One hundred and twenty-five skiers were on tracks of the Whitehorse Nordic Centre this past weekend for the Northwestel Yukon Loppet.

The skiers competed in distances of 30, 20, 7.5 and 3-kilometres.

The weather conditions were as perfect as they could get with the skiers competing underneath the warmth of the sun and across fairly fast track conditions.

"It was the most outstanding conditions I have ever seen. It was absolutely beautiful,” said Leslie Doran, who placed second overall in the master's women 30-km event.

"I was smiling the entire time.”

Doran was 17 seconds behind Maura Sullivan, who posted a time of 1:55:53.4 in the event.

Doran said she spent the majority of the race jockeying for position with the top female finishers.

"It's totally friendly and awesome camaraderie,” she said. "We push each other and it's really healthy encouragement.”

Dave Brook led the men's masters category, completing the 30-km distance 1:34:37.8.

Brook was followed closely by Chris Schmidt who clocked in nine seconds behind him.

"We've had a few races together this year and he's skied really well so I had a feeling him and I would be skiing together,” said Brook.

"He got me in Anchorage a few weeks ago in a 50-km event so I guess it was my turn at the loppet.”

Brook drew some inspiration from his son Fabian who is currently competing in the Haywood Ski Nationals in Quebec, alongside Knute Johnsgaard, John Parry, Dahria Beatty, Janelle Greer, Kendra Murray, Katie Peters, David Greer and Emily and Graham Nishikawa.

Fabian picked up a gold medal in the junior boy's 10-km event and the Yukon skiers have collected a total of eight medals so far.

With the absence of that crew, Brook said it leaves the competitive field at the loppet open for anyone to win.

"Those higher-level skiers can bring out a good element but there are some strong master skiers as well,” he said.

"There's a handful of older guys that have a chance now that the younger guys are still out of town competing.”

Brook, 47, said the younger skiers provide encouragement to remain competitive.

"Usually when the kids turn around 14 they are starting to catch up and by the time they finish high school they are passing me, so it keeps you going and it's fun to race with them,” he said.

"I just really enjoy still being able to push myself at 47, it's fun to have the young and old skiers and still be able to go out and ski hard.”

Claude Chabot, executive director of the Whitehorse Cross Country Ski Club, said the attendance was down a bit from last year's event but attributed the drop to the Arctic Winter Games.

"I think people are a little burnt out from the AWG,” he said.

To compensate, Chabot said the organization attempted to put on the event with as few volunteers as possible.

"The AWG was such a big effort for everyone in town and we wanted to give people a break,” he said.

"There's a fine line between putting on a lot of events and burning out your volunteers.”

Chabot also praised the weather conditions.

"It couldn't have been any better,” he said. "We've had just an awesome year for skiing in general.”

The Whitehorse club will now begin to gear up for the Yukon Championships which will be held on March 31 and mark the end of the season.

"By then the ski team will be back in town and we'll have a celebration and race,” he said.

"It's a great event and always a lot of fun.”