Fall Orienteering in the Yukon

Hi there, my name is Caelan McLean and I am from Whitehorse, YT. Fall is definitely coming on as most of the leaves have now fallen off the trees and it is starting to freeze some nights. Orienteering training is starting to get a little cool, especially if it is raining.

Friday night we had our last B-Meet of the season and it was a night-O for a change. In the Yukon you could't really have a night-O in the middle of summer because it is light for almost 24 hours a day. But by now it is dark by 9 pm so a night-O works well. It was just a small event but was still fun.

I had the fastest time at about 25 minutes but made a few errors. I lost a little bit of time from control 2-3 because I decided to go straight though the green rather then run out to the trail and along it to the control. I also lost a minute on control 13 because I decided to go straight which meant climbing 5-6 contours and then dropping all that elevation as soon as I stopped climbing. I should have gone around the base of the hill following the trail and then in. Night orienteering is definitely different and it is harder to see all the detail and make out the big picture because you can only see what is being illuminated by your headlight. 

Here is my map.

Friday Night-O Advanced/Expert Map

I am looking forward to the NAOC's in Ottawa as they are less then 2 weeks away. It will be a nice change to run in some eastern forests. I will be running in the M-20E and it looks like it will be very competitive which is good. I am hoping to finish in the top 10 or at least do my best.

 It will be nice to be at an event in Canada that actually has 600+ competitors. 

Caelan