The 11th anniversary of the Yukon River Trail Marathon is set to take place Sunday.

Runners have an option of running the full marathon (42.2 km), half-marathon (21.1km), or run the full marathon as a four-person relay team.

As of the Thursday, the online registration cut-off, there were 238 registered participants.

Among the racers include about 180 Yukon runners (33 from other Canadian provinces, 20 from the USA, one from Spain, two from Germany, one from Mexico and one from Gambia).

Ninety-one of the runners are registered in the half-marathon, 36 in the full marathon and a total of 111 runners make up the four-person relay teams.

"It's a good total so far," said Keith Thaxter, president of Boreal Adventure Running Association. "We typically have around 250 or 260 and we still have two days of registration left, so I anticipate we will probably get over 250."

Runners may still register for the marathon at SportsLife today from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday, from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

As in most North American marathon events in recent years, more than 60 per cent of the participants are female. The Yukon River Trail marathon is no exception with 150 females registered to date.

"It's surprising, it just keeps increasing everywhere you go," said Thaxter about the growing number of women runners.

On Sunday, the full marathon starts at 8:30 a.m., the relay at 9:30 a.m. and the half-marathon at 10 a.m.

If a runner thinks they might exceed 5.5 hours, they should consider opting for the early start at 7 a.m.

The extra 1.5 hours should give them enough time to complete the course safely, and allow the volunteers to get home at a reasonable time after putting in a long day.

A BBQ and refreshments will be available post-race, with the awards ceremony taking place at 2:30 p.m.

As well, registered participants and volunteers are entered in a draw for a round trip airfare courtesy of Air North.

Other changes this year include the installation of permanent trail signs on most of the marathon course. As well, the City of Whitehorse trail development crew has smoothed out several rough areas and implemented some switchbacks on the course to make the trails easier to run.

Race organizers have also altered Leg One of the marathon course for safety reasons. The slide on the goat trail section of the clay cliff is unstable. The running association now has runners running up the Miles Canyon road for abut one-km to avoid the slide area before starting the trail section.

Organizers are working on options for next year to minimize running on the road.

However, this may require creating a new trail.

Besides ribbons and ground paint, license plate-sized signs will make this year's trail. There is approximately 100 in total over the course of the four legs.

Thaxter said the heat is a concern and urges runners to be careful on Sunday.

One of his recommendations is bringing a bottle of water, which could be filled up at one of the water stations, located approximately every five-km.

"The course is very challenging with the hills that they are going to want to make sure they don't get dehydrated," he said. "If it's super-hot, slow down a little bit, take a little more time because you want to avoid becoming dehydrated by trying to rush too hard. I think that's the important thing."

The Yukon Ski Patrol will be out on the course to make sure every runner makes it safely to the finish line.

More information on the marathon, people can be found at:

www.yukonmarathon.com.