The Yukon orienteering season concluded this weekend with stops in Haines Junction and Whitehorse's Ear Lake.

With a few Yukoners competing overseas and a steady number of participants at its bi-weekly meets, this was a very successful year for the Yukon Orienteering Association. Some of the highlights included junior orienteers Colin Abbott and Lee Hawkings traveling to Europe for the World Junior Orienteering Championships, which was held in Goteburg, Sweden.

Brent Langbakk was another Yukoner to compete for Team Canada. Langbakk also took part at the World Orienteering Championship in the Czech Republic.

Despite the season being over for most orienteers in the territory, there is still one more elite competition left on the schedule for three Yukoners. Abbott, Hawkings and Pam James will travel to Onondaga and Oswego Counties, New York at the end of September to take part in the North American Orienteering Championships.

Orienteering is a sport that combines both racing and navigation. Competitors use a topographic map, which is given to them just before the start of the race.

Saturday's competition was the 2008 Yukon Orienteering Championships for the sprint distance. The event was held in Haines Junction and included 29 participants.

Only one of the competitors was from Haines Junction, however the Yukon Orienteering Association hopes to increase the total of non-Whitehorse orienteers for the next time the map is used.

The Yukon Orienteering Association is trying to expand its meets to include more outside of Whitehorse. Along with its Haines Junction Map, the association has one in Carcross and another in the Mount Lorin area.

Sport for Life Funding and Holland America helped with the financial assistance in creating the Haines Junction map.

Pia Blake finished with the best time in the course one division, which was 1.58-km Blake finished with a time of 14:47, while Kate Mitchell came in second at 21:56.

Course two was 2.49-km and was won by Kerstin Burnett with a time of 23:40. Dustin Wilkinson came in second at 36:39.

Course three had a total distance of 2.25-km. Barbara Scheck finished with the best time at 16:49, while Karen McKenna wasn't too far behind, coming in at 18:44.

The fourth course was the longest at 2.93-km. It was won by Pam James, who just edged out 14-year-old Dahria Beatty by just more than one minute. James' time was 19.25.

Sunday's race was held at Ear Lake Road and category winners included Pia Blake, Caelan McLean, Trevor Bray, Kerstin Burnett, Dustin Wilkinson, Nansen Murray, Forest Pearson, Philippa McNeil, Ryan Kelly, Barbara Scheck, Erik Blake, Margaret Ellis, Grant Abbott, Rachael and Karra McIntosh and Wendy Nixon.