Alaskan Aaron Burmeister has crossed the finish line in Fairbanks and became the 2007 Yukon Quest's Rookie of the Year.

Burmeister reached the finishing chute at 12:31 p.m. Wednesday with eight dogs pulling his sled.

It was the 31-year-old's first run on the 1,600-kilometre trail, but he has previously competed in the Iditarod 10 times.

Burmeister had been battling it out for the fifth place spot with Tagish-area musher Michelle Phillips since the two left Mile 101 just two minutes apart.

Phillips had moved up from travelling in seventh place after leaving Circle City, where Sebastian Schnuelle, Hugh Neff and Burmeister decided to take extra rest out of the bitter cold temperatures in Alaska this week.

Phillips, though, moved on ahead of the men and arrived at the Central checkpoint over four hours ahead of Burmeister.

Race officials, however, reported Tuesday night Phillips had packed too much weight for the 45-km trek from Central to the Mile 101 dog drop.

The stretch includes passing over the 1,113-metre Eagle Summit and it ended up taking her 10 hours and 40 minutes to get to the next stop.

Officials said several of the mushers worked together to get their sleds over the mountain and Burmeister, Schnuelle and Neff all arrived at 101 in close proximity.

After leaving, Phillips and Burmeister then arrived at the final checkpoint in Chena Hot Springs just four minutes apart.

By the North Pole dog drop, Burmeister had managed to stretch that lead to 35 minutes. Quest officials reported Phillips had lost time when she made a wrong turn on the trail coming out of Chena.

Burmeister was unaware of Phillips' mistake, he said, and had run like she was right behind him. He said he was relieved to make it to the end ahead of her.

Burmeister told the crowd watching him coming into the finish line he had a good time on the Quest's trail and was relieved that the climbs weren't as tough as he had imagined.

When asked about mushers' experience on Eagle Summit, he replied, 'Well, that was a tough one, but it made it more fun.'

Phillips arrived 37 minutes later in sixth place at 1:08 p.m. Wednesday. She will take home $10,500 US from the Quest's $200,000 US purse.

Her partner, Quest veteran Ed Hopkins, watched as she came into the finish line all smiles and still with 10 dogs on her team.

'Look how good they look,' said Hopkins. 'Michelle's done a fantastic job with that team.'

Burmeister took 11 days, one hour and 10 minutes on his inaugural run on the trail. He'll receive $12,500 US for his fifth-place finish.

It took Phillips 11 days, one hour and 47 minutes.

Lance Mackey won his third Quest on Tuesday afternoon, shattering the previous 1995 run time record when he arrived at the finish line after 10 days, two hours and 37 minutes, winning $40,000 US.

Schnuelle, Mike Jayne and Hugh Neff also arrived at the finish line yesterday, filling up the seventh, eighth and ninth positions, respectively.

Dave Dalton pulled into Fairbanks at 1:23 a.m. today in 10th place.

Two-time Quest champion John Schandelmeier arrived at 2:14 a.m.

William Hanes, Richie Beattie, Kelley Griffin, Russ Bybee and Brent Sass are all expected to pull into the finish line on the Chena River within the next 24 hours.

Benedikt Beisch, Regina Wycoff, Tom Benson, Kyla Boivin and Bob McAlpin are all still making their way down the trail and through the final checkpoints.

Six of the 28 mushers who started the race have scratched. Rookie J.T. Hessert was withdrawn by race marshall Mike McCowan when he arrived in Dawson City last week.