B.C. woman wins category in Yukon Arctic Ultra race

A Kamloops, B.C.,womanfinished first in her category in the Yukon Arctic Ultra race in Whitehorse on Sunday.

JessieThomson-Gladish won herultramarathonin the woman's category by default after the other two women in thecategory were unable to complete the journey.

The race bills itself as "the world's coldest and toughest ultra" and followsthe Yukon Quest sled dog trailthrough the territory's backcountry in the middle of winter.

About40 competitors at this year's event chose to complete the course on foot, by bikeor on skis. Thomson-Gladish chose to complete the race on foot.

The trek, which can be up to 690 kilometres long, tookThomson-Gladish two weeks to finish.

"I do it to get away from everything and be 100 per cent focused on survival and putting one foot in front of the other, enjoying nature, being by myself and completing what I consider to be one of the ultimate challenges physically and mentally," she said.

Thomson-Gladishpulled a sled behind her with survivalessentials, including emergency food in case she got stuck for a couple of extra days.

In 2015, she also completed the race, the only woman to complete the race on foot that year.

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The competitor says the most difficult part of the race isn't the40 C temperatures, but the last 10 kilometres of walking each day.

• Yukon Arctic Ultra racers welcome milder temperatures in 2016

"You think that you should be there by now," she said. "By that point in the day, you've slowed down a little bit.It's taking longer to cover that same distance, that in the middle of the day, you had all this amazing daylight energy."

Thomson-Gladish said that originally being from the Yukon, however, was"definitely a bit of an advantage."

With files from Daybreak Kamloops

To hear the audio, click the left-hand link:Kamloops woman places first in Yukon Arctic Ultra Race