The 1,600-kilometre Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race came to an end Saturday, four days after champion Whitehorse musher Sebastian Schnuelle crossed the finish line in Fairbanks.

The finish banquet and awards ceremony at the Carlson Center in Fairbanks officially wrapped up the Quest.

The race actually ended earlier in the day when rookie Iris Wood Sutton of Tanana, Alaska, became the final musher to cross the finish line at 11:41 a.m. (Yukon time).

Sutton's finish was 28 minutes behind Willow, Alaska's Becca Moore, another rookie who was the only other musher to still be on the trail as of Saturday, and guaranteed her the Red Lantern.

The award goes to the final musher who finishes the race.

It was one of several awards handed out at the banquet.

Schnuelle took to the stage three times during the event, first to receive his own trophy for placing first, then when the Golden Harness Award, along with steak, were presented to his two lead dogs, Inuk and Nemo.

Finally, the 2009 champion also appeared on stage at the banquet to present Brent Sass with the Sportsmanship Award, a title that's voted on by fellow mushers on the trail.

Sass was selected for the assistance he offered Carcross-area musher William Kleedehn in making it over Eagle Summit.

Kleedehn's dogs had stopped performing after one of them went into heat.

Kleedehn, who said this has been his final Quest, took home the Dawson City Award, four ounces of gold, for being the first musher to arrive at the midway point in Dawson.

It was another Yukoner who found herself on stage to take the award voted on by the trail vets for the musher who demonstrates outstanding canine care for their dogs.

"Michelle Phillips was beaming as she accepted the Vet's Choice Award," Quest officials said in a statement this morning.

As the first rookie to cross the finish line, fourth-place Big Lake, Alaska musher Martin Buser became Rookie of the Year.

While Buser is new to the Quest, he is no stranger to long-distance racing as a veteran champion in Alaska's 1,851-kilometre Iditarod.

The musher was first to cross the finish line in that race in 1992, then again in 1994, 1997 and 2002.

He's also finished that race 21 other times, placing fifth in last year's race.

After competing in his first Quest, Buser will again race in the Iditarod, which will start Saturday in Anchorage.

It was Jamaican musher Newton Marshall who was voted by race officials as being the musher who most exemplified the "Spirit of the Quest," which compels mushers to challenge themselves and persevere.

That won him the Challange of the North Award.

"Newton Marshall of Jamaica quickly became a fan favorite as his bright smile and way with the dogs was evident along the trail as well as his singing of raggae and dancing," the Quest's statement noted.

While Marshall brought some raggae tunes to the race, Quebec musher Norman Casavant brought a French-Canadian flavour to the trek and, at Saturday night's banquet, entertained diners with the same traditional song he sang to his dogs on the trail.

Of the 29 mushers who left the starting gate in Whitehorse on Feb. 14, 18 finished, with Schnuelle crossing the finish line in record time of nine days, 23 hours and 24 minutes.

"Mushers praised the trail this year and all the hard work that the organization put into ensuring it was the best trail possible," the Quest noted.

The 2010 edition of the race is schedule to start in Fairbanks on Feb. 6.