Several Yukon orienteers travelled to Alberta this past weekend for the Calgary Spring Cup and Senior National Team Trials.

The best orienteers in the country were vying for up to six spots to represent Canada at the World Orienteering Championships later this summer in Hungary.

The trials consisted of three races: sprint, middle and long.

Junior orienteers Colin Abbott and Lee Hawkings had particularly impressive results. Competing in a tough field that featured some older and more experienced competitors, the two Yukoners had three solid races.

Abbott got off to a great start, cracking the top 10 with a seventh place showing in the sprint discipline. His time was 14:48. Finishing approximately one-minute later was Hawkings, who came in 13th out of 25 competitors.

In the same race, Whitehorse resident Brent Langbakk came in sixth overall, recording a time of 14:10. The race was won by Patrick Goeres from Manitoba in 12:46.

The Yukoners continued where they left off later that day in the middle distance.

Both Abbott and Hawkings once again had strong showings, which included an eighth and 13th place finishes. Abbott's time was 43:47, while Hawkings came in at 47:30.

Abbott, who was the first junior to successfully finish the sprint and middle distance, said he was happy about the first two races.

"Four of the guys that are going to the junior world championships were there," he said. "I think I placed really well and among the seniors as well. Seventh was a great result for me."

The middle distance was won by Norwegian Oystein Sorensen, whose time of 32:05 was more than two minutes faster than his closest competitor. Langbakk placed fifth in the middle distance. (38:40).

The toughest challenge was saved for last and held the following day. It consisted of a gruelling 11.7-km straight line and nearly 500 metres of climb.

Hawkings showed off his endurance capabilities, finishing 10th overall.

"I think that was probably my best race in terms of navigating," he said. "I didn't really have any mistakes."

Abbott placed 11th, while for the second straight time, Langbakk finished in fifth.

The races were preceded by a training camp in Kamloops, B.C. and a National Team Training Camp in Canmore and Calgary.

Abbott and Hawkings will be competing for Canada at the Junior World Orienteering Championships in Italy at the beginning of July.

Langbakk, who has been to five previous World Championships, just started running again after a serious Achilles tendon injury, which resulted in him not putting his name forward to be selected.

He said it was a tough decision.

"It's really a wonderful event," he said about the senior world orienteering meet. "

It's always great to compete against the best, but I think it's probably the best decision right now."

Langbakk, who coaches both Abbott and Hawkings in the sport, said he's excited about them taking part in their second world junior meet, adding they improved a lot after the first one, held in Sweden in 2008

"Their technical abilities have taken a big jump," he said.

Hawkings said one of his goals is to crack the top 100 in at least one of the distance races in Italy.

"The training is going great and I am pretty excited for the summer," he said. "It's going to be a lot of fun, we get to just see Italy, which is pretty cool."

Abbott expects his experience competing at the 2008 world juniors to be an asset in Italy.

"It's the best in the world, so it's good to know just how fast you have to be."

He said Langbakk has been a big help as a coach and thanked him for all the work he has done.