Run for Mom celebrated its 14th year on Sunday morning, as supporters gathered at the S.S. Klondike for the annual event.

This year's initiative has raised $36,000 so far with more money expected to come in over the next few weeks.

Aside from the Whitehorse event, runs were also held in Carmacks, Watson Lake and Atlin, B.C., while Christ the King Elementary School hosted a run today.

"The only way this happens is with a huge amount of community support,” said MLA Kate White, who thanked the Studio in Granger Mall for their efforts to support the event. The Studio donated 100 per cent of proceeds from pink headbands sold the week leading up to the event and 10 per cent of all sales from Saturday.

The campaign also received a significant boost from local resident Wendy Callahan.

Callahan has taken part in the Run for Mom since 1999 and has raised over $95,000 in that time, including $10,800 this year.

Her efforts were recognized by David Johnston, Governor General of Canada, when she was awarded the Governor General's Caring Canadian Award along with 28 other volunteers from across the country in April.

"This event helps get the dialogue going,” said White.

"The Run for Mom helps us break down social barriers, which means more women are diagnosed earlier and that's huge.”

Participants braved chilly weather as temperatures dipped with strong winds.

Val Pike, the chair for the Run for Mom, said the weather may have kept some people at home this year.

"Unfortunately, we can't control the weather, " she said.

"It was a very windy day and not very warm so I think participant numbers were down from previous years. Usually we get around 1,200 or 1,500 people and I'd say we got about half that.”

Despite the lowered attendance, the dollar figures remain on track with more money expected to come in over the next few weeks.

"It's our 14th year now so we've got the kinks worked out,” said Pike. "It was a great day and things went really well.”

The event began in 1999 when Tamara Goeppel and a volunteer organizing committee came together to form an event where proceeds would remain in the territory.

Goeppel, along with Donna Jones, held the Yukon's first breast cancer run in 1997 but after successfully raising $40,000 in the national event, less than half of the proceeds stayed in the territory.

That money, $18,000, was the first deposit toward the new mammogram machine that was purchased for the Whitehorse General Hospital in 2002.

Under the current structure, all of the money raised at the Run for Mom events throughout the territory stays in the Yukon.

In 2009, a digital mammography unit was installed in the Medial Imaging Department at the hospital. The cost of the machine was close to $700,000, all of which was fundraised through Run for Mom.

The event has also funded a new handout detailing what to expect at a mammogram, supported the Paddlers Abreast canoe team, and funded two local breast cancer survivors to attend the International Congress on Breast Cancer in 2008.

"The community is very generous,” said Pike.

"We're well established now and people know on Mothers Day you just come out and support the Run for Mom and the breast health initiatives we're able to fund.”