Yukon orienteering season kicks off with Wednesday meet

Photo by Vince Fedoroff

Compasses and maps were in full force Wednesday on the Magnusson ski trails, as orienteers of all ages took part in the first meet of season.

The event was a part of the Wednesday Night Series and was put on by the Yukon Orienteering Association. Meets in this series are held every two weeks.

For some it was a race and for others it was just a recreational hike, which resulted in a large turnout of participants that surprised even the organizers of the event.

“It’s awesome to see so many people out and about and enjoying it,” said Pam James, one of the meet’s directors.

“There is actually more than I thought. I wasn’t sure what it would be, especially with the conditions, with the snow in the woods, but for the first (orienteering meet) of the season everyone is anxious to get out.”

The sport of Orienteering is a running competition that involves navigation skills, using a detailed topographic map and a compass.

Events are time-based and consist of a race in which individual participants navigate through some form of diverse terrain, which is normally wooded.

Navigation is done by reading from a special purpose map and using a magnetic compass.

To successfully complete the event a participant must, in proper order, reach the control points, which are all indicated on the map.

The control points and the course itself are both kept secret from the competitors until the official start of the event when the map is provided.

Participants must start at staggered intervals and are timed individually.

Final placing is determined by the proper completion of the course in the shortest amount of time in the field. 

The Wednesday Night Series normally begins in May, but additional interest resulted in the meet being scheduled a couple weeks early this season.

The series is an all ages event and offers several courses for different skill sets of orienteers.

The opener featured four courses in total, including a novice, intermediate, short advanced and long advanced.

The novice course was essentially limited to the trails for all of its control points, while the intermediate was a little bit more difficult with a few more control points being off the trails.

The long advanced course featured 18 control points and was 5.2-km in total length, while the short advanced was 3.3-km.

Both the intermediate and the novice course were about 2-km.

Due to snowy conditions, the meet was confined to a smaller area and control points were closer to the trails than they normally would be.

The Wednesday Night Series doesn’t award prizes for top finishers, but offers all participants the option of being timed or just competing in a recreational form.

There were timers at all of the control points at the meet, so participants could monitor how they did in the different segments that made up a particular course.

Cost to participate was $5 for members of the association, while all other individuals had to purchase a day membership for $5 on top of the $5 map fee.

Annual memberships for the association is $20 for adults, $12 for junior, who are individuals under the age of 20.

A family pass costs $40, while a group membership is $50.

James said the great thing about the Wednesday meets is how they give participants the option of competing in a variety of different ways.

“You can be really serious about it or you can just go out,” she said. “Some people want to be timed and some people don’t.

You can run and race, you can stop and look at the view. Whatever you want to do, it is up to yourself.”

She said Whitehorse offers a great venue for the sport.

“There are so many orienteering maps so close to the city, it is truly handy,” she said.

“I don’t know anywhere else where I could set my course for running from my apartment and just go.”

Dahria Beatty has been orienteering since she was four years old. Beatty, who is now 14, competed in the intermediate course on Wednesday.

She said she was pleased with how it went.

“It went well,” Beatty said. “I didn’t get lost and that’s good.

There was a lot of snow, so it wasn’t that fast, but I hit all of the controls. It felt good because I haven’t orienteered in a while, so it was good to be out again.”

Beatty said she chose to participate in the intermediate course because it is the first race of the season and wasn’t too easy or overly difficult.

“There was fair bit of snow, but other than that it was fine,” she said. “(You) just had to pick your way through the bare patches.”

Beatty will represent the Yukon at this year’s Canadian Orienteering Championships, along with 14-year-old Kendra Murray.

Beatty said her goal for the nationals is to just do her best and hopefully place in the top three.

“I just want to go out and do as well as I can and make sure my map reading is good and hopefully place pretty well.”

Beatty has won both gold and silver medals at the nationals before, but this is the first year she will compete in the 15 and 16-year old category.

She said winning a medal in this category would be the highlight out of all of her accomplishments in the sport.

Murray also competed in the intermediate course on Wednesday. She said she was pleased with her overall time.

“It went pretty good,” she said. “I hit every control pretty well.”

Other upcoming orienteering events include The Learn to O clinic on May 3.

The clinic is an excellent opportunity to learn the basics of the sport and will feature the Long Lake Southeast map.

The start location will be at F.H. Collins High School.