Photo by Vince Fedoroff
GRAB AND GO 鈥� Some familiar faces were missing at last night's Score-O meet at Ear Lake. Thirteen members of the local orienteering community are currently competing in Alberta for the Western and Canadian championships (top). NOW WHAT? 鈥� The Yukon Orienteering Association will Smoler hold their final event of the month on Aug. 29th.
Local athletes were running wild last night for the Yukon Orienteering Association's Score-O meet at Ear Lake.
Local athletes were running wild last night for the Yukon Orienteering Association's Score-O meet at Ear Lake.
Unlike the other 鈥楤' meets put on by the association, last night's event required participants to find as many controls as possible within 60, 90 and 120 minute time limits.
Meeting at the Miles Canyon lookout, the group took off with a mass start at 6 p.m.
Points were awarded for each control based on their difficulty and distance from the start area.
It was the first local event the association has put on since several members of the orienteering community headed south to compete at the Western Canadian Orienteering Championships in Alberta.
The Championships were held in Parkland County, about an hour and 15 minute drive west of Edmonton.
The Western's ran from Saturday until this past Monday and featured four events, the middle distance, sprint, long distance and relay.
Thirteen Yukoners competed across the four disciples.
In the 6-8 point category of the relay, three Yukon teams finished in the top ten.
Yukon-1 composed of Savannah Cash, Jennifer MacKeigan and Trevor Bray finished third overall, less than six minutes behind first place team Ottawa-3.
The Yukon team showed their balance with each of the members finishing their portion of the race in the same 28-minute range.
Yukon-2, featuring Hannah Shier, Caelan McLean and Kerstin Burnett finished fifth overall with a total combined time of one hour, 26 minutes and 29 seconds.
They were just eight seconds behind fourth place team, Manitoba-2.
The Yukon-2 team also held a substantial lead over sixth place team, Ottawa-5, which featured orienteering 麻豆社区Emily Kemp.
Competing as a member of Team Canada, Kemp won a bronze medal at the Junior World Orienteering Championships in Slovakia this past July, bringing home Canada's best ever result at a world championship.
Yukoner's Kendra Murray, Bray and Burnett were also part of that team. They were lead by head coach, Brent Langbakk of Whitehorse.
Placing eighth overall was Yukon-4, featuring Georgi Pearson, Bruce McLean and Leif Blake. The trio reached the finish in 1:38:12.
Pearson's individual time of 19:57 was the fourth fastest in the relay.
Other Yukoner's competing at the Westerns included Amanda Thomson, Forest Pearson and Nesta Leduc.
Leduc, 79, shows no signs of slowing down.
In 2009, she brought home a gold medal after winning the women's age 75-orienteering category at the World Master Games in Sydney, Australia.
Leduc plans to attend the 2013 Worlds in Italy in August of next year.
The local athlete will look to build off their momentum from the Westerns with the Canadian Orienteering Championships (COCs) this weekend.
The COCs, also hosted in Alberta, will kick off on Friday with the middle and long model map.
Many of the same athletes will once again be representing the Yukon.
The event will conclude on Sunday with the long distance event.
In order to encourage thoughtful and responsible discussion, website comments will not be visible until a moderator approves them. Please add comments judiciously and refrain from maligning any individual or institution. Read about our user comment and privacy policies.
Your name and email address are required before your comment is posted. Otherwise, your comment will not be posted.
Be the first to comment