More than 30 orienteering athletes competed on the Mount McIntyre ski trails on Wednesday night for a local junior team fundraiser.

The seven-member national team recently returned from the Junior World Orienteering Championships (JWOC), which were held in Kosice, Slovakia in July.

Kendra Murray, 19, and Trevor Bray, 17, were members of that team and mapped the four courses on Wednesday night.

Another Yukoner, Kerstin Burnett, also competes with the jr. national team and Yukon's Brent Langbakk coaches the squad.

With the large crowd on hand, both Bray and Murray were enthusiastic about their experience in Slovakia and looking forward to the upcoming Canadian Orienteering Championships that will be held near Edmonton on Aug. 17-18.

"It was a lot of fun,” said Murray of competing against the best in the world in Slovakia.

"The courses were difficult but it was a really fun course setting.”

The team was also able to watch the World Championships in the same trip, which were hosted in Lausanne, Switzerland.

"The Junior Championships is a step above everything we've done and then you watch the World Championships and it's even crazier,” said Murray.

"They're so good.”

This year's JWOC held a historic moment for Canada.

Emily Kemp of Ottawa captured Canada's first-ever medal in the event.

Competing in a field of 130 junior women, Kemp finished third, just under three minutes behind the gold medal winner, Nurmi Kirsi of Finland.

The bronze was the best-ever result for a North American at the Junior World Championships.

"It was really special,” said Murray of her teammate's medal.

In her second time competing at the world juniors, Murray placed 38th overall in the middle distance final.

"I improved slightly on the results from last year but both were really good experiences,” she said.

For Bray, the competition marked his first time competing outside of Canada.

"I was just there for the experience and to have fun. I'm hoping to improve next year,” he said.

He'll have plenty of time to do that as he has three years of eligibility remaining.

On Wednesday, the two athletes faced a different challenge: mapping a course.

"It was challenging,” said Murray.

"It's hard setting a course because you have to think about so many things, like route choice and whether or not you're setting a good control spot.”

The orienteer competitors scattered across the hilly and sandy terrain, with Forest Pearson setting the pace in the expert division with a time of 38 minutes and 46 seconds.

Rounding out the top three were Brent Langbakk and Darren Holcombe.

Ross Burnett led the advanced division with a time of 36:04.

He was followed by Leif Blake and Caelan McLean.

Georgi Pearson was the first to reach the finish in the intermediate division with a time of 41:23.

In a sprint for second place, Lara Melnik edged out Sidney Maddison in just ender thirty seconds, finishing in 44:25.

Leading the way in the novice division was Savannah Cash, who had a comfortable six-minute lead over second place finisher Dagmar Janzen.

Lauren Whyte and Chris Ryder finished third.

It was the first time the orienteering club had competed locally since a July 18 meet at the Takhini Hotsprings.

The club will be back on the trail Aug. 18 when they hold a ‘B' meet at Miles Canyon Road.

‘B' meet results:

Novice:

Savannah Cash: 15:40

Dagmar Janzen: 21:58

Lauren Whyte and Chris Ryder: 22:01

Mettias Schmidt: 22:23

Ben Shier: 25:28

Sonja Schmidt: 25:36

Nicollis Schmidt: 25:39

Connor Canary: 35:05

Curtis Cash: 36:35

Finn, Anna, Lake, River Pearson: 55:13

Elvira Knaack and Maura Glenn: 68:31

J.F. Roldan: 70:13

Intermediate:

Georgi Pearson: 41:23

Laura Melnik: 44:25

Sidney Maddison: 44:52

Hannah Shier: 45:51

Tracey Taylor: 47:45

Hunter, Lee, Tim Vincent: 51:32

Beth Hawkings: 52:30

Ev Pasichnyk: 55:46

Hilary Wilkinson: 60:51

Deb Kiemele: 75:18

Linda Mackeigan: DNF

Advanced:

Ross Burnett: 36:04

Leif Blake: 41:08

Caelan Mclean: 42:42

Pippa Mcneil: 52:14

Barbara Scheck: 54:11

Ryan Kelly: 56:56

Joe Bradley: 60:38

Bruce Mclean: 68:58

Craig Brooks: DNF

Miyahara Fumiko: DNF

Expert:

Forest Pearson: 38:46

Brent Langbakk: 42:09

Darren Holcombe: 53:24

Bob Sagar: 56:30