Yukon orienteers to compete at world junior championships

The Yukon will continue its strong tradition in the sport of orienteering this year at the World Junior Orienteering Championships in Goteburg, Sweden.

The Yukon will continue its strong tradition in the sport of orienteering this year at the World Junior Orienteering Championships in Goteburg, Sweden.
Two Yukoners have qualified for the event and will showcase their skills against the best junior competitors the sport has to offer.
Colin Abbott, 17, and Lee Hawkings, 16, will be among the youngest individuals at the competition, which is scheduled to take place from June 30 to July 6.
“It is just going to be an amazing experience,“ said Abbott.

“It is a huge spectator sport, which you might not think of, but in Sweden, thousands of people come out to watch the races.

So it’s going to be interesting having people watching.“ 
The sport of orienteering is a running competition that involves navigation skills, using a detailed topographic map and 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.
Participants read from a special purpose map and use a magnetic compass for direction.

To successfully complete the event, a competitor must reach the control points, in proper order, 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 order of finishing times. 
Abbott and Hawkings, who have both been competitive in the sport for about five years, qualified for the world juniors after competing at the national championships last July in Saskatchewan.
Qualification at the selection race was based on the top times for each male and female in the junior age category.

Abbott finished in third, while Hawkings was right behind him, placing fourth at the event.
The 2007 nationals featured one of the largest fields in the junior category, which included close to 20 competitors.

This year’s world juniors will be their largest and toughest competition to date in the sport.

Both Lee and Hawkings expect there will be around 200 participants in their age category at the event.

This will mark the first time either of them has taken part in the championships.
Europeans have traditionally excelled at the sport and among Hawking’s and Abbott’s goals include representing Canada well and being competitive with the Canadians.

They also hope to place among the top Canadians and just feel good about their races after they are over.
Abbott said orienteering doesn’t have the tradition in Canada as it does in Europe.
“There is not a lot of places you can do it (in Canada),“ he said.

“You can’t have open prairie or anything; you would be able to see the flag from 200 metres away.

So it is usually in forested areas or areas that have a lot of detail in the terrain or boulders or interesting details.

It’s not very applicable to cities, which most of our population is in.“
He said Whitehorse offers one of the best training venues in Canada for the sport.
“There are the most maps anywhere in the country around here,“ Abbott said.

“It’s a very specific sport for where you can do it.

You can’t just go out and do it.

You need to have someone that’s really gone over the terrain well and mapped it all and if you don’t, then it’s not going to work.“
Although the sport is individually-based, the two train together in the Yukon, which will involve practicing specific orienteering skills twice a week during the season. 
Their training will also include map reading and orienteering sessions with their coach.

The two perform running exercises and strength training as well.

Both Abbott and Hawkings are members of the Yukon Ski Team, which benefits them as orienteers because of the strong cross-over between the two sports.
The two plan on travelling to Goteburg five or six days before the start of competition to take part in a training camp.

The training camp will give them the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the Swedish terrain and practice a little bit before the first race begins on June 30.
Both Hawkings and Abbott plan on staying in Sweden for about three weeks, which will include sightseeing after the junior worlds are over.
Hawkings said it is going to be an incredible experience.
“It’s the number of competitors that are going to be there and the different culture we are going to see just when we go to Sweden,“ he said.
Barbara Scheck is the president of the Yukon Orienteering Association (YOA).

She said both Abbott and Hawkings have a lot of strengths, which have allowed them to be successful at orienteering.
“They are both very fit,“ she said.

“They train year round, so they have the physical aspect down. But a strong part about orienteering is that you can’t just be a good runner.

You have to be able to think.

So they have all the mental skills, the ability to focus and refocus when they need to. That’s a big part about orienteering, especially at big meets.

You see a lot of people in the forest and it’s easy to start second guessing yourselves.

They have the ability to not pay attention to all of the distractions.“
Scheck credits Hawking’s and Abbott’s success as orienteers to their dedication in the sport.
“Without a doubt, they both have a natural aptitude for it, but they’ve done the work too,“ she said.

“They are not just relying on their natural, physical talents and mental talents.

They apply themselves, so that is really important.“
She said attending the world juniors is going to benefit them in more ways than one.
“Without a doubt, they are going to find it very difficult, but they are at the point that they need to take that step,“ Scheck said.

“Orienteering is a sport that you improve over many years.

The Europeans have much more opportunities to get competition experience and just by the nature of Lee and Colin coming from the Yukon, they haven’t had those opportunities.

So I think that it will be just a really wonderful experience for them and something I hope will make them come back and work even harder because they definitely have so much talent and ability to continue on in this sport for years at a high competitive level.“
In other orienteering news, the YOA’s junior registration will occur on Tuesday April 22 from 5-6:30 p.m. at Sport Yukon.

On April 23, the associations Wednesday Night Series is scheduled to resume for the 2008 season.
The series is open to all ages and there will be assistance provided for newcomers to the sport.

On Saturday May 3, the Learn to O clinic will be held, which offers a really good introduction to the sport of orienteering.
For more information about orienteering or upcoming events contact Barbara

Scheck at 668-2306 or visit the YOA’s website at http://www.yukonorienteering.ca.