Almost 50 orienteers ventured up the Grey Mountain Road to the biathlon trails on Saturday to take in the first forest orienteering meet of the season.

They were greeted with clear skies but relatively cool temperatures and found that many of the trails still had a fair bit of snow on them. This was the second event in Yukon's contribution to Orienteering Week in Canada.

Saturday's middle distance courses were a follow up to Wednesday's sprint races and a prelude to the longer classic distance courses on Sunday.

Not to be deterred by the snow, Brent Langbakk aced the advanced course in just 25 minutes and 13 seconds, exactly 10 minutes ahead of fellow national squad athlete Pam James.

Junior athlete Colin Abbot was close behind James in 36:21. On the intermediate course, Logan Roots was the class of the field, completing the technical 2.3-km course in just 26:48, well ahead of top female junior Kendra Murray, in 35:35, and Grant Abbott in 40:51.

Trevor Bray continued to impress on the novice course, completing the 1.95-km route in just 23:10, with Pia Blake close behind at 25:50. Third place went to the duo of Josh Hansen and Logan Fraser, with a time of 28:02.

Sunday morning found 40 tough souls braving the drizzle to take the challenge set out by course planner Pam James.

Using the Long Lake map, which features some of the most detailed and beautiful forest in the country, there were four courses to choose from.

On the 2.3-km novice course, Darryl Bray finished in 15:47, followed by Kerstin Burnett in 28:05 and Pia Blake in 28:57.

Showing that Saturday's results were no fluke, Logan Roots finished first on the Intermediate course of 3.7 km, in 56:55, followed by Cord Hamilton with a time of 61:56 and Wendy Nixon in 74:19.

On the short advanced course Barbara Scheck had a time of 49:48, followed by Lars Fossum in 65:31.

A big field took on the very difficult long advance course of seven km. Senior athletes Brent Langbakk, with a time of 61:43, Ross Burnett in 69:23, and Forest Pearson in 71:09, held off the younger set.

But admirable results were turned in by juniors Colin Abbott, with a time of 99:02, Lee Hawkings in 123:53, and Michael Abbott in 147:00.

The top woman was Pippa McNeil, with a time of 105:49.

Both Saturday and Sunday's races included use of the Sport Ident timing system, which provides competitors with split times for each individual leg of their course.

The next regular meet for the Yukon Orienteering Association will be on Wednesday, May 16, using the Miles Canyon map. Start location is the parking lot close to Canyon City on the Chadburn Lake Road. For more info, visit www.yukonorienteering.ca

Meanwhile, the fifth annual Orienteering Adventure Challenge is set for Monday, May 14, and more than 235 students from six different Yukon schools are registered to take part.

This year the popular event, a partnership between the Recreation and Parks Association of the Yukon (RPAY) and the Yukon Orienteering Association (YOA), will be staged in the environs of Selkirk Elementary School.

The full-day event sees the students being taught basic map-reading skills in the morning, followed by them putting their new skills to use to complete an orienteering course in the afternoon.

The schools participating this year are Whitehorse Elementary, Jack Hulland, Selkirk, Del van Gorder, Christ the King and Takhini.

Ross Burnett, RPAY's active living co-ordinator, has helped organize the event the last three years.

'The kids just love it,' said Burnett. 'Some kids really get into the map reading and trying to figure out the navigation.

'For other kids, it's just a great reason to be out of the classroom and doing something different.

'With so many kids it has the feel of organized chaos', but we find that they do pick up more about the map than you might think.

'It's a hands-on way of learning about map scales and what the symbols mean compared to the instruction they might get in the classroom.'

This event would not be possible without the dedication of volunteers from the Yukon Orienteering Association.

Almost 20 YOA members have arranged time off work or used holiday time to help make the event a success.