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Yukoners have ups and downs at JWOC

Yukon's two junior orienteerers have logged mixed performances thus far at the Junior World Orienteering Championships this week in Wejherowo, Poland.
orienteering

Yukon’s two junior orienteerers have logged mixed performances thus far at the Junior World Orienteering Championships this week in Wejherowo, Poland.

Both Lee Hawkings and Kendra Murray have had near misses in breaking into the top-100, but they have registered personal achievements.

“I’ve had better results this year than any other JWOC so I am for sure fairly happy with how I have been running,” wrote Hawkings in an e-mail to the News. “I still feel like I have not been running at my full potential for this week, but that is just kind of the nature of orienteering, you always feel like you could of done better.”

“My results, so far I have been very pleased with,” wrote Murray. “This being my first JWOC, I did not expect to have such good races. I am very happy with my races and I could not have hoped for better.”

Scratching at the 100-mark, Murray began the week taking 106th in the sprint, 103rd in the long, and qualified in 27th in Heat 3 (C finals) in the middle distance on Wednesday. However, Murray was on her way to reaching the A final of the middle distance event, but a pair of missed controls cost her.

“I came out of the start chute with a plan of where I was going to go, but I couldn’t make the contours on the map fit with the terrain,” wrote Murray. “I then started to contour around the depression instead of following the fence over the hill. When I looked at my compass I realized my mistake, but about a minute and a half or two minutes had been lost by the time I made it to the control.”

(Murray’s final placement for the middle was not available at time of press).

So far, Hawkings has placed 119th in the sprint, 111th in the long, qualified 45th for the C final on Wednesday, finishing ninth (129th overall) on Thursday.

“I was quite disappointed about Wednesday’s results,” wrote Hawkings. “I was having a great race but messed up the fifth control after I lost my shoe in a marsh. I lost a minute and half on that control. I had a few other little mistakes and ended up a minute out of the B final, which was disappointing.

“(On Thursday), however, I went out there and had a great, nearly flawless race. I ended up ninth ... which is the best I’ve ever done in a middle at JWOC.”

The two Yukoners will finish the championships this weekend as members of Canadian relay teams.

“The atmosphere is amazing here!” wrote Murray. “Being at JWOC is a total orienteering experience. It is really neat to be competing against people from all over the world. It really opens your eyes to how fast you have to be to be at the top.”

Contact Tom Patrick at tomp@yukon-news.com