Members of the Copper Haul Twister league celebrated Valentine's Day in typical style Sunday, racing their dog teams through twists and turns, ups and downs.

Sixteen teams ran the eight-mile race, with Tony Radford on a five-dog sled taking the win with a time of 29:15. Radford adds ten points to his total for the season, giving him a handy 12 point lead over second-place holder Jon Lucas. The Copper Haul Twister League rules require every contestant to take a break from racing and volunteer at one of the six annual events before they are eligible to win any cash prizes.

"If you want to get that kind of money, you must volunteer for one race and pitch in,” organizer Jon Lucas explained.

Radford hasn't volunteered for a race yet. The winner of the $250 top prize is still undecided with two races to go.

The eight-mile runners up are:

• Chrystal Bartzack, on a five-dog sled at 31:51

• Stefan Wackerhagen, on two-dog skis, at 32:46

• Darryl Sheepway, four-dog skis, at 33:04

• Jon Lucas, on three-dog skis, at 33:30

• Darrell Otto, on a five-dog sled, at 34:38

• Gunter Glaser, on a five-dog sled, at 35:50

• Claudia Wickert, on three-dog skis, at 36:05

• Fabian Schmitz, on a five-dog sled, at 36:13

• Dave Desmarais, on a five-dog sled, at 37:40

• Martine Lelevier, on a five-dog sled, at 38:09

• Amil Dupuis-Rossi, on a five-dog sled, at 41:12

• Jeff Diment, on a five-dog sled, at 41:21

• Brian McDougall, on a five-dog sled, at 43:26

• Stephanie Routlie, on a five-dog sled, at 44:08

• Debbie Last, on a five-dog sled, at 46:15

Not to be outdone by faster teams, Last took home the prize for best-dressed sled and musher award in the form of 10 blocks of Icy Waters' arctic char dog food.

Lucas said he is happy to see more skijorers joining the twister league.

"When we started this series we would get two or three skijorers each race, now were seeing double that,” he said. "It adds a lot to the competition and it's just great to see people out there on skis.”

Three single pet dog skijoring teams competed on a five-kilometre course with Miriam Lukszova taking the win in 13 minutes 38 seconds. She was followed by Pippa Lawson and her dog Tiramasu at 16:05 and Jon Lucas with dog Asha at 19:28.

Seth Carey was the lone competitor in the five-kilometre kids' race, which he and his five-dog sled team finished in 13 minutes, 22 seconds.

The Copper Haul Twister league has two more races this season, on Mar. 7 and 21, before they head up to Dawson for the Percy DeWolfe Memorial.

Lucas also announced today that the first annual Road Relay 100 is a go now that 10 mushers and three skijorers have signed up for the 160-km race from Whitehorse to Haines Junction, scheduled for Feb. 27.

If the race is a success, the plan is to double the distance and start working toward accreditation as a Quest qualifier.

"Basically if you live in Whitehorse you have to drive to Alaska or Saskatchewan in order to run the races to qualify for the Quest,” Lucas said. "If we can get this as a qualifier, Yukoners won't have to burn as much gas or money to get their races in.”

Mushers must successfully complete one 200-mile and one 300-mile sled dog race in order to qualify for the Yukon Quest, which wrapped up today.

So far the purse for the RR100 is at around $4,000, Lucas said, adding that number may rise as more racers sign up in the next week.