Sunday's dryland dog races took competitors through a trickier course than usual.

Held at Cynthia Corriveau's place, the Yukon Brewing Hot Hounds Dryland races ran through thick woods, down hills and around hairpin turns.

"She marked out a really interesting trail through the trees in the woods,” former organizer Jonathan Lucas said. "It was very twisty and turny. I called it the ‘Mad Max' trail, because it was very narrow and very twisty through a lot of trees. It was really exciting with one dog, let alone two or three dogs.”

The event featured one-mile races for the one pet dog, one sled dog and one canicross events, as well as what Lucas called the Mad Max two-miler for two-four dogs.

The average dryland race trails are more wide open with fewer turns, to say the least.

"There's not so many 90-degree turns usually,” Lucas said. "You notice a lot of tire drags with people slamming on the brakes because they're approaching too fast. There's a very specific warning at the start, that if you go too fast, it's your own fault.

"It was technically challenging, but it was very good fun.”

Lucas won the pet dog race with his dog Asha, and in the two-four dog event, enlisted the help of his second rottweiler, Puck.

"He had a great time, charging along,” Lucas said. "It was just a lot of downhill through the trees on wet, leafy, muddy soil; felt pretty unstable, and felt like you could come off quite easily. There was a fine line between going fast enough to do well and fast enough to slam into a tree. And there were a lot of trees.”

Some 20 racers took to the trees, quite a good turnout, by Lucas' estimation.

"It's kind of normal, which is a good turnout for us in the summer. We've been trying hard to organize and get the information out there. It was a good turnout. It was better than the last one,” Lucas said.

The next dryland race will take place in early October on a course dryland regulars will recognize at Mike and Jessica Simon's on the Mayo road.

That course will offer its own challenges, Lucas said.

"That's a hard-working course. There's a lot of hills and there's a lot of sand on those hills,” Lucas said. "If it's frosty, the sand is nice and packed. If it's not frosty, it's just soft sand, and it's hard work.”