Kleedehn reaches Dawson City first in Yukon Quest

Musher William Kleedehn of Carcross, Yukon, surprised Yukon Quest fans and onlookers Tuesday night when he arrived firstat the halfway checkpoint in Dawson City.

With crowds cheering, Kleedehn's team checked in at Dawson at 10:15 p.m. PT just two minutes ahead of Alaska musher Jon Little, who led the race through much of Tuesday.

"Well, I passed him on the Klondike River. Basically, his timing probably didn't work out," Kleedehn told reporters shortly after he arrived.

"I paced my dogs different. I was running in order maybe to win the race, not to be first in Dawson. And I guess maybe that Jon had a different idea."

Four other Yukon mushers arrived in Dawson after Kleedehn and Little, including Hugh Neff of Annie Lake Road, who checked in at 11:15 p.m.

Hans Gatt of Whitehorse arrived at 1:02 a.m. Wednesday, followed one hour later by Sebastian Schnuelle, also of Whitehorse.

36-hour rest

Brent Sass of Fairbanks, Alaska, checked in at 2:25 a.m. Michelle Phillips of Tagish, Yukon, arrived at 7:35 a.m.

Warren Palfrey of Yellowknife and Martin Buser of Alaska, a four-time Iditarod champion, both arrived in Dawson shortly before 10 a.m. U.S. mushers Mike Ellis and Dan Kaduce arrived around 3 p.m.

Dawson is the halfway point in the 1,600-kilometre sled-dog race, in which dog teams run from Whitehorse to Fairbanks, Alaska,through Arctic cold and rugged terrain.

All teams that reach Dawson are required to stay there for 36 hours so they can rest before continuing through the Alaska half of the race.

A total of 27 mushers are still in the Yukon Quest, which began Saturday.

Jerry Joinson of Fort St. James, B.C., scratched from the race on Tuesday evening, making him the second musher to drop out to date.

Runners, skiers, cyclist follow trail

Farther back on the Yukon Quest trail, runners, cross-country skiers and one mountain bicyclist are treading on the same path as part of the Yukon Arctic Ultra race.

The seventh annual Ultra, which began Sunday in Whitehorse, follows the Quest trail to the Braeburn Lodge and Dawson City checkpoints.

Some participants finished at Braeburn, having covered about 160 kilometres since leaving Whitehorse. Others aretrying to completethe full 692 kilometres to Dawson.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Alan Sheldon of England is the frontrunner in the full Ultra race. The mountain bicyclist checked in at the McCabe Creek hospitality stop Tuesday evening.

Sheldon said he hopes to arrive in Dawson by the end of this week.

Others who are trying to run or ski to Dawson stopped in Braeburn Lodge on Tuesday for something to eat notably the lodge's popularcinnamon buns andburgers.

"It's just beautiful to see. I've been thinking about this burger for the past 12 hours," said runner Carlyle Jenkins, a member of a British three-man team that is raising money for breast cancer research.

"The minute I turned the corner and could smell the bacon, I was in paradise."