DAWSON CITY – Crispin Studer of Carcross has held onto his first-place crown in the annual Percy DeWolfe Memorial Mail Race.

Studer returned to Dawson from Eagle, Alaska, at 2:50 p.m. Friday, turning in a running time of 20 hours and 21 minutes.

This was about two hours slower than his winning time last year, but still the second-fastest run he’s made since the first of his four wins in 2011. Studer took home a $3,000 prize.

The races had left Dawson last Thursday morning for their round trip to Eagle.

Normand Casavant of Whitehorse arrived at 3:14 p.m. Friday with a total run time of 20:45. His prize was $2,000.

Third-place musher Jason Biasetti, of Dawson, came in just over two hours later, with a run time of 22:51. He won $1,500.

Fourth place went to Gaetan Pierrard from Whitehorse, one of the rookies, though he’s successfully completed the Percy Junior three times. His team made the run in 23:34. He won $1,200.

Fifth place went to Nathaniel Hamlyn of Whitehorse, also a Percy Junior veteran, with a time of 24:16 for a prize of $1,000.

All the teams finished the hot trail in less than a day and a half, with 31:56 being the slowest time.

That performance led to the Red Lantern award for Melissa Schenke of Whitehorse.

Eagle’s Nathan Becker scratched from the race at Eagle when two of his dogs injured themselves on the outbound trail.

Since he was already home, it made no sense to run back to Dawson with two dogs in the sled. Becker had to empty out all his gear to be able to carry his injured dogs.

First place in the Percy Junior race went to veteran Tagish musher Ed Hopkins, followed by Dany Jette and Jeffrey Mickelson from Dawson, Jean-Marc Champeval from Whitehorse, and Krys March from Haines Junction.

The Percy banquet took place in the Odd Fellows Hall on Saturday evening, with the Cheechako Bakery providing a fine buffet that managed to cater to everyone’s food sensitivities.

Marieke Hiensch provided the musical entertainment before the meal. There was a terrific slide show, covering shots from both races, with photos by Dawson’s Sonny Parker and Eagle’s Ed Christiansen.

The Vet Care Award was presented by the veterinarian corps to Jeffrey Mickelson on the Junior Percy run and to Alexandra Rochat, who came in sixth in the DeWolfe Race. The awards were a pair of gold nuggets, donated by Joe and Wendy Fellers and by Tatra Ventures.

Eagle’s John Borg presented the Rookie of the Year Award to Pierrard.

The Sportsmanship Award was presented to Biasetti by race marshal Brent McDonald.

The Humane Society’s Humanitarian Award was presented to Josh Skerritt by society board member Gaby Sgaga.

Door prizes and draws throughout the evening included items from Yukon Brewing, an oil painting by Halin DeRepentigny, an anorak by Skookum Garments, and some excellent mitts by Sarah McHugh.

There was one special gold draw, just for the mushers, at the end of the evening. That was won by Jean-Marc Champeval, a Junior Percy musher from Whitehorse.

One of the most moving portions of the evening was the tribute to the late Barry Fargey, a race mainstay for many years.

McDonald and Hopkins struggled with their emotions as they reminisced about Fargey’s commitment to mushing over the years.

The annual Sunnydale Classic, a part of every spring carnival for many years, has been renamed the Barry Fargey Memorial Dog Race in his honour.