Whitehorse running teams found their stride this year at the Klondike Road Relay, winning five categories and finishing in the top 10 in all but one division.

Yukon highlights at the relay, held Friday and Saturday, included White's High Flyers rounding out the top three in the overall standings with a time of 13:15:16, which was also the best Canadian time at the 2008 relay.

The team's time also gave them bragging rights for the next 12 months in the masters open class.

With the victory in the masters open class, the Flyers were able to put a stop to a 13-year winning streak from Juneau's Smokin Ole Geezers team. White's High Flyers were so keen to beat the Ole Geezers this year that the squad had customized shirts made up, which had an unofficial team name on the back of ‘The Non-Smoking Young Geezers.'

"The Ole Geezers have been dethroned," said Tom Ullyett, captain of the White's High Flyers. "We don't have any illusions, we know that they are a terrific team and we know they will be back. We are just going to savour this victory for the next 12 months."

The Road Relay is organized by Sport Yukon and is a fundraiser for the non-profit organization. It began Friday night in Skagway with the first heat going at 6 p.m. Alaskan time. From there, teams left in half hour intervals working their way to Whitehorse, where the event concluded Saturday.

This year featured 139 teams, which had to have a minimum of six competitors and a maximum of 10. The different running categories of competition included open women, mixed, junior, corporate, masters open, master women and masters mixed.

There was also a division for walkers and an one person team ultra category, which both included legs seven through 10.

The course was divided into 10 legs and teams chose a specific leg to race for each individual member. At 25.6 km, Leg Six, which was along the B.C. Yukon border, was the longest in the relay. The shortest was Leg three at nine-km. Leg Three went along the White Pass Viewpoint on the Klondike Road.

In addition to the race, Sport Yukon also held a dance and awards ceremony, Saturday at the Whitehorse Curling Club, which is located in Mount McIntyre Recreation Centre

Medals were given out to the top teams in each division, while the best leg times for both male and female runners were awarded with a plaque.

Whitehorse's Keith Thaxter had an exceptional run, finishing the gruelling 72-km ultra category with an incredible time of 6:29:25, which was more than one hour faster than what he recorded in 2007.

Thaxter had been training leading up to the race by running out on the Hot Springs Road. He had also raced in 10 marathons in 2008 alone.

The only other competitor in the ultra division was Kelly Hostetler, who finished the race at 7:37:38.

Skinny Raven: Take No Prisoners continued its domination of the open category, achieving the fastest time in each leg to finish with a best overall team showing at 10:44:01.

The Anchorage squad was more than a half hour faster than the runner up in the open class. Whitehorse team Bisquatches finished in fourth at 15:31:17.

Adam Verrier ran Leg 10 for Take No Prisoners. This was Verrier's first time competing in the road relay in six years and he said it felt good to win.

"It's fun," Verrier said. "I think we kind of had an idea before the race started that we might win again, but it's enjoyable. I think the thing that we really like best though is just hanging out with each other and hanging out with the other teams that are here. We see a lot of friends here."

Verrier said it was tough, but he was pleased with how he did in the relay.

"I put in a good effort and I went as hard as I could. I don't think I could go any faster today," he said. "The reason it was tough is because I don't do that much road running and so I am not used to going at that kind of speed."

Jeff Heuseveldt participated in the relay for the first time, running leg three for the Skinny Raven.

He said that he hoped to race in it last year, but an injury prevented him from doing so.

"It's a different type of race, something that I have never experienced before," Verrier said. "All of the guys at Skinny Raven were really excited about it."

Heuseveldt said the race went better than he expected it to go.

"I didn't have any real expectations going into it," he said. "We kind of each set goals for each leg and I was right in where I wanted to be."

Mark Iverson also raced in the road relay for the first time with the Skinny Raven. Iverson, who completed in Leg Seven, said he had a lot of fun in his first Klondike Road Relay.

"It's just a blast spending the weekend with a bunch of really rad dudes and having fun telling stories and murdering yourself out on the race course," he said. "I am definitely fired up to do it again, maybe be a little better prepared for the road racing next time."

This was Tracy Goldsmith's fifth time competing in the Klondike Road Relay.

Goldsmith has raced a different leg each and every year she has done the road relay. This year she competed in leg one and said it was nice to start during the day.

"Each leg is different, but I enjoyed this one," she said. "We had nice weather, it felt good. I seem to have fun ever year I do it though. I just really appreciate Whitehorse and Skagway tag teaming to do this because it's something that we look forward every year."

Goldsmith, who competed on Juneau's Molten Lava Tigers of Doom in the mixed category, said she didn't feel any pressure starting the team off on Leg One.

"My team is pretty supportive throughout and we are just here to have fun," she said. "I have an awesome team, they are a lot of fun."

Other Whitehorse winning teams included the Norcan Klondike Skiing Machines, who won the junior category with a time of 14:15:29, while Slowly Heading North won the walking category, finishing at 8:36:33.

The top four teams in the walking category were from Whitehorse.