One of Canada’s top female cross-country skiers faced a new kind of test in a three-day race through Greenland.

Whitehorse Olympian Dahria Beatty participated in the 22nd running of the Arctic Circle Race, labelled the world’s toughest ski race as the long distance is a three-day 160 kilometre trek through the rural backcountry of Sisimiut in Greenland.

But Beatty’s competitions are usually shorter distance races. She didn’t compete in the 50-kilometre race at the Olympics and has only raced one 50-km event before.

Even more, the Arctic Circle Race was a test of survival skills and toughness with the racers needing to camp out for two nights on the trails. That meant cooking for themselves, waxing their own skis and sleeping in the cold weather, which dropped to -28 celsius during the race that started last Friday.

“I’m going try to race it and see if I can survive the cold nights and waxing my own skis,” Beatty said prior to the start of the race in an interview posted on the race Facebook page. “We do a lot of three-day events, but most days I’m only racing 10 kilometres at a time and then I get to go sleep in a warm bed and have someone take care of my skis for me.

“This encompasses a whole other aspect of putting everything together; the survival and long distances and the harsh climates.”

After a very busy winter season for the Yukoner after just competing in her first Olympic Games, the trip to Greenland came as a chance to race with her father, Craig Beatty, who participated in the race when Dahria was young and her interest spiked then.

“My dad did it in 2005 when I was 11 years old and ever since then it’s been something we wanted to do together and this year the timing finally worked out so I’m really excited to be here,” she said. “I’ve always wanted to go to Greenland so that’s really attracted me to this race to come see Greenland and it’s spectacular landscape.”

The 24-year-old skier started off strong on the first day of three with a time of 3:46:37 which was the third fastest time to the first checkpoint.

After sleeping outside, Beatty was back on the course for the second day which she completed in five and a half hours, which was the fourth fastest overall time.

On the third and final day, Beatty couldn’t quite keep pace with the leaders dropping back to the eighth best time in that leg and finishing fifth overall in the race. Her overall time was 14 days, 19 hours and 15 minutes – just 13 minutes back of third place and only six minutes ahead of her closest competitor in sixth.

But Beatty was easily the top female finisher winning the race by about two hours, with 20 competitors in the field.

Dahria’s father Craig finished a few hours back in 18th spot out of 59 racers. Craig had an overall time of 18:59:29.

In the first leg. Craig skied to a time of 5:56:57 putting him two hours back of his daughter, but in a tight group of skiers in the top half. The longest second leg was over seven hours for the skier who finished the third leg in 5:59:03 – one hour longer than Dahria.

The top three overall athletes were all from Greenland with Martin Moeller winning in 11 hours, 40 minutes and 22 seconds.

Moeller also competed for Denmark at the 2018 Olympic Games in Pyeongchang. He placed 60th in the long-distance 50-km men’s classic race.

Upon completion of the final race, an exhuasted Beatty said the last leg was incredibly difficult with very little left in the engine.

“I started and it felt like the tank was already empty so today was a lot slower and a lot harder than the other days, but I made it to the finish thankfully,” she said. “I was checking my watch and realizing I still had three-quarters of the race left and I was just thinking about keeping moving and staying warm and eating as much as possible.”

Following the race, the athletes were finally able to warm up, sleep in a bed, and were treated to traditional Greenlandic food and entertainment at the wrap-up party.