The territory’s orienteers had a busy three weeks as the Yukon Orienteering Association held its three championship races. The three events were a sprint, middle-distance and long-distance race.
The championships began on July 14 with a sprint race at Robinson parking lot off the South Klondike Highway. It was originally slated to be the second race of the championship series but the COVID-19 outbreak in early July forced the postponement of the first race.
Each of the three championship races was divided into four categories, novice, intermediate, advanced and expert.
Results from the sprint:
Oliver Kralish-Seguin reached all the controls to win the novice sprint in 14 minutes and 25 seconds.
Second through fourth, featuring Scott and Tegryn Williams and Selena Boothroyd all finished with a time of 26 minutes and 12 seconds.
The intermediate race saw the top three go to one family, or at least three people who share a last name.
Anneke Aasman took the top intermediate spot in 19 minutes, 47 seconds. Second and third were separated by only three seconds with Lucy Aasman, 22 minutes, 53 seconds, getting the slight edge over Esther Aasman.
Jeremy Johnson ran away with the advanced category, reaching all the controls in 18 minutes, 50 seconds.
Melissa Halpenny nabbed the second position in 26 minutes, 57 seconds and Sabrina Bouayad got the third spot respectively.
Emma Waddington outpaced the 10 other orienteers in the expert category to get the first spot. Waddington’s time was 16 minutes, 11 seconds. Leif Blake earned second in 17 minutes, 44 seconds and Jennifer MacKeigan was third.
Middle distance results:
The middle distance championship pushed to July 28. It began at the ATCO pump house off of Fish Lake road.
It was a sunny evening which brought out 27 orienteers to the final day.
“The terrain has a gazillion boulders, many knolls, old mining pits, and indistinct cut lines,” said the course description. “It also offers nice views into a small canyon as well as a fun challenge for all orienteers of all levels.”
Kralisch-Seguin earned another top time in the novice division. They finished the 1.4 kilometre course in 16 minutes, 40 seconds. Maura Glenn and Elvira Knaack tied for second in 31 minutes, 36 seconds.
The intermediate course was 1.7 km and had 12 controls. Jess O’Reilly, 18 minutes, two seconds, edged out Anneke Aasman, 20 minutes, 12 seconds. Lara Melnik got third.
Advanced and expert orienteers completed a “technical course that required detailed navigation with careful running near old mining pits and small cliffs.”
Phillipa McNeil was the lone advanced orienteer to keep their time under an hour. They finished in 46 minutes, 32 seconds. Sabine Schweiger and Nicky Rosenberg earned second and third respectively. The course was 3.2 km and had 16 controls.
Blake took the expert course four kilometres, 21 controls, in 40 minutes, 17 seconds. Waddington was about four minutes behind to get second and Caelan McLean earned third.
The long-distance results had not been posted in time for publication.
The Yukon Championships may be over but the Yukon Orienteering Association will still be holding regular races through to the end of September.
Contact John Tonin at john.tonin@yukon-news.com