WHITEHORSE - Hundreds of Whitehorse, Yukon residents greeted the record-setting winner of the Yukon Quest as he crossed the finish line.
Hans Gatt claimed victory in the dog sled race for the fourth time on Monday, making the journey from Fairbanks, Alaska to Whitehorse in nine days and 26 minutes.
He chopped more than a day off the previous best time.
"I really stuck to my race plan right from the get-go," Gatt said after claiming victory over 23 competitors.
He said favourable weather conditions made much of the 1,600-kilometre trail a "dream."
"There's always the rough spots at the beginning of the race on the Alaska side," he said. "There's not much we can do about it. But for the most part the trail was unbelievably good. Maybe we wouldn't be able to do it in record time like this on a bad trail."
Gatt started with 13 dogs and finished with nine, and said he had to carry one of them for part of the way.
He won $30,000 of the $150,000 purse as his prize in the 27th annual race.
He also picked up four ounces of gold worth $4,000 for being the first to make it to Dawson City, the halfway point.
The Yukon Quest is known as one of the toughest races in the world because of extreme winter conditions and trails that force mushers to bow out of the race. (CKRW)
