With long strides crunching the snow, Luke Carlos breaks the silence of the Mount McIntyre ski trails.

The snowy backdrop might not invite the average runner to don a tank top and shorts.

Not that Carlos is an average runner.

Not that this is an average run.

Some 15 brave souls took to the trails Sunday to compete in the Yukon Cross Country Championships.

But as a runners agreed, the conditions were refreshing, with the sun breaking its way through the clouds for most of the event.

This is, after all, the Yukon, and stranger things have happened than snowfall in September.

"These conditions were actually pretty good; the snow was pretty sticky, I don't think anybody wiped out the whole time, so that's not bad,” Carlos said.

"I was wearing spikes, so that gave me a little better grip; and even going down the hill, you could just go full tilt.”

Carlos has competed in the Yukon championships four of the past 10 years, he figures.

Like a few of the others, he uses the territorial competition as a training ground for the upcoming B.C. Cross Country Championships, near the end of October.

Carlos finished first in the open mens' category (20-39-years), running 7.2 kilometres in 27.33.

Granted, he was the only competitor in that category.

No matter. It's about challenging yourself to beat previous times, he says.

And simply getting out, regardless of the conditions.

"I was a little worried,” Carlos said of the snow, "but as time went on, temperatures started going up and up, and by the time we got here, it was like five or six degrees.”

On the weekends, Carlos preps for nationals by running on a treadmill for roughly 30 minutes. The rest of his training consists of intervals and distance running.

"I think I'm really starting to get into form, and I still got four weeks until B.C.,” Carlos said.

Carlos will be running the 10 km in B.C., where the course is typically flatter, he says.

"Generally the courses down there are a lot more gentle rolling, not as challenging as this course at all; you don't have the steep up hills or the steeper down hills. It's generally quite fast,” Carlos said.

Deb Jonasson took a different approach to the championships.

Jonasson finished the masters one 5.4-km run in 26.51. The snow made the run tricky, she said.

"But the snow was sticky and I had good footing – and it made for a more interesting run,” Jonasson said.

The prospect of running in the snow was no deterrent for Jonasson, who went for a jaunt the previous day, when the city was blanketed with thicker clouds and heavier slush.

She was determined to make this her first Yukon Championships.

"I always wanted to do it, and I never found out about it in enough time to get out to it.”

Complete results are as follows:

7-9 years: 1 Km

Dylan Cozens 08.35

Andrew Roberts 08.49

Bantam (12-13 years): 2.8 Km

Caelan McLean 14.38

Midget (14-15 years): 2.8 Km

Kieran Halliday 13.49

Aidan Bradley 14.15

Open (20-39 years): 7.2 Km

Luke Carlos 27.33

Masters men one: 5.4 Km

Tom Ullyett 25.09

Francis Whiteman 32.06

Grant Macdonald 37.14

Masters men two (60+): 5.4 Km

Don White 26.39

Brian Mottus 31.06

Keith Lay 32.07

Masters women: 5.4 Km

Sue Bogle 26.51

Masters women one: 5.4 Km

Debra Jonasson 26.51

Masters women two (55+): 5.4 Km

Ginny Macdonald 37.14