Yukon orienteers are proving once again they are quite the force to contend with.

Eleven members of the Waterstone Yukon Orienteering Team attended the Canadian Orienteering Championships in Orangeville, Ont. this past weekend.

Despite being far from home, the team members put in some impressive performances, collecting a total of 12 medals in just two events six of them gold.

At the time of press release, results of the sprint distance were unavailable due to some glitches with the electronic timing system.

'I think they were fabulous results,' said veteran Yukon orienteer Brent Langbakk, in an interview back home this morning. 'I think we did really well, especially given there weren't as many who made the trip this year, because it was fairly far.

'It was especially nice to see the younger people doing so well.'

Leading the way were Lee Hawkings, Rhiannon Jones and Nesta Leduc, who all won gold in Sunday's long distance race as well as Saturday's middle distance event.

The long distance was held in Mono Cliffs Provincial Park, an area with an assortment of challenges from small cliffs and rocks, to open fields and complex contours.

Hawkings competed in the men's 15-16 category while Jones competed in the women's 15-16 category. Leduc, the team's inspirational role model according to Langbakk, competed in the women's 65 category.

Adding to the junior medal haul was Kirsten Burnett, who won a bronze medal in the middle distance and another in the long distance, in the women's 13-14 category.

Other Yukon medals were won by Afan Jones and Langbakk. Jones, trying to keep pace with his talented daughter, won two silver medals in the men's 45 category.

Langbakk, having recently represented Canada at the world championships, competed in the men's elite category, where he won a bronze medal in the middle distance.

He then bettered that with a silver medal the next day in the long distance event.

'The first day, when I won the bronze, I was a little disappointed with my performance,' said Langbakk.

'But it was really tricky terrain and I wasn't the only who having problems with it, so the bronze medal made it feel a little better.'

Unfortunately, another Yukon favourite, Justine Scheck was sick over the races.

Langbakk said the Orangeville trails were definitely challenging, although lots of fun as well.

'It was an interesting area, because there were lots of different types of terrain.'

The maps for the national championships were brand new, so nobody had ever run them before, but Langbakk was somewhat familiar with the area as he lived in Hamilton several years ago.

Some members of the Yukon team will be returning to the Hamilton area in just a couple of months, at Thanksgiving, for the North American championships.

The orienteering trails for the North Americans will be much different though, he pointed out.

'It will be fairly flat with 2.5-metre contours and lots of boulders.'

Langbakk will be joined by Pippa McNeil, Pam James, Scheck and 'one of our junior stars', Dahria Beatty.

'The elites will be very strongly represented,' he stated.

Before they jet off to Ontario again, Yukon orienteers will be busy with the final local meet of the season. The Yukon Orienteering Association is putting on three events as part of a nationwide festival called Orienteering Week in Canada.

The events include a sprint on September 13th, with middle and long distance races on September 16th and 17th. The Sunday event will serve as the Yukon championships.

The sprint is being done on the Riverdale map while the middle distance will be held on the Kopper King map, both of which were new maps for the western championships earlier this year.

The long distance event will be held on the newly-revised Golden Horn map.

'It's sort of our season wrap-up,' said Langbakk of the September events. 'Local club members get a chance to celebrate the season we've had and socialize a bit.'

There will also be beginner courses on all three days of the orienteering festival, for those wishing to try the sport.

More information can be found at ww.yukonorienteering.ca.