With an event that is as encompassing as the annual Klondike Road Relay, more than just the competitors who take part benefit from it being held every year.

The Skagway to Whitehorse competition is organized by Sport Yukon and is the non-profit organization's annual as well as largest fundraiser.

"It's very crucial," said Trevor Twardochleb, executive director at Sport Yukon.

"Anytime you can have a fundraiser of this magnitude it means a lot to our organization. We have staff to pay and we have programs to run and the more money that we make on this event helps us just to develop more initiatives for the community and for youth in sport and rec."

In previous years, the road relay has raised as much as $20,000 for Sport Yukon.

The money is not only put towards the programs and services that it offers, but it is also helps cover the costs involved in holding the road relay every year.

As a result of the majority of the participants being from Alaska, the relay also provides additional tourism revenue for the territory. Drawing tourists into the Yukon was one of the reason why it was founded back in the 1980s.

This year's relay began Friday night in Skagway with the first heat going at 6 p.m. Alaskan time. From there, teams left in half hour intervals working their way to Whitehorse, where the event concluded Saturday.

This year featured 139 teams, which had to have a minimum of six competitors and a maximum of 10. The different running categories of competition included open women, mixed, junior, corporate, masters open, master women and masters mixed.

In recent years, the road relay has averaged between 135 and 143 teams, while the most participation came in 1998 when there was 163 groups.

There was also a division for walkers and a one person team ultra category, which included the final four legs of the road relay.

This was the second year the ultra category was held and it featured two competitors in total, including Yukoner Keith Thaxter.

Thaxter had an exceptional run, finishing the race at 6:29:25. Thaxter's time was more than one hour faster than what he posted in 2007.

Twardochleb said he hopes the ultra category will have more participants in it next year.

"That's how the walking category started," he said. "It started with very few teams and it's built up (since). We had 15 teams (this year), so I know that's how the other categories will go, just over time."

The course was divided into 10 legs and teams chose a specific leg to race for each individual member. At 25.6 km, Leg Six, which was along the B.C. Yukon border, was the longest in the relay. The shortest was Leg three at nine-km.

Leg Three went along the White Pass Viewpoint on the Klondike Road.

In addition to the race, Sport Yukon also held a dance and awards ceremony, Saturday at the Whitehorse Curling Club, which is located in Mount McIntyre Recreation Centre.

Other winners included included Skinny Raven: Take No Prisoners. The Anchorage-based team competed in the open category and recorded the fastest 10-leg time at 10:44:01.

The next fastest time in the open category was Juneau squad To P or Not to P, which concluded the final leg at 14:17:12, while the quickest Whitehorse team was Bisquatches. Bisquatches came in fourth, finishing the relay at 15:31:17.

The women's category was won by Juneau team, Hard Women are Good to Find, coming in with a time of 15:35:46, while the top Yukon team was fourth place finisher "Feet Legal."

The Whitehorse team nearly placed third with its time of 16:09:23.

The top team in the mixed category was Pabst Blue Runners out of Anchorage. The team finished at 12:43:07, while Running Retro was the top Yukon team, placing eighth with a time of 15:14:48.

Whitehorse's Norcan Klondike Skiing Machines took top spot in the junior division, with a time of 14:15:29. There was only one team entered in this year's junior category, but Twardochleb said he hopes to increase the number of youth teams for the 2009 relay to 10 or more.

Fellow Yukon team of White's High Flyers recorded the best Canadian time at 13:15:16 to finish first in the masters open category.

White's High Flyers won the division for the first time, taking seven out of the 10 legs from their closest competitor.

Lady Gudivas, from Juneau, won the masters women division with a time of 14:25:14, while Westmark Wayfarers came in fourth. The Whitehorse squad had a time of 17:35:49.

There were no Yukon teams in the masters mixed division, which was won by Juneau team Sole Train. Sole Train came in at 15:41:47.

Yukoners continued the tradition of dominating the walking category. The top four teams were all from Whitehorse, including the winning squad of Slowly Heading North. Slowly Heading North posted a time of 8:36:33.

Skinny Raven won the corporate division with a time of 14:29:21, while the top Yukon team finished in eight place. The team was Northwestel High Speed, which finished at 16:45:57.

Twardochleb said he was happy with how the relay went this year.

"I am just happy that it goes off very well," he said. "We have been very lucky that most injuries have been minor because there are sure a lot of people on the road and you just never want anything to happen.

I have a responsibility to these runners as much as they have a responsibility for themselves to keep safe, so it's really important to me that everyone has a good time, right from the runners to the volunteers. If that happens than I am happy."