It's as though the Yukon was built for orienteering, a sport in which athletes try to navigate their way through unknown terrain.

That's how Barbara Scheck, former president of the Yukon Orienteering Association and current executive member, described the sport when speaking about Whitehorse hosting the Western Canadian Orienteering Championships and the Canadian Orienteering Championships over two consecutive weekends in July.

"It's totally made for the Yukon, and the fact that we have so much wilderness right outside our office door, is just phenomenal. If you live in Vancouver, you have to drive to Kamloops to really get on a real map that's not an urban map. We're so fortunate,” Scheck said.

Westerns will take place July 16-18 and nationals will go July 22-24.

This will mark the fifth time Whitehorse has hosted westerns, last held in the Yukon

in 2006, and the second time for the nationals, last held here in 2004.

Yukoners work hard to make the territory an orienteering destination.

"People rave about our maps, and our terrain is fabulous, because our forest is quite open and it's also very technical – orienteers like that challenge,” Scheck said.

"It is a big deal, because we want to put on a fabulous meet, and we have quite a

reputation – touch wood – in North America for putting on top-class meets and we want to maintain that. Our meets and our races and our courses are excellent, and they are always well planned and well executed. We are very thorough, and we take a lot of pride in that.”

New maps will be featured for the sprint, middle distance and long distance disciplines in July.

That, too, is time consuming.

Local organizers have been preparing for the events for the past three years, and have brought in mappers from Norway and Italy the past two summers.

Scheck said mapping courses takes years to do.

"We've been thinking about this forever. This is a big deal for us.”

The sprint for the Westerns will take place at Hillcreast, while revisions have been made to the Long Lake Southeast and Chadburn Lake maps.

The nationals will feature maps of the Carcross Desert, Lewes Lake and Mount Lorne.

These maps had to be re-worked, Scheck said.

"Because locals shouldn't have a huge advantage. And they haven't seen the new maps. No one has seen the new map, none of our locals. People from out of town can still access old maps,” she said.

Last year, when Whitehorse was supposed to host Westerns, the Canadian Orienteering Federation proposed the city wait until this summer to host both events.

"It's twice as many races,” Scheck laughed, "that's the challenge. We have been fortunate to receive some support from British Columbia and Alberta. Because this event is so big, we have to have controllers who work with the course planners to make sure everything is accurate.”

While the YOA is hoping to attract 300 participants, Scheck noted that in Scandinavia some 20,000 people will partake.

"It's crazy. It's not like that in North America. But we have people coming from Australia, England, the States, the southern Emirates, already registered. So people are coming from around the world to get here,” she said, adding that Yukoners can sign up for the recreational categories the day of (though it's better to pre-register on www.yukonorienteering.ca).

"There will be world-class athletes here running, but there will also be families with small children. That's what's so beautiful about the sport, it's not elitist at all,” Scheck said.

Orienteers will get together for the annual workshop Learn to O 9 a.m., Saturday, and the first meet near Yukon College 6 p.m., May 4.