It was an uphill battle for more than a few reasons for runners in Thursday's Sportslife Trail Run on the SFD and 'Girlfriend' trails by Grey Mountain Road.

The SFD mountain bike trail, which links onto the 'Girlfriend' portion as well, is one of the more difficult courses used by the running group because of the hilly terrain featured throughout the entire run.

"This one was a good one because it's a gut buster on the way up and I'm pleased to see that people are daunted by the hills," said Nancy Thomson, organizer of the Thursday night trail running series. "We have some really good regulars that come out all of the time and they are always here. They never miss a week and they love it."

Participants in Thursday's run had to overcome a narrow, hilly terrain, which included a few wet patches along the way.

The run was approximately seven-km in length and the course was set up so that it looped around to conclude at the same location where it first began.

This is the second year the Sportslife Trail Run has been held. The Trail and Ultra Running Association of the Yukon put on the weekly competition.

Sports Life sponsors the run and contributes money for the flagging, while Energy North is another major sponsor and donates the refreshments each week.

One of the special things about the Thursday night trail run is the fact that it uses a wide variety of courses. Some of the different trail areas used at this event include Chadburn Lake, Porter Creek, Crestview and Hidden Lake.

Despite temporarily losing one of his dogs nearing the end of the race, Bill Matiation finished in the top spot with a time of 37:08.

It was a thrilling finish for Matiation, who just narrowly beat out second place finisher Darren Holcombe by a mere 10 seconds.

Matiation said he isn't a regular participant in the Thursday night trail run, but he hopes to attend the remaining meets during the season, which concludes Oct. 18 with a championship run.

"It's a good test of endurance," Matiation said. "I want to do some more trail runs and I want to do some more runs where I am trying really hard and gutting it pretty hard.

This is a good opportunity to come out and put in a good effort."

Matiation said this week's course was challenging.

"It was a good tough," he said. "You can't just build up to a fast pace and keep it, you have to vary the pace. It's a good workout."

Fred Vandenot rounded out the top three with his time of 38:08, while Olivier Pellegrin wasn't too far behind, coming in at 42:57.

Tracey Taylor locked down sixth spot with her time of 48:53, while Lene Nielsen finished the race with a time of 52:33.

Twelve-year-old Nahanni Dynes made history as the youngest runner to ever compete in the Sportslife Trail Run. Her finishing time was 59 minutes.

Runners who are 14 and under have to be accompanied by an adult when competing in the Thursday trail run.

Dynes said she chose to take part in this week's trail run to help her prepare for September's road relay. Dynes will compete on the CBC team in the road relay and plans on racing leg three, which is 13-km.

She said doesn't really have a goal for the road relay.

"This is my first time, so my expectations aren't that high, but it would be nice to do it in an hour and 20 minutes."

Dynes said she enjoyed taking part in the trail run for the first time.

"It was pretty fun," she said. "It's a good run to come out and do."

The Sportslife Trail Run series will conclude with a championship run for the first time this year. The run will begin on this SFD mountain bike trail and finish in Riverdale.

Thomson hasn't charted the overall distance yet, but she guesses it would be around 14-km.

Medals will be given out to the top three finishers in each category at the championship run, which will include male, female, junior, and masters open age groups. There will also be an awards banquet that will conclude the event.

Thomson said the course for the championship offers a really nice run.

"I do it all of the time and it's got great downhill on it," she said. "You can't have a trail run without some up hills, so there is a couple of big hills, but not that many, so I think it will be fun. A lot of people might go 'Oh running season is way over', but for some of us running season never ends."

She said it is important to end the series with a championship run this year.

"I just think it is a fun way of sort of recognizing and celebrating all of the people who just enjoy trail running as much as I do," Thomson said. "I just love that people really like it and have come to rely on it, so I think it would be fun."

Next week's trail run will be held at Mount McIntyre and is about seven-km in length. The course is ranked as moderate in overall difficulty and will use a variety of ski trails.