Ages ranged from 12 to 68 at the fourth annual Southern Lakes Bike Loppet on Saturday.

"I always find it amazing the ages of cyclists we have in the Yukon,” organizer Simi Morrison said. "A lot are 50 or 60 years old – cycling competitively.”

The youngest competitor was 12-year-old Finn Matrishon, who finished with a time of five hours, 37 minutes, 46 seconds as part of the 3-5 mixed team The Doctor's Who.

One hundred cyclists making up 38 teams started and finished the 173-kilometre, five leg loppet at Mount Lorne.

Solo men's rider Matt Burdenie took first with a time of 4:49:19, just over a minute off the bike loppet record of 4:48, set by Ian Parker in 2008.

Solo women's winner was Tamara Goeppel, who crossed the finish line in 4:55:17.

Cham Wow, made up of Sierra Van der Meer and Anthony Deloren, won the duo mixed class with a time of 4:49:18.

Duo men's riders Lawrence Ignace and Elijah Buffalo of Buggalo Buffalos won their category in 5:13:20.

Team Easy Riders – Sean MacKinnon, Nadele Flynn and Isabel Beauregard – won the 3-5 mixed group in 5:21:46.

The only women's 3-5 team, Wild Things – Jaana Schall, Eva Dembeck, Marg Wallace, Robin Hamilton and Carol Spillette – finished the event with a time of 5:53:28.

Team Brookbink – Derrick Crow, Peter Heebink, Joe Degraff, Fabian Brook and Dave Brook – won the 3-5 group in 4:53:52.

The ages on Brookbink itself ranged from 17-year-old Fabian Brook to the loppet's eldest competitor, 68-year-old Heebink.

"We were going to enter a fun team and it turned out to be a little more competitive,” Heebink said. "We got together at the last minute.

"They're all good riders. Joe Degraff, who has hardly ever ridden bikes, rode with blue jeans on,” Heebink said. "They're just all in really good shape, so they did quite well.”

Team Brookbink cyclists maintained enough speed to ride with the front pack for a portion of the race, keeping them ahead of the trailing teams.

"The frontrunners were solos and two-person teams,” Heebink said.

Heebink started the event five years ago. But the first year was a preliminary ride prior to advertising the race.

The event was conceived after the last section of chip-seal was laid between Jake's Corner and Tagish.

"Then it just seemed to me like a perfect circuit just dying to be raced,” Heebink said.

The loppet goes through five communities: Marsh Lake, Tagish, Carcross, Mt. Lorne and Golden Horn.

The starting points rotate each year.

This year the event began in Mt. Lorne. Next year it will begin in Golden Horn.

"It encompasses all these outlying communities. It's a gorgeous route, and it's a fairly doable solo ride too, for people who want to do a U.S. Century, over 100-miles, and so we're finding more solo riders every year,” Heebink said.

This year's loppet drew 13 solo riders and 25 teams.

The event is also drawing international flavour, with riders coming in from Haines and Skagway, Alaska.

"It's steadily growing, but it hasn't really mushroomed. I could see that maybe happening. But I'm not sure we want it to be on the scale of Chilkat race,” he said, referring to the Kluane Chilkat International Bike Relay, the 238.3-kilometre, eight-leg ride between Haines Junction to Haines, Alaska, which this year drew nearly 1,200 competitors.

It's better to keep the loppet more low key, Heebink said.

"It's nice because you do it in five to seven hours, there's always a beer garden and banquet at the end, so because it's a circuit, there's not a lot of shuttling.

"There's people now doing it year after year because they prefer it over the going all the way to Haines and spending three days.”