Whitehorse cadets fared well over the weekend at the annual regional biathlon competition hosted by Whitehorse at the Grey Mountain biathlon venue.

More than 50 cadets from all three territories participated to see who would qualify to represent the North at the national championships in Quebec City early next month, as part of the National Cadet Biathlon Championship.

Captain Amber Lawson of the Department of National Defence and a marksmanship training officer said the biathlon competition helps to promote many aspects of the cadet program, including physical fitness.

“To go from skiing to shooting requires discipline of their bodies in order to be successful,” Lawson said this week from Winnipeg. “It’s pretty incredible what these kids do.”

Each cadet teamed up with one other competitor for the relay event, and each had to ski different distances depending on the age category but all had to fire at five targets twice using .22 calibre rifles. The penalty for a missed target was one lap around the penalty track.

Whitehorse cadets Kynnan Elliot and Noah James, both 12, teamed up to win the junior male and mixed category, finishing the event in a combined time of one hour, six minutes and 48 seconds.

Whitehorse cadets Maxwell Vanderkley, 12, and Keenan Brown, 13, finished the event in second with a time of 1:09:28.

The team of Kane Qaqqasiq and Sharon Pauloosie of Arctic Bay, Nunavut, finished third in a time of 1:22:39.

It was the Whitehorse team of Alexandria Duchaine and Ashley Lang, both 15, who won the open female category, posting a time of 54 minutes and four seconds.

Duchaine and Lang finished a full 11 minutes and 32 seconds ahead of Isabel Levesque and Melissa Grace from Yellowknife, despite the Yellowknife pair going flawless in the shooting discipline.

Tamaara Lennie and Sky Lennie of Fort Simpson, N.W.T., finished third in the open female category, with a time of 1:15:39.

The Yellowknife team of MacKenzie Baker, 16, and Spencer Littlefair, 14, won the open male and open mixed category after going flawless in the shooting discipline and posting a time of 40:02.

It was also the Yellowknife team of Elaine Cronk and Jenaya Hanninen, both 13, who won the junior female category after hitting all 20 target and posting a time of 24:40.

In the sprint category, Whitehorse’s Duchaine placed first in the senior women’s category in a time of 34:29 while her relay teammate Lang finished third in 42:05.

Melissa Clark of Yellowknife was second in 38:34.

Hanninen of Yellowknife won the junior women’s event in a time of 26:36.

Daniel Calamayan, 16, of Iqaluit won the senior men’s event in time of 33:26, missing just two of ten targets. Spencer Littlefair, 14, of Yellowknife won the junior event in 18:25, also just missing two targets.

Benjamin Karstad, 17, of Yellowknife won the youth division in a time of 35:52.