh, never to be seen again.
Sunday night we travelled by Noah’s ark to Stockholm. 
On Monday afternoon after arriving in Hellasgarden, we headed back into Stockholm to do a spot of site seeing. Tuesday followed with us hiring bikes to take part in the ShUBOC tour de Stockholm which abruptly ended in a minor mechanical failure resulting in Ben splitting his chin in half and a fracture in his map hand (which he hadn’t been using anyway). He arrived back at the hostel 12 hours later. Wednesday morning saw us say goodbye to the remaining UBOCers, and we headed into the Swedish skog to embark on some O training, it was OK. The afternoon we just chilled by the lake and slept on rocks, Thursday we headed back into Stockholm via a bus journey accompanied by a friend zoned Spam who was about to miss his bus to Oslo. We finnished the trip with an emotional flight back to Manchester.
 
Come Dine With Me:
Tuesday ShUOC: Pasta, Chilli and Plastic Cheese - 10/10
Wednesday UBOC: Sweet and Sour with Rob’s Rice - 9/10
Thursday ShUOC: Pasta and Curry - 10/10
Friday UBOC: Chilli with Dan’s Rice - 10/10
The dessert of the week: Pingvinni 
 
Quotes of the Week:
“Can you suncream my hole”
“Can I put the bönor in now”