FAIRBANKS After 11 long days, the Yukon Quest finally has a winner: musher Lance Mackey.

The 34-year-old ran alongside his dogs across the Fairbanks finish line on Thursday afternoon.

Hundreds of people lined up along the banks of the Chena River to cheer Mackey on.

'I started crying over the last 15 miles, said Mackey. 'It's very emotional. It's probably going to be the highlight of my mushing career.'

Carcross musher William Kleedehn came in right behind Mackey, eight minutes later.

Although Kleedehn declared himself the first loser, Mackey said he could feel the German-born musher on him the whole way.

'I had to kick and pedal since North Pole (Alaska),' Mackey said about his struggle to stay in the lead.

'Anything could have changed at any given moment. Kleedehn is not the person you want on your butt in a situation like that. He was trying to close the gap the whole time.'

Had there been another 16 kilometres in the race, Kleedehn would have caught up, said Mackey.

He thought his head was on backwards after turning around so many times to check up on Kleedehn, the musher who, upon leaving Whitehorse on Feb. 13, declared he wanted to win the 'damn' race.

An exhausted and downtrodden-looking Kleedehn said he was pleased with his second-place finish.

'I wasn't going to run my dogs into the ground,' said the musher who also placed second in 2003, behind Hans Gatt.

'I hope it was exciting so people come back and follow the race again.'

Hugh Neff, who came in third, said Kleedehn is one of the greatest Quest champions in the race's 22-edition history.

'He keeps coming back year after year. He broke his leg last time and came back for more. To me, he is the great Yukon explorer,' said Neff.

The 45-year-old Kleedehn plans to take a year off from the Quest. That way, his girlfriend, musher Catherine Pinard, who also ran part of this year's Quest, can have a chance to run his team in 2006.

'I need a break. I will be racing, but probably not in the Quest next year,' he said.

But Pinard is skeptical.

'He says that every year,' she told handler and former Quester Thomas Tetz.

Pinard, who has a very young team of her own, scratched at Scroggie Creek after problems with her leaders. She was at the finish line to help Kleedehn take care of the dogs.

This year's Quest was Kleedehn's ninth and Pinard's third. Mackey, on the other hand, is a rookie.

'This is probably the easiest initiation to the Quest that anybody could want,' said the victor.

Although a Quest first-timer, Mackey is no stranger to long distance racing. He has competed in the 1,760-kilometre, all-Alaska Iditarod three times.

Mackey's goal is to win both the Iditarod and the Quest, just like his brother Rick.

With the Quest now won, Lance will be facing fierce competition in the Iditarod, which will start a week from Saturday in Anchorage.

He will be up against three-time Quest champion Hans Gatt and Neff, the 2005 third-place Quest finisher. So far, Lance's best finish in the Iditarod has been 24th in 2004.

Matching his brother's record has not been easy.

After he ran his first Iditarod in 2001, he was diagnosed with throat cancer and had his saliva glands removed before competing in his second Iditarod in 2002.

'I was on a five-year plan, and cancer was just a speed bump in my plan,' said Lance.

Since his operation, Lance continually has to drink fluids to keep his mouth moist. At the Fairbanks finish, he was drinking a Labatt's Blue.

'Four years ago, we thought we were going to lose Lance,' said his father, Dick. 'Now here he is. We're very proud of him.'

Rick and Dick, the Iditarod's co-founder, were at the finish line to congratulate Lance, who claims he has an even faster team for the Iditarod.

'This has been beautiful,' said Lance, adding it's been a long time since he's seen so many Mackeys around at once.

Lance believes he deserves his Quest win.

'I worked my butt to do this. I did as much as I could without having a heart attack.' he said.

Dick, on the other hand, has only one disappointment in the Quest: that he never got a chance to compete in the race himself.

'I always wanted to, but I was just too busy,' he said.

An hour after Lance crossed the finish line, Neff came running in.

'It's our Huge Mess,' ' Lance told his dad. 'I hope he doesn't kick my ass after I left him behind.'

Lance and Neff had been travelling together throughout the entire race, but they became separated near Angel Creek, when Kleedehn snuck up on them.

The pair had been taking a break on the trail when Kleedehn took them by surprise.

'We thought we had it in the bag, when William showed up out of the blue,' said Neff.

He figured they could take their time and catch up to Kleedehn later, but Lance knew better and took off after him.

'I never bootied dogs faster in my left, said Lance. 'I bootied 10 dogs in 10 minutes. I told Hugh we needed to go, but he said no, so I left him behind.'

Lance tried to hide from Kleedehn, taking breaks where his competitor couldn't see him, but his dogs barking echoed through the wilderness, giving him away.

For Lance, travelling with Neff was a huge advantage.

'That man is a book of knowledge,' the rookie said about his longtime friend, who has run the race six times.

'He would give me somewhat adequate information. I would be camping out along the trail and Hugh would come up and say the cabin is just around the corner.'

Lance would then pack up his stuff, but around the corner would turn out to be nine kilometres, then 16 kilometres, and then 25 kilometres away.

'And he would say: Oh well, it looked different going the other way,'' he said.

Lance congratulated Neff after he crossed the finish line, inviting him to Boston Pizza to eat their first real meal in 11 days.

Neff and Dick shook hands.

'Mr. Mackey I learned a lot from your son. It was nice to hang out with a champion day in and day out,' he said.

'It's a beautiful day to finish. The Mackey family means a lot to me.'

Neff, 37, has come along way as a Quester. He's raced every year since 2000.

When Neff first started, he was ill-prepared, having to ask for supplies from other mushers. In 2001, he was disqualified for not giving his dogs enough time to rest.

In addition to taking home $18,000 for his third-place finish, Neff will be bringing home four ounces of gold for being the first into Dawson City.

Neff was only able to do it because he ran his dogs for 14 hours, taking very short breaks in between.

Most mushers criticized the move, saying it likely drained the dogs of all their energy.

Mackey will use his $30,000-winnings to buy a lightweight Hans Gatt sled.

'His other sled is just too heavy,' said his wife, Tonya.

Lance will also put the money toward braces for one of his children.

'We have another kid going to college soon,' Tonya said about how the couple would spend the money.

Kleedehn will use his $24,000 to pay off his credit cards.

At the finish line, he took the opportunity to ask the Quest organization to enrich the purse so it could help mushers pay for their expensive hobby.

Neff was glad to see all the children at each checkpoint asking for his autograph.

'It's great to know they are interested in mushing,' he said. 'We live our dream and they can too.'

Neff will be signing up for next year's Quest as soon as he can.

'These mushers are all great guys,' said Neff. 'We are more than just competitors. We're comrades. We all share the same passion for dog mushing.'

Just before Lance crossed the finish line, the crowd heard that last-place musher Dan Kaduce scratched in Central, Alaska, after he picked up a flu bug.