Local RCMP are reminding people to have a "clear and concise plan" before they head out into the wilderness in case they run into any emergencies.

The message comes after officers and search and rescue personnel from Pelly Crossing and Carmacks were sent out to rescue six racers in the Yukon Arctic Ultra on Saturday and found the competitors were all fine.

Police received a call from race personnel who reported their participants were in distress.

"Rescue personnel from the community of Carmacks responded and found the five race participants in good health and not in an emergency," RCMP reported in a statement.

"The race participants in the McCabe Creek (near Pelly Crossing) area was also found to be not in any distress."

"M" Division RCMP Sgt. Mark Groves said this morning at least three officers were sent out on snowmobiles to deal with the situation.

While a helicopter would have normally also been sent, conditions were too foggy.

Ultra officials could not be reached for comment. The race website notes in an entry on Saturday that a "help" message was received in Pelly Crossing from racer Joachim Rintsch at the same time that another five such messages came in from Sophie Michael and Team Helmut.

"We knew it was no life-threatening situation, but still it seemed very strange, and I was really keen on knowing ASAP what had happened," reads the entry.

"Since we were not able to be at two ends at the same time and because of the amount of help messages we decided to involve the RCMP and organize a search and rescue party from the Carmacks end. The RCMP were also going to back up our efforts from the McCabe end."

After a race official arrived at McCabe Creek, it was learned Rintsch was having trouble because fresh snow had buried the trail. It was put back in so Rintsch could continue.

Meanwhile, closer to the Carmacks side, it was found those racers had the same problem.

"All of them found it impossible to pick the right trail. In addition to that, the snow slowed them right down. Frustrated they concluded that it would be impossible to finish the race in time and pushed the help button," reads the website.

The racers received a time penalty and were moved to McCabe to start from there again.

Noting thanks to the RCMP and search and rescue officials, race officials also apologized for any inconvenience in the update on the website (www.arcticultra.de).