When Johnny Koe finally crossed the Yukon Quest finish line, he was exhausted. He had spent almost two days travelling through the frozen wilderness, and he wanted nothing more than to sleep.
Instead, he turned his attention to his dogs because they were as exhausted as he was.
"The dog team needed to be taken care of," said the Fort McPherson musher, who represents Whitehorse kennel Keystone Sled Dogs. "We fed them and watered them and everything before finally going to sleep ourselves."
This year's Yukon Quest kicked off on Feb. 2. It was Koe's first time participating in the 280-kilometre dog-sled race, which runs between the communities of Teslin and Ross River. He completed the journey in 39 hours SA国际影视传媒� including mandatory breaks SA国际影视传媒� and is grateful for the effort put forth by his dogs, who he had only been training with for a few months.
"It was unbelievable to finally be out there, and to feel that freedom out there with the dogs finally running and doing all these things that we were training to do after a couple months," he said.
The race was not easy SA国际影视传媒� for Koe or his dogs. It was cold, dropping to -40 C at some points, and several members of the team had to be taken out of the race in the interest of safety.
Ultimately, however, they made it across the finish line, and that's thanks in large part to the efforts of one dog in particular: a young female named Phoebe.
Phoebe started the race sharing the front position with a powerful male, but when several dogs needed to be removed from the team, Koe moved the male to the rear to bear more of the weight, leaving Phoebe to lead on her own.
"I had to drop three dogs at the halfway point, so I wanted to put all the power in the back as much as I could because I was down to seven dogs, and I wanted to even out the consistency of the movement, of the power, the endurance, and everything like that," Koe said. "So I moved most of my dogs to the back, and I got Phoebe to run the lead alone.
"She's done a great job leading on her own. She's 19 months old, and she just started training in that section of the gang-line. The MVP of my dogs out there was Phoebe. She surprised me a lot, and I was really happy with her."
He finished out of the medals among the seven competitors in his division.
While this year's Yukon Quest marked Koe's debut on the dog-sled racing scene, mushing is in his blood. His father used to race before he was born, he said, and once made the 800-kilometre journey from Fort McPherson to Dawson City as part of the NWT's centennial celebration in 1970.
Koe never got the chance to race as a child, as his family gave up their dogs after moving south, but he was pleased to carry on his father's legacy.
"It's a dream come true, man," he said. "I always wanted to get back into running dogs.
"I worked hard towards it, and the payment was to run in the Yukon Quest. I was more than happy to do that to honour my dad. I'm sure he's proud of me right now and pretty happy with the accomplishment that I've done."
Koe admitted dog-sled racing is "not for everybody," but called his debut race "the experience of a lifetime," and encouraged more Indigenous young people to give it a try.
"Look at your background," he said. "Look where you come from because that would encourage you to push towards the success of becoming a musher, and just work hard at it and don't give up.
"Work hard at your goals, and one day you'll get there. It just takes time."
As for his own racing future, Koe is considering a few events on the calendar, but is definitely aiming to participate in next year's Yukon Quest. Whenever he races next, he pledged to "keep practising" with Phoebe and the rest of the team in the meantime.
