There was no shortage of participants in the 10th annual Yukon River Trail Marathon Sunday, starting at Rotary Peace Park.

Two-hundred and forty nine individuals donned runner bibs for this year's race.

The high participation helped continue the tradition of maintaining the marathon's status as one of the staple annual running events in Whitehorse.

"The whole event went really well; we are very happy," said Keith Thaxter, president of the Boreal Adventure Running Association (BARA). "The focus in this event is still participation and everybody's a winner who actually comes out and enjoys the day."

With a possible exception of the lack of sun, perfect running conditions highlighted the race, which included a temperature of around 16 C.

This year's event attracted no shortage of Outside participation. The out-of-territory competition came from many locations, including Alaska, California, Florida, Connecticut, Alberta, B.C., Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan. There was even a participating runner from Slovakia, who attended Sunday's event.

Runners had until Saturday to register for the race at the cost of $55. However, there was also an early bird discount, which was $45 for all runners who registered before July 1.

With the entry fee, all participants were given an orange and white tech-shirt, which had a $50 store retail value. The shirts are specially designed for active wear and included the names of the trail marathon's sponsors on the back.

Additionally, polar fleece shirts were also purchased by BARA for the 70 volunteers in Sunday's marathon.

There was no cash prize awarded for the top finishers at the trail marathon, but the fastest three times in each category received a certificate commemorating the experience.

All individuals who ran in either the half or full marathon also took home a participation medal regardless of their finishing time.

With 56 runners, the full marathon had nearly double the amount of participants than in 2007.

This was a record number for the very tough 42.2 km course, which began at Rotary Peace Park and featured the Millennium Trail, Schwatka Lake, the Miles Canyon Bridge, the Escarpment, Chadburn Lake, Chadden Lake, Hidden Lakes and a couple of large hills.

The Open Marathon women's category was won by Kelowna B.C.'s Mel Bos Kelowna, who finished with a time of 3h34:48. His time just edged out Yukon runner Chantal Gagne of Whitehorse, who completed the marathon at 3h38:27 3:39 to finish in second place. Danielle Pratt of Anchorage Alaska was the next female runner to cross the finish line, coming in at 3h53:16.

Whitehorse runners finished in the top two positions for the women's masters marathon category with Nancy Thomson taking top honours among the eight other runners.

Thomson finished at 4h18:18, which was just under eight minutes quicker than fellow Whitehorse resident Debra Leigh's time of 4h26:13. Kelly Hostetler, who resides in Haines, Alaska, rounded out the top three in the women's category with her time of 4h31:08.

With only two competitors featured, the master plus women's marathon had one of the smaller participation totals in Sunday's event.

Janet Green of Courtenay, B.C. ended up winning her category with an impressive time of 4h25:42, which was nearly one and a half hours faster than runner up Kim Lac La Biche of Alberta.

It was a close battle to the finish line between two Whitehorse residents in the men's open marathon category. In the end, Simon Lapointe was able to edge out fellow Yukoner Yanik Freeman by just over one minute with his time of 3h32:51.

Benjamin Seale of Skagway, Alaska wasn't too far off the pace, finishing in third at 3h37.

Thaxter had a great race in the master men's category, lowering his time in 2007 by 15 minutes to take the top spot at 3h24:36. He was able to hold off Huntsville Alabama's Ray White and Greg Foreman, who both finished at 3h27:48.

It was an impressive sweep for Whitehorse runners in the master plus men's category, which was won by Ken Sylvestre with a time of 4h20:33. Coming in exactly five minutes later was Ross Knox, who was followed by Francis Whiteman at 4h37.

Three Yukoners battled it out for top spot in what was a pulse pounding women's open half marathon final. Carrie Burbidge was able to just beat out Julie Cossette with a time 1h55:05. Cossette was just 40 seconds off the pace and was followed by Josianne Markley, who came in at 1h55:53. The first 22 runners to finish in the women's open category were from Whitehorse.

Sue Bogle of Whitehorse blew away all of her competition in the women's masters half marathon category, finishing with a time of 1h47:30. Bogle's time was more than 20 minutes faster than her closest rival.

This was the first time in six years Bogle has entered the River Trail Marathon. She said felt good to win her category.

"I don't do a lot of trail races, so it was kind of fun to do something different from the road and there is so many great trails out here," Bogle said. "It just makes sense to run a trail race in the Yukon."

Suzanne Duncan finished in second place, while Lisa Diekmann of Bozeman Montana completed the race with the third fastest time at 2h09:05.

With the exception of one participant from Edmonton, the masters plus women's category featured an all Whitehorse line up. When the dust settled it was Margaret Mundell who ended up with the top time at 2h13:39. She was followed by fellow Whitehorse resident Brenda Morrison, who was not even one minute and a half off Mundell's pace. Brenda Dion of Whitehorse came in at 2h20:08 to finish in the third spot.

Whitehorse runners continued their domination of the half marathon in the men's open category, winning the top three spots. Zeb Brown was the first to cross the finish line at 1h35:55, followed by Joel Macht at 1h40:09 and then Sebastien Markley at 1h40:17.

Stephen Waterreus of Whitehorse beat out all other runners in the men's masters category with his time of 1h28:29, which was just over seven minutes faster than Dan Shier's time and more than 12 minutes quicker than the final pace recorded by Ian Moore.

Whitehorse's Tom Ullyett showed off his skills on the dirt path, winning the master plus men's half marathon category with an overall time of 1h36:23. Ullyett managed to hold off his closest competitor in James Madden of London Ontario, who was just over six minutes off his pace. Nick Stratis of Whitehorse finished in third place after posting a time of 1h57:43.

The Daring Doerings from Whitehorse won the two person men's relay category with an overall time of 3h27:54, while Whitehorse team Shiewf and Foz claimed the top time in the two person relay mixed category, finishing at 3h59:04.

Eight Cheeks to the Wind from Whitehorse won the women's four person relay with a time of 3h54:11, while Team Awesom-O from Fort McMurray, Alberta finished in fist for the men's four person relay with a time of 4h24:24.

Over the Horizon, who were from Whitehorse won bragging rights in the mixed four person relay coming in at 4h:23.