Whitehorse Daily Star

Orienteers complete Yukon champs long distance race

The Yukon Orienteering Association held the third race of their 2020 season but this time it carried some more weight to it.

By Whitehorse Star on June 17, 2020

The Yukon Orienteering Association held the third race of their 2020 season but this time it carried some more weight to it. From June 3-9 a semi-permanent a new map was used at Yukon University for the Yukon Championships - Long Distance race.

As reported by the Star on June 3, the YOA is doing things slightly differently this year, and that still applied to the Yukon Championships.

There was no electronic timing used, instead, the orienteers needed to get within two or so metres of the flag. An app called UsynligO (“Invisible O in Norwegian) was used to track positions and time the routes.

Over 100 orienteerers joined the first leg of the Yukon Championships in four difficulties – novice, intermediate, advanced and expert.

Orienteers on the advanced and expert courses were treated to a three-kilometre leg between two checkpoints for extra route choice challenge.

The junior winner on the novice course, 2.3 kilometres, was Emily Kralisch-Seguin in 27 minutes, 10 seconds.

Ian Turcotte was a little over three minutes behind Kralisch-Seguin to secure second and Harry Christensen-Brown came third with a final time of 41:33.

The novice adult with the top time was Lake Pearson, who posted an end result of 51 minutes, 19 seconds.

The junior intermediate course, 2.9 kilometres, top orienteer was Anneke Aasman who edged out Carl Turcotte by one minute, 32 seconds to secure top spot. Finn Pearson came third posting a time of 45 minutes, two seconds.

Jeremy Johnson was the top intermediate adult finishing the course in 28 minutes, 35 seconds. Rima Khouri came second followed by an anonymous racer.

The advanced course, 5.8 kilometres, saw competitive times at the top of the leader board. Philippa McNeil came out on top in one hour, 11 minutes, 41 seconds. Five minutes behind was Barbara Scheck. Erik Blake rounded out the top three.

Colin Abbott set the pace on the eight kilometre expert course. He finished 28 seconds over the hour mark – well ahead of the competition.

Leif Blake came second in one hour, 17 minutes and 10 seconds. Benoit Turcotte’s time was good for third.

The middle distance portion of the Yukon Championships is still ongoing and the sprints will begin on June 17.

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