More than 50 kilometres skied, and the finish came down to inches.

During the inaugural Yukon Ski Marathon, a 50 or 20K nordic race through the Yukon wilderness, Knute Johnsgaard edged Colin Abbott by 0.6 seconds to take the win.

“Knute and I were trading the lead and pushing each other,” said Abbott, who was also the race organizer. “It’s really a test of endurance, whoever can last the longest.”

Johnsgaard, who just wrapped up his season racing with the Canadian national team, clocked in at two hours, 14 minutes and 22.7 seconds.

The 50K race began at the Mount Lorne Community Centre Sunday morning and travelled 30 kilometres before joining up with the same track the 20K skiers would use from Mount Sima to the finish at Mount Mac.

Bluebird conditions greeted the skiers along the way. A 20 km/h tail wind helped speed them along as the temperature hovered around zero degrees.

Some skiers were spotted wearing shorts en route to the finish.

The idea for the Yukon Ski Marathon had been floating around for a few years, Abbott said.

He and others had looked at what made people like skiing popular long races around the world. One of the things they noticed was that the races were point to point, with racers being bussed to the start. They were also on trails that people wouldn’t normally have the opportunity to ski.

“We thought that would be possible to do in Whitehorse,” said Abbott.

They looked at trails from Mount Lorne to Mount McIntyre and a few connectors that aren’t normally maintained to make up the course.

“It’s an opportunity to ski trails that you wouldn’t if you were skiing at Mount Mac all winter,” he said. “It allows you to cover a long distance while you’re supported as well.”

The final course had skiers travelling “pretty much the extent of the Whitehorse Valley,” said Abbott.

To make the race different than other loppets offered in the area, they also opened the technique up to skate and classic, since the trail would be wide enough for the skate stride through most of the course.

With the final grooming taking place Saturday, the corduroy froze overnight and made for lightning fast skate conditions the morning of the race.

The Ski Marathon was originally planned for March 5, and then March 12, but scheduling and cold weather pushed the race to April 2.

More than 150 people started the ski marathon, either at Sima or Mt. Lorne, which was more than Abbott had expected.

“We were expecting maybe 60, 70, 80 people would sign up,” he said.

Abbott was also surprised by how many people opted to ski the 50K race. About 80 skiers started in Mount Lorne.

Categories the top three females to ski 50K were: Kendra Murray (2:31:28.7), Verena Koenig (2:57:42.4) and Sara Nielsen (2:58:16.2).

The top three males were: Johnsgaard (2:14:22.7), Abbott (2:14:23.3) and Matthias Purdon (2:14:28.5).

In the 20K, the top three females were: Julie McVicar (56:15.3), Amanda Thomson (57:43.8) and Hannah Jirousek (57:44.3).

There was a four-way tie for first in the 20K male division with Sasha Masson, Derek Deuling, Nichollis Schmidt and Victor Thibeault all crossing the line in 54:36.9.

In the 20K junior male division, Felix Masson was first (1:02:28.3), Isidore Champagne was second (1:04:02.8) and Noah Connell was third (1:04:25.3).

In the 20K junior female division, Bella Mouchet and Maude Molgat tied for first (1:17:16.6) while Lisa Freeman was third (1:30:50.6).

While the race organizers are still wrapping up this year’s event, Abbott hasn’t ruled out a return of the ski marathon next year.

“There’s a lot of buzz about it,” he said. “I imagine it may become an annual thing.”