Orienteering is normally an individual sport, but last night participants were divided into teams to tackle the Just-4-Fun Relay on the Kopper King map.

“They’re really fun and it’s a twist and changes the whole atmosphere of how the event works,” said event organizer, Forest Pearson, who has previously organized fun relays on the orienteering circuit in Yukon.

As athletes arrived in the small cul-de-sac near the Raven’s Ridge sub-divison, they were assigned to pick-up teams according to ability.

“We can stick people who don’t know each other and they have a good time,” said Pearson.

The event began with a mass start as both the first and second leg runners set out first, a twist on the traditional orienteering relays where only one team member is on the course at a time.

That and a lot more chaos is what Caelan McLean, a junior national team member who raced at junior worlds and Jukola, the giant Finnish orienteering relay, earlier this summer is used to.

“It was a fun event. It was much smaller than the few relays I’ve done this year,” he said. “A lot less hectic than what it can be at the bigger events.”

McLean teamed up with mom and dad, Jill Pangman and Bruce McLean, and veteran orienteer Colin Abbott, for the win.

Pearson said the social aspect of the event won a lot of hearts as teams awaited their runners for the tag-off in the cul-de-sac.

“It’s fun having everybody here and the group event,” said Violet Van Hees.

“You see people coming and going. It’s great.”

Sometimes the excitement and chaos can lead to nerves. Three of the 12 teams were disqualified.

You have to find all the checkpoints and you have to find them in the right order, said Pearson. If you don’t it can lead to heartbreaks.

“If one person makes a mistake, the whole team gets disqualified,” he said.

Looking at the individual results, Pearson says the future of orienteering looks strong.

Trevor Bray, a former junior national team member who is racing his first year as a senior, won the 2.7-kilometre advanced leg over Colin Abbott, another former junior national team member who has been a mainstay on the Yukon orienteering scene, though he hasn’t trained much recently.

“It was nice to see Trevor beat some of the old guard there,” said Pearson.

The second place team, “Mmmmm...”, of Matthias Purdon, Karen McKenna, Jennifer MacKeigan and Kendra Murray were around four minutes back, while the third-place team, “The Brayflorks,” of Darryl Bray, Rob Florkiewicz, Logan Florkiewicz and Trevor Bray were 10 minutes off first.