The annual YXY Cross had another good turnout this year.

The bike event took place at Mount McIntyre in Whitehorse on Sept. 16.

The course featured multiple obstacles, highlighted by the Velonorth flyover jump and a water pit filled with plastic balls.

An Open race was followed by a Junior race.

20 athletes competed in the Open race, which consisted of six three-kilometre laps.

Willie Bell finished first for the second straight year in 50 minutes and 12 seconds.

"It was pretty fun overall. It was a great course and lots of fast people chasing me, so it was good motivation."

Bell said the chilly conditions were a bit different from last year, "but you don't really notice the cold."

Bell figured keeping momentum through all the tight turns was a key to his success.

He also seemed to deal with obstacles like the ball pit really well.

"There's different strategies," he remarked. "I think riding over them may be a little bit quicker, but then you might crash, so I ran over all of them, I think. That's the way to go for me."

Bell is planning on trying for a three-peat next year.

Hudson Lucier was second in 51:47:00.

Simon Connell came in third in 54:24.

Peter Embacher came in first in a group of six younger athletes that completed four laps of the three-kilometre circuit in the Open race.

Embacher, 12, said his ride was "pretty good. Really stiff on the last lap. My legs started hurting a lot. But it was really fun overall."

Embacher was very pleased with the conditions.

"It was really nice, because you didn't get too hot and you didn't get too cold. It was perfect."

The young lad said it felt good to achieve his goal.

"I was trying to get first."

Minty Bradford competed in the Open race, finishing in 1:02:24.

Bradford, 15, was the only female in the race.

"I'm kind of used to it. Two weekends ago, there was another bike race and there was two girls, so kind of normal, but it's kind of sad because I wish there was more girls, but that's how it is up here."

Bradford described her race.

"I was really cold at the start, just because of the wind and everything, but it was good. It's fun to race with all my teammates from the ski team, but also just have fun.

"I think there was a strong headwind for sure coming from the south and that was hard on the straight stretches but other than that, it was nice to not be super-hot."

Bradford was also planning on going in next years YXY.

"I hope so. It's a pretty fun race and we do it with the ski team, so we'll probably do it next year if it happens."

Bradford added she's hoping to see more girls competing next year.

Firmin Le Monnier, Nico Giangrande and Jan Zumer-Brewis raced the entire Open together and crossed the finish line holding hands.

Le Monnier, from Grenoble, France, called it the "best race of my life."

Le Monnier, 15, is in the Yukon for three months. He's attending CSSC Mercier in Whitehorse.

When asked what he thinks of the Yukon, Le Monnier responded, "Incredible. I will come back in three years."

He also used the word "incredible" to describe the Open race and said he wasn't bothered by the cold.

Giangrande, 15, said the race was "pretty good. It was fun to race with my friends, have a good time. It's not all about winning all the time."

Giangrande said they planned their big finish together.

"We did a bit of practice while no one was watching out on the course. Made sure we didn't crash in front of everyone there."

As for the race, Giangrande said he enjoyed it.

"Some of those uphills were tough but we weren't going all out, so it was good."

Zumer-Brewis, 16, said, "It was a really good race. I really enjoyed it. I wasn't feeling 100 per cent, so it was nice to find some friends to have a good race with. Still got some racing in, but had a good time overall."

Zumer-Brewis said he liked the conditions.

"Didn't overheat at all during the race, which was good."

51 athletes from ages six to 11 competed in the Junior race, and rode one or two laps of a slightly shorter circuit than the Open.

Open Results:

141 Willie Bell 50:12:00
140 Hudson Lucier 51:47:00
106 Simon Connell 54:24:00
120 Peter Sandiford 55:26:00
144 Joel Macht 57:05:00
138 Jason Metcalfe 57:46:00
108 Daniel Phillips-Freedman 58:08:00
123 Dominic Bradford 58:57:00
137 Alastair Smith 59:33:00
119 Reid Sandiford 59:59:00
142 Shea Hoffman 1:01:33
139 Michael Marceau 1:01:37
114 Fin Bradford 1:01:46
109 Minty Bradford 1:02:24
98 Alexander LeBarge 1:03:19
115 Nico Giangrande 1:05:14
121 Jan Zumer-Brewis 1:05:14
122 Firmin Le Monnier 1:05:14
143 Steven Biss 1:10:39
99 Kieran Horton 1:14:53

Four-Lap Open Finishers:

1. Peter Embacher
2. Sitka Land-Gillis
3. Kuya Wellman-Gagne
4. William Blais
5. Harry Christensen-Brown
6. Tammo Waldron