Cross country skiers young and old gathered Saturday at Mt. McIntyre Recreation Centre to take part in the annual Sportees Sprints.

Blue skies and sun highlighted the day, making it pleasant for both skiers and spectators at the event.

"Sprints are always fun," said Claude Chabot, a technical delegate at the Sportees Sprints. "It is a nice event to have because it is over quickly. Its lots of action all of the time and you can see the whole race, so you are not only competing, but you can see your friends competing."

The Sportees Sprints is the only sprint race held at the Whitehorse Cross Country Ski Club during the season. This year also marked the first time the races were held in the classic technique style, making the event even more special.

The classic technique is more beneficial to skiers who have a greater level of upper body strength. Racers who had mastered the double pulling technique had a definite advantage in Sunday's competition.

In a classic sprint it is easy to get boxed in because of the tracks, whereas in a skating sprint you have a little bit more freedom to move around the course, which makes the race a little bit more strategic.

The competition was held in an almost round robin format, which wasn't a timed event and featured a no-knockout rule. Skiers raced three times regardless of placing.

Racers who finished first in the opening heat would move on to ski against competitors who placed first in their heat as well.

This format was repeated once again at the conclusion of the second round for determining the winners at the event.

In total, 34 people registered for the sixth annual ski race. Registration cost $10 and was due by Feb. 19th.

The two main categories in the sprint race this year included junior and senior.

Juniors were skiers 11 years old and under, while seniors were skiers aged 12 and older.

All of the prizes at the event were donated by Sportees Active Wear and the winning prize for the top male and female skier in each category was a Sportees hat.

This year, David Greer won the seniors category, which beat out Yukon Ski Team head coach Alain Masson, who also competed in the same category.

Ziggy Reimer won top female honours in the seniors division. Marcus Dueling won the junior category for best male skier and Morgan Paul was the top junior female cross country skier.

Draw prizes were also handed out in the ski chalet after the conclusion of the event.

Chabot said it is beneficial to change the race technique every so often for this competition.

"We had never done a classic technique sprint race before and so we thought it would be a good idea to try just to see how we would do the stadium setup and plus our skiers never had a chance to do one, so it's good for them as well," he said. "It is very different from a skating type sprint, the strategies are a little different and the skills are different."

He said it is important to hold at least one sprint race every year.

"We are a breeding ground for national skiers and regional level skiers and they need experience at different techniques and different formats," Chabot said. "Just to get the experience, so when you go to a westerns or a nationals or an Arctic Winter Games for the kids that are going outside to compete they are not faced with a race they have never done before. It's important to do races like this not only for the skiers, but also as officials to keep us sharp too."

Chabot was pleased with the how the event went and said the format used this year was particularly effective.

"This is a new format that we have kind of developed ourselves where everybody advances to multiple rounds as opposed to sprinting for two minutes and then you're gone for the day," he said. "So the kids don't have to come and sprint once and then go home basically, which is what's happened in the past.

The other thing is it gives them more experience, so no matter what level you are at, you can end up sprinting with some people who are close to you in terms of speed, so it makes it more fun for the kids to sprint against people who are very close to them in speed and not just kids adults too."

Duchane Richard has been cross-country skiing for more than 30 years, but her participation at this year's Sportees Sprints marked the first time she has ever raced in a sprint event. She said she was glad about taking part in the race.

"It was really fun," she said. "It was the first time I have ever done sprints, so I didn't think I would be very competitive, but the way they had it setup it was just really fun. I was skiing with people of all different ages, like from young kids to myself; I was probably the oldest one here. Once they started it flowed along really fast and it was fun."

Richard is leaving for Idaho today to compete in the Masters World Cup. She used the Sportees Sprints to prepare herself a little for the event, which will feature 10-km, 20-km and 30-km races.

"It gives you three duplicates of starts of races, so that's good because if you don't get the start solid you are not going to pass all those people," she said. "If you are too slow in the start then you have to pass all of those people later and sometimes that takes a lot of energy to pass people."

She said she was pleased with her performance.

"I didn't win anything, but I thought I was competitive," Richard said. "In the first heat I was third, the second I was second and in the final heat I think I was fourth. I just didn't have the speed in the final close to the finish line that the younger kids have. Their legs can go a mile a minute and they just smoke by you."

Richard said it was fun racing against the younger skiers and the race was special just because it was the first time she has skied in a sprint.

"I think when you do anything for the first time it's always a little special because you never done it before," she said. "It's a good thing to do things you never done before."

Richard isn't sure if she will take part in next year's Sportees Sprints, but she was happy about her decision to race in Sunday's competition.