The Boreal Adventure Running Association (BARA) is set to host the 11th annual Yukon River Trail Marathon.

Participants 14 years and older can enter the marathon and four-person relay events.

This year BARA would like to introduce the Youth Marathon to encourage youth to participate in running.

The Youth Marathon is made up of kids from school Grade 1 to Grade 8. Individuals log 40 kms in distance prior to the Aug. 2 marathon date.

Then on Aug. 2 at 9:30 a.m., the youth will run the final two-km, finishing at Rotary Park. Each youth who completes the 42-km distance will receive a medal, t-shirt and certificate.

Alternately, youth could choose to log 19 km prior to the August 2 2009. Then run the final two-km on August 2 to complete the Youth Half Marathon. A medal, t-shirt and certificate will be provided to these participants as well.

Youth can register at either the InterSport Fun Run or the SportsLife Trail run.

There is no cost to register for the Youth Marathon and all youth are encouraged to come out and take part.

Once registered, youth participate in either or both of these weekly runs to accumulate kilometres to reach their goal of a half marathon (21-km) or a full marathon (42-km) distance.

The InterSport Fun Runs are held each Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at F.H Collins High School. Individuals are encouraged to show up by 6:15 p.m. to register for each run. Participants may still be charged $2 (Athletics Yukon members) or $4 (non members) for each weekly run to cover insurance.

The SportsLife Trail runs are held each Thursday at 6:30 p.m. Participants should show up by 6:15 p.m. to register for each run.

The starting location of these runs changes each week. Check the Athletics Yukon calendar at www.athleticsyukon.ca for starting location and distance for each run.

The policy has been for runners under 14 to be accompanied by an adult on the trail runs.

BARA would also like to remind all youth that the Klondike Road Relay has a new youth category this year.

This special category will start in Carcross (Leg Seven) at 4 a.m. on Sept. 12. Legs seven thru 10 have been split roughly in half, making each leg around 10-km. Each team is made up of eight runners.

The cost is $500, however if a runner registers before July 25 he or she will receive a discount of $50. Please contact Megan Freese at mfreese@sportyukon.com.