The first-place finisher in the Montane Yukon Arctic Ultra had a chance to beat the all-time 300 race record.

That’s according to race organizer Robert Polhammer, who the Star spoke with on Wednesday following the race.

Unlike the Yukon Quest, the 20th edition of the Ultra was able to start from Shipyards Park Feb. 4. However, before McCabe Creek, the athletes ran into a problem – open water.

Polhammer said initially, organizers thought they’d be able to make it through, but that wasn’t the case, forcing organizers to shuttle the athletes to McCabe to re-start there.

This year, 46 athletes registered for the gruelling event.

Four athletes on foot finished the 300 miler.

They included the winner, Jovica Spajic of Serbia, who arrived in Pelly at 10:34 p.m. Feb. 8.

Daniel Benhammou of the U.S. came in second at 5:45 a.m. on Feb. 10.

Fellow Yank John Nakel arrived at the same time as Benhammou, but was listed as finishing third.

Alan Purdue of Wales finished fourth at 5:06 p.m. on Feb. 11.

18 athletes started the 300.

Of the number of 300 finishers, Polhammer said, “We kind of forget that from year to year, but it’s normal. The people who did end up scratching, it was for various reasons. A lot of it related to typical sports injuries that you sustain in an endurance event of that length.”

Whitehorse’s Scott Herron came riding on his fat bike into Braeburn to finish the 100 miler first on Feb. 5 at 8:22 a.m.

Ric Horobin, another Whitehorse athlete riding a fat bike, came in second at 4:10 p.m.

Coming in an impressive third was Elise Zender of Germany on foot the same day at 5:08 p.m.

Whitehorse’s Greg Newby rounded out the top four, arriving on foot at 8:09 p.m. the same day.

15 athletes started the 100. Of those, only four were unable to finish.

Adam Luciano of Whitehorse tied a record in the marathon, finishing first in a mere 3 hours and 14 minutes.

13 marathoners were registered, but only 12 started and finished the race.

Pohmmer summed up the race.

“Great temperatures, not too cold or too warm. The trail was very solid. For our skiers, that was too bad. They did not make good progress. All three skiers we had, they had to withdraw cause they were just too slow.

“We only had bikers in the 100 mile race, but they loved it because it was so hard. So they were able to go really fast. The rest was all good.”

Polhammer said it was nice to see Spajic finish the 300. “He had two attempts before. And in both attempts he sustained frostbite injuries. Then he took quite a break from the event. He ran a lot of events in in Europe, I believe also one in Alaska. Each time he did really well. So he’s what you would say, an elite athlete, but he just had no luck with the Yukon in the past. And this time he came back, he learned some valuable lessons and he finished.

“It’s too bad that we had to cut out that section because there was a good chance he would have beaten the previous record. But now of course with a shorter race you can’t compare the finishing times.”

Polhammer didn’t think Spajic would run the race again.

“It’s no secret that he lost part of a finger in his last attempt. So he did sustain a severe frostbite injury. And I think he just wanted to close the chapter and he’s done that now. So I don’t think he’s one of those people we’ll see come back.”

Polhammer mentioned other highlights of the race for him.

“It’s always a highlight for me to see the great mixture of people in general, race veterans and new people coming on board and having a go at it and seeing how they’re all doing.”

Some of the racers in Yukon competed in the other Ultra he holds in Sweden each year.

“It’s always nice to see them finish both races.

“I always enjoy the places we get to along the way. It’s like visiting family almost.

“The crew from the Yukon, all really great people, some of them have been with me for 20 years. Others come on board as new crew members and they fit in and find friends and friendships develop. That’s a nice thing to be part of.”

This race of course, had some challenges.

“The uncertainty at the beginning, of course,” said Polhammer. “Can we start at Shipyards Park and what do we do if not.

“I really do try to have safety first. So maybe we could have attempted McCabe Creek and 99 per cent, maybe nothing would have happened. But what if that one per cent is, you know – it’s challenging to make these decisions to try and weigh what is more important.

“We had quite a few emergency messages. Our athletes have those SPOT trackers. If something goes wrong, the athletes can push the SOS button. When we get an alert like that, we’re immediately assuming the worst. And really focus on that task in solving it.

“So we had a couple of those. And they were all resolved quickly. And luckily they weren’t real emergencies. Except for for one athlete. He is at the moment in hospital. He had to be operated (on). And he’s recovering from that operation.”

Alex de Sain of Amsterdam started suffering from stomach pains and had to be brought in to the Whitehorse hospital.

Polhammer added, “I’m really grateful that we were allowed to start this race 20 years ago. The right people believed in the idea. One of the people at the beginning were Frank Turner, and Hans Gatt. They, at the time, were still active mushers. And they supported us. The Quest, in general.

“The (Canadian) Rangers who put in the trail, the checkpoints.

“It’s become a very big part of my life. And I’m grateful that I’ve been able to do it 20 times and I hope we can do it – maybe not 20 more times, maybe 10 more times. See if I can find somebody who wants to take over.

“Looking forward to coming back and happy that we’ve been able to do the race another time.”