Following the most grueling run of his life, Klas Stolpe said he’s learned at least one thing about himself.

“I will never eat another goo again as long as I live,” the 55-year-old sports editor of the Juneau Empire told the Star Saturday.

Stolpe and fellow Juneau runner, Houston Laws, became the first two runners to complete the entire 176.5-km route in one swoop over the rain-filled weekend.

The two rested at several points, attempting to refuel their bodies with energy gel treats, known as goo.

“I hit a couple of walls,” said Stolpe, who said his longest previous run was close to 100 kilometres in the mountains surrounding Juneau.

“This is totally different. I hate pavement. We took it a step at a time.

“Toward the last half of the race, we figured out we were going to walk up the hills ... There were muscles getting sore that I never knew I had.”

The duo averaged 7.4 kph, and crossed the finish line in less than 24 hours. Stolpe’s race ended in 23:34:34, six seconds ahead of Laws.

The two were accompanied by an aid truck throughout their journey.

Stolpe completed the race in honour of the late Glenn Frick, who died of lung cancer in June. Frick was the only one to compete in every relay since its inception in 1983.

“Glenn really is responsible for a lot of the mountain running in Juneau,” Stolpe said. “I really wanted to do something special for Glenn, so I tried the whole thing because he had actually wanted to try it once.”

Frick, 73, was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer last summer, shortly after completing a 29-km run from a glacier back to the Alaskan capital.

“He did it on a quarter of a lung,” Stolpe said. “He was just a special person to a lot of people.”

Stolpe and Laws will both have their names added to the Senator’s Cup this year, Sport Yukon executive director Tracey Bilsky confirmed today.

A relay team from Juneau also completed this year’s race in Frick’s honour, carrying a baton full of his ashes. Still Runnin With Glenn placed third in the Masters Mixed category.

The Klondike Road Relay is Sport Yukon’s annual fund-raiser.

However, despite record numbers of teams and participants, the organization is actually projecting a revenue loss this year. Bilksy said weather and changes to post-race programming both played a factor.

“Believe it or not, we may actually lose money on this one,” she said.

Rain hampered beverage sales at the beer garden located at the finish line in Rotary Peace Park, while alcohol sales from the dance at the High Country Inn – a new location – did not go to support Sport Yukon.

Specific numbers were not yet available, said Bilsky.