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On April 30, it was announced the Klondike Road Relay would be cancelled due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic. It will be the first time since its inauguration in 1983 that the race has not been run.

After the cancellation, race coordinator Sandra Soares told the Star that the organizing team would work toward creating a virtual race. The wait is over as registration for the virtual Klondike Road Relay opened on July 3.

Entrants will have a month to complete their chosen distance, Aug. 15 - Sept. 12. Registration for the virtual event is $30.

Soares said the Road Relay is using Race Roster as there platform for hosting the virtual event as they are involved in many capacities in the racing world with virtual events becoming their new area of expertise.

When registering, Soares said runners have two options.

鈥淵ou can register one of two ways,鈥� said Soares. 鈥淥ne is as an individual, you pick a distance you want to run or achieve during the month-long event, you run that distance, post your results and you get a certificate and a t-shirt for completing it.

鈥淥r you can create a team, a virtual team of course, they could use their official Road Relay team name and then each individual will register using that team name up to 10 people.

鈥淭hen they can kind of decide how they want to do it on their own. We鈥檝e heard some people are going to get together and do their own relay wherever they are.鈥�

The emphasis on this year鈥檚 race is fun, said Soares. There will be no prizes for the fastest times, as everyone will be running different routes.

鈥淵ou can鈥檛 compare someone鈥檚 10 kilometres up a hill to someone鈥檚 10 k on a trail,鈥� said Soares.

Since registration opened, Soares said the virtual Klondike Road Relay has been well received.

鈥淲e鈥檝e gotten a good response,鈥� said Soares. 鈥淲e already have 120 people registered and it鈥檚 kind of surpassed my expectations. We are just going to keep pumping it out, getting the word out there that it鈥檚 an option for people to do.鈥�

Because of COVID, many organizations have turned their events virtual. Soares said this has forced her to be creative so they stand out.

鈥淵ou kind of get stuck in your ways,鈥� said Soares. 鈥淭his would have been my sixth race as race coordinator. You kind of have your routines and this made me think outside the box on how to make it fun and engaging and not just another virtual event.

鈥淭here are so many virtual events it鈥檚 hard to stand out, but our race community is so wonderful and just excited that anything is happening and I think it鈥檚 been well received so far.

鈥淚 was trying to think of ways to stand out a little bit but I wanted to include as much as we could.鈥�

One new wrinkle added to the Klondike Road Relay is the six-week training plan all registrants receive.

鈥淲e are working with the Northern Strength Academy here in Whitehorse,鈥� said Soares. 鈥淚an Weir is their running coach and he created a six-week training plan.

So when you register, you get the plan you can use for this event or another, it鈥檚 a useful tool.

鈥淚 think that maybe it鈥檚 a tool that we can use moving forward. We have this plan that鈥檚 been created for us so we can use it moving forward.鈥�

Soares also created a hashtag, #virtualkrr2020, so entrants can post about their results or share stories.

鈥淚鈥檓 going to following that hashtag throughout and choosing people鈥檚 photos and videos, or if they want to submit stories even to us they can, I want to have some sort of prizes and swag to give out at the end.鈥�

The Klondike Road Relay is Sport Yukon鈥檚 largest fundraiser, generating around $60,000 for the organization.

Soares said they will take a hit but they will be alright.

鈥淲e are doing the best we can given the circumstances. Obviously, it鈥檚 going to be a hit on the fundraising side of things, we won鈥檛 raise enough doing the virtual event.

But, we will be OK.

鈥淭here also is the option outside of the registration fee to donate to sport Yukon. We have already raised $300 that way.鈥�