Spirits soared at the bottom of the hill. Less so at the top.

Nearly 60 brave souls took part in the 30th Annual Midnight Dome Race starting at the Palace Grand Theatre in Dawson City on Saturday morning and running 7.2 kilometres uphill.

That the event always takes place the same weekend of the Dawson City Music Festival helps nothing.

Unless you're Stephen Waterreus, who took first with a time of 35 minutes, 28 seconds in this year's race – for the fourth year running.

The Whitehorse cyclist-turned-runner said he enjoys the pleasure and the pain the run poses in the early morning after day one of the Music Fest.

"Mostly it's kind of a tradition that we run up this thing, me and a group of friends.

And then afterwards we have an unofficial race down to The Pit, where we have a friend meeting us there with a round of drinks. That's the big race for us, is first man in The Pit wins,” he said of a popular Dawson City pub.

For Waterreus, who took to the Dome for just his third run of the summer, the Music Fest is more of an attraction than distraction.

"It's an addition. It's an added incentive to come up here, believe it or not,” he said, adding that he actually prefers cycling.

"To tell you the truth, I don't like running that much.”

Despite his supposed distaste for running, Waterreus can't seem to quit doing this particular race.

"Last year I said I was going to retire, so I'm saying it again. I'm like Brett Favre, man, I'm pulling the plug one more time,” he said of the 41-year-old NFL quarterback addicted to coming out of retirement.

Ted Piotrowski, a Green Bay Packers fan from Wisconsin, held a different disposition near the top of the Dome.

The 28-year-old, who took ninth in the race with a time of 44:25, was bent over 10 yards from the finish line puking his guts up.

"I made it a good seven kilometres, and right at the very end, the last uphill stretch, I couldn't breathe – I had to let something go,” he laughed. "It was tough, because a girl just caught me right at the very end as I was heaving.

"This is the only race where your hydration pack is boxed wine and you're staying up half the night before the race. I would say a good 50 per cent of the participants were slightly-to-majorly hungover this morning. But everyone had a smile on their face; it was a great race.”

He pointed out that the registration booth was placed near the beer tent at the Music Fest.

Needless to say, he signed up on a whim.

"It's uphill the entire time. It was probably one of the more challenging runs I've ever done. Every single time you turn a corner, you think the hill's done, and there's another hill waiting for you the entire way.”

Piotrowski was on his way from Wisconsin and up the Dempster Highway to Inuvik when he decided to enter the race.

He's training to do the Leadville Trail 100 Ultramarathon next year in Colorado, in which runners climb and descend 15,600 feet (4,800 metres) with elevations ranging between 9,200-12,620 feet.

His desire to run around the continent comes from a natural place.

"I think down at the base of it we're just built to run. We're the only animal species I know of that are built to sweat, to dissipate heat fast enough to continue running for long periods of time.

Animals are really good at sprinting for 50, 100 yards, but if you watch them closely, when they tire out, they're done. Humans, I think the way we evolved as scavengers, we were just made to run. Our anatomy is built to run.

The physical anatomy is there. The skills are there. I think running is mostly mental.

If you can just have fun with it, enjoy yourself and get out there with a smile on your face – you're just meant to do it.”

Maybe just not uphill in the morning after the Music Fest.