Seventy-five runners have run all 10 legs of the Klondike Trail of '98 International Road Relay.

That's 176.5 total kilometres over a decade.

And this year that group will be immortalized on what Senator Dan Lang is dubbing the 10-leg challenge.

"And what this does is that if you go your three or four times, all of a sudden you see this goal and say, ‘I can run all the way from Skagway to Whitehorse,' and there's an award at the end, a recognition at the end, and you become part of the Stanley Cup of running,” Lang said.

The Senator's Cup, which was announced on Sept. 8, will be unveiled after this year's road relay, and feature the name's of all 75 runners who have run legs one to 10.

And there's still plenty of room for names.

Lang is one of the 75 names now decorating the cup. This year, the senator will be running his 15th leg of the relay.

The cup will add to that sense of accomplishment for runners, he said.

"At the end of 12 years, whenever you finally put it together, you say, ‘Gee, I did that,'” Lang said."I just felt that I'd really accomplished something, that at the end of the day I can say I've run from Skagway to Whitehorse.”

Lang said he trains every second day to prepare.

"Rain or shine you do your fitness for an hour and a half a day.”

Promoting exercise was another component of the cup, he added.

Lang said one area that has become a concern nationwide is obesity from a lack of fitness.

"This is truly a social event, no matter your size, no matter your shape, no matter how fast you are, you can participate, and it does get people out the door and away from the TV,” he said.

The idea for the cup has been talked about within the road relay community for some time.

So why not recognize those who have hustled through the rain and sleet more than 10 years?

Sport Yukon president George Arcand said people have been running the relay since 1983, the inception of the event.

It's about time.

"It's certainly been a conversation piece among the runners for a long time,” Arcand said. "It's kind of neat to see 75 people who have run 10 legs. And in fact, some of these people have run more than 10 legs; they've run several legs twice or three times. So even though they're getting credit for 10 legs they've probably run more in some cases.”

Then it was just a matter of researching the names of the golden 75, and then get the trophy engraved, Arcand added.

"Dan decided that we've talked about it long enough. We've always had people saying, ‘How many legs have you run?' you hear that conversation all the time, and so it was time to put it together. It was his thought, and we were pleased to do it.”

The first group in this year's road relay will begin 6 p.m. (Alaskan Time Zone) on Sept. 10 in front of the National Park Service Building in Skagway, followed by the remaining groups at 30-minute intervals.

The road relay will follow the trail of the Gold Rush Stampeders over the famous White Pass, through British Columbia, and back into the Yukon.

The 176.5-km relay is broken into 10 legs varying in distance from 9-25.6 km, starting at sea level and climbing to an elevation of 1,004 metres in the first two legs before descending to approximately 610m towards the finish line.

Saturday, Sept. 11, will see runners leave checkpoint 10 (Carcross Corner at the Alaska Highway) no later than 1 p.m. and walkers leave at 12 p.m., with the race finish set for Rotary Peace Park at 3 p.m., the dance at 6:30 p.m. and awards ceremony at 8 p.m., both to be held at Mt. McIntyre/Whitehorse Curling Club.

There are eight official categories: open, mixed, women, junior, masters open, masters mixed, masters women and corporate; along with three special categories, walking, ultra and youth.