If running 21 km, while attempting to find a series of checkpoints wasn't hard enough for participants in Sunday's Whitehorse Adventure Run (WAR) the unexpected arrival of snow helped provide an additional challenge.

In an extremely tight finish, Peak Adventure beat out Happy Toilet by less than two minutes, finishing at 2:42:23 to win the race.

"Anytime you win it's always good," said Greg McHale, a member of Peak Adventure. "We obviously wanted to win, that was our main goal."

The WAR format involved a two-person team who competed in a race by using their skills at cross-country running, basic navigation and map reading.

The courses used in WAR are always suitable for any cross country runners. This year's event was an all-terrain half marathon, which was appropriately titled "Urban Assault."

What makes the race special is how combines navigation with athleticism, pitting the skills of traditional runners against competitive orienteerers. It also provides a great opportunity for new and experienced adventure racers to hone their navigation abilities.

Teams who pre-registered were guaranteed a T-shirt for the successful completion of the course. Registration was $100 and could be done up until the day of the event.

Participation in the race was up this year to 15 teams, which was an increase of eight from 2007. Thirteen of the teams in this year's competition finished the race.

The winning team of the race is given 25 per cent of all entry fees and the pair that comes in first among the mixed teams (or women's team) is also given 25 per cent of the total entry fees.

Peak Adventure won the full pot as a result of the team featuring the husband and wife combination of Greg and Denise McHale.

This was the second year in a row that a co-ed team has won the event. In 2007 the duo of Sara Neilsen and Nathan Doering won the full purse as well.

The 2008 WAR course included several twists and turns. The event started off with a skirmish, which was a little pre-race in downtown Whitehorse.

The skirmish included a number of different checkpoints that were each worth a certain amount of points.

When a team had accumulated 100 or more points, they were able to trade in their score card to get the main map for the race. This was the first year the skirmish has been held for WAR.

The course for the event included the escarpment, Hillcrest, Patty's Pond, Granger, the millennium bridge and Riverdale.

It also featured checkpoints in the yards of several orienteering club members.

A popular feature with this year's race was a sprint portion called the lightening raid. In the lightening raid, WAR participants had to complete four checkpoints in a very tight fenced area, which was similar to a maze.

At each checkpoint there was a number that when put together completed a phone number. Participants then had to dial that number to find out where the next checkpoint was located.

Also offered at the lightening raid was a bonus incentive to teams if they completed it in a certain time.

The time to beat was 3:24, which was recorded by the organizers of the race. For every second a team finished ahead of that mark they were awarded with a time credit.

Time credits were worth one minute for every second that was faster than the organizer's time.

Greg, who competed in the 2007 WAR event, said the urban theme for the race this year worked really well.

"I was a little bit skeptical when I heard they had the urban aspect to it, but they mixed it up with the checkpoints," he said. "Some of them were just off urban areas in the bush, so they put together a really good course and it was lot of fun."

Greg said the competition was really close this year.

"There are a lot of really good navigators in Whitehorse," he said. "Some of these guys are completely dialed in and don't make many mistakes, so some of us have to run a little further than others."

He said he really enjoyed taking part in the competition.

"I just think this was a fantastic event," Greg said. "I would highly recommend it to people because there are a lot of races that go on in the Yukon and this is my favourite."

Denise, who competed in WAR for the first time, said the orienteering part of the race was the most challenging for her and Greg.

"We are not orienteerers, but we have been practicing a little bit," she said. "I pretty much expected this minus the snow and cold. Greg did the navigating and I just basically ran to keep up."

Also held on June 8 at Shipyards Park by the Yukon Orienteering Association was PEACE. PEACE stood for People Enjoying Adventurous Competitive Exercise and was the recreational alternative to WAR.

Participants in PEACE could sign up as individuals or as a team. There were no prizes awarded for PEACE, which at 7.8 km was a miniature version of WAR.

Six individuals/teams signed up for PEACE. Don White finished with the best time at 14:35, while Barbara Scheck wasn't too far behind, coming in at 15:49. The team of Audrey Meyer, Tracy Taylor and Terry Boone locked down third place with a time of 27:10.

This was Meyer's first time participating in PEACE and she said it was an enjoyable experience.

"I think we were pretty prepared," she said. "We had our toques and mitts. It wasn't bad at all. Part way through you are going ‘Oh my gosh, what are we doing?' but when it is all over and done with you are like ‘That was fun.'"

She said there were certain advantages to being on a team.

"Going as a team you always have somebody to talk to," Meyer said. "Terry is one of the stronger runners out of the three of us, so he keeps us going a little bit harder than both me and my sister (Taylor) would probably do by ourselves. He brings in that aspect of it. It's just makes it more of a group event."

Meyer said she was glad she participated this year and will consider entering the WAR category for the 2009 event.