Yukon Quest's top Canadian musher 'ready to go again'

The top Canadian musher in the 2016 Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race said he's feeling good, rested, and 'ready to go again,' a little more than a day after finishing the grueling 1,600 kilometre race.

"Ifigured if Icould get into the top five,with who was here this year, would be pretty darn good," said Ed Hopkins, of Tagish, Yukon.

"I achieved that, so it was a good run."

Hopkins finished fifth,crossing the finish line outside WhitehorseearlyTuesday morning. It was his eighth Yukon Questand his second-best standing. He placed third in 2015.

Hopkins said he hadsome minorsetbacks this year,such as when he awoke on his sled to discover his dogs had taken a wrong turn toward a remote lodge. He also lost a chunk of time when he repeatedly spilled a pot of water that had been laboriously made by melting snow.

"A real comedy of errors," he said.

Rough trail and running dogs

Hopkins said the trail was decent this year, though there were some rough patches of jumble ice.

"I don't know how the heck my sled stayed together," he said.

"I just thought it was ready to blow apart at any minute. Because you can't really control your speedit's like a ship in the ocean, beating against the waves."

The sled may have taken a beating, but Hopkins saidhisdogs are in fine shape.

"They're great, they're beautiful.They're barking andscreaming this morning, so we're going to be taking them out for a run tomorrow.Keep them moving."

The dogs have just a little more than two weeks to prepare for their next race Alaska's Iditarod, which begins March5. Hopkins' partner, Michelle Phillips,also a veteran musher, is running that race.

Hopkins will be her handler, travelling from checkpoint to checkpoint to provide support and help care for the dogs.

"I'm kind of looking forward to it," he said. "I get to sit back, drink coffee, watch the [race]tracker."