Two men tied for top honours in Sunday’s Yukon River Trail Marathon.

Brendan Morphet of Whitehorse and Mark Davis of Calgary cruised at an average speed of 12.37 kilometres per hour – 7.69 miles per hour – to complete the 42.2-kilometre distance in a dead even three hours, 24 minutes an 41 seconds.

Both men were competing in the open men’s category for 14 to 39-year-olds.

Denise McHale repeated as the fastest women and fourth overall with a time of 3:53:01.

Whitehorse’s Stephan Atmanspacher, running in the masters 40-49 category, finished next to the two front runners and 34 seconds ahead of McHale.

The time posted by the two winners was three minutes and 33 seconds slower than last year’s winning time of 3:21:08 recorded by Whitehorse runner David Eikelboom.

McHale, competing in the 40-49 master women’s category, was 24 seconds slower than her 2016 winning time.

Whitehorse runner Virginia Sarrazin was the second fastest woman overall, also running in the 40-49 category and finishing in 4:20:55, or just shy of 28 minutes behind McHale.

Amber Houle of Chicago, Ill., was the third fastest woman overall and the fastest in the 14-39 category, with a time of 4:58:12.

The 34-year-old co-winner of the marathon from Whitehorse told the Star today he hadn’t met the runner from Calgary prior to the race, but they got to know each other on the trail.

Morphet said he went out hard at the start because he wanted to win the race but he and Davis kept trading positions for 30 kilometres.

“We had a few conversations on the trail, and at one point we even talked about the Calgary economy,” Morphet said.

He said at one point after the 30-kilometre mark, he and Davis talked about whether they wanted to battle it out to the very end and see who had the most gas left in the tank at the finish. Or, they could work together to keep the pace brisk and put distance between themselves and the next runners, he said.

Morphet said when you’re out front alone, you can sometimes fall into a slower pace.

It was Davis’ first time and he really liked the trail, Morphet said.

In the 21-kilometre, half-marathon, David Eikelboom finished first in a time of 1:31:00, or 11 minutes and 47 seconds ahead of second place Daniel Dreiseitl of Whitehorse, also running in the open men’s 14-39 category.

Jeff Larsen of Whitehorse finished third overall and first in the men’s 40-49 category with a time of 1:43:26.

Eikelboom won the half marathon with an average pace of 13.85 kilometres an hour.

Shawna Smith of Whitehorse set the pace for the field of women, running in the open 14-39 category and finishing with a time of 1:50:50. Whitehorse runner Susan Bogle finished second overall in a time of 1:57:56 but first in the masters 40-49 category while Jody Eikelboom of Whitehorse, running in the open 14-39 category, finished third overall with a time of 1:58:52.

Jody Eikelboom, president of the event’s organizing committee, said Sunday morning was a gorgeous morning for running, and it never got too hot, not like the sweltering temperatures they faced last year.

A full slate of well over 300 registered to participate in the different categories, which also included a marathon relay race and a half-marathon for walkers. Eikelboom said there were participants, from all over.

There were runners and from six different provinces, and the U.S. states of Wisconsin, California, Illinois and Indiana. Three runners from the United Kingdom participated.

Eikelboom said the one runner from France scheduled his visit to the Yukon around being able to participate in the Yukon River Trail Marathon.

The scenery along the trail is beautiful, she said.

“One article put us as one of the top 10 scenic races in the world.”

Eikelboom said she suspects runners are also drawn to the chance of running on a trail because there’s less impact than running on pavement and the topography offers a different challenge. There’s also more of a community feel to the event because there isn’t the thousands of participants you would see at some marathons, she said.

Of the 41 runners who completed the full marathon, eight ran in the 60-plus category and of those eight, Bill Scott of Dryden Ontario was the quickest with a time of time 4:25:08 – fast enough for 15th overall.

Six runners were between the ages of 15 and 19 and the oldest participant, a member of the marathon relay team What the Hell, was 73.

Eikelboom said next year is the 20th anniversary of the race but the exact date won’t be selected until the new year.

In the 21-kilometre, half-marathon event for walkers, Jane Haydock of Whitehorse, competing in the 50-59 category, finished first in a time of 2:24:26. Julie Jai, competing in the same age group, finished second in a time of 3:16:44 and Midori Kirby of Whitehorse, also in the 50-59 category, finished third in a time of 3:39:33.

In the marathon relay involving teams of two to four runners, the mixed team Jambalaya finished first in a time of 3:36:30, or 12 minutes off the winning pace set by the two front runners. The female team Lasses Run Their Asses was second in a time of 4:16:50 and the mixed team Technotrom was third in a time of 4:17:44.