It was a toe-to-toe race to the finish line for 23 minutes in the men’s race at the Yukon Cross-Country Ski Championships Saturday afternoon.

In the 7.5-kilometre free technique mass start race, 16-year-old Derek Deuling and 28-year-old David Greer raced together throughout the entire course on Mount McIntyre with the younger skier taking the victory by less than a boot length by 3/100ths of a second.

With all of the male age divisions racing together, Deuling won the overall race and the Taylor Trophy as well as the juvenile male division. Deuling won the race in a time of 23:01 and he was followed by Sasha Masson in the juvenile division who finished in 23:45. Victor-Emile Thibeault took third.

The championships, organized by the Grey Mountain Lions Club, featured about 90 racers in the different divisions in four new courses, chief of race Kyle Janzen said in the post-race release.

The youngest atom racers faced a one-kilometre loop in the stadium on new terrain features while the peewee racers skied a 2.5-kilometre loop and the midgets a 3.75-kilometre course.

Janzen said all of the courses featured steep and steady climbs which also paid off in the reward of frequent downhills.

In the competitive midget divisions, Noah Connell won the boy’s race 19 seconds over second-place finisher Isidore Champagne. Ross Sennett came in third for the bronze.

On the girl’s side, Kate Mason won the tight mass start 10 seconds over Maude Molgat in second. Abigail Jirousek finished in third place in the nine-competitor race.

Connell and Mason received the Schiffkorn Trophy for the fastest male and female racers under 14 years old.

The weather was on the racers side on the clear day with temperatures warming up significantly just ahead of the early afternoon race start. The recent snowfall, colder temperatures and hard work of the grooming crew made for great trails, Janzen said, noting they were as good as they have ever been.

In the masters championships, Brian Horton took top spot on the men’s side with Dominic Bradford and Chris Schmidt taking second and third spot respectively, all finishing within a minute of each other.

Meagan Wilson won the women’s competition in a time of 32:34. Laura Salmon placed second and Deb Higgins placed third.

Sonjaa Schmidt was the only finisher in the juvenile female division and took the Taylor Trophy on the women’s side with the fastest 7.5-kilometre time overall. The second fastest time came in the junior female division from Hannah Jirousek.

With the young up-and-coming skiers taking the top prizes, they will now head off to Quebec for the ski nationals starting Saturday. With no rest in between, the team will then make their way to the Northwest Territories for the Arctic Winter Games.