Normand Casavant had a secret weapon in this year's River Runner 100 Dog Sled and Skijoring Race.

The duck dance.

Casavant, who won the race with a time of 9 hours and 38 minutes, employed the traditional dance along on the Takhini River when temperatures dropped well below minus 30 Celsius.

After starting the race at Shipyards Park on Saturday afternoon in mild conditions, the teams reached the halfway point in Mendenhall and headed back to Whitehorse facing strong winds and chilly temperatures.

Casavant, who usually sings to his dogs on the trail to give them energy, said he had to find an alternative in the cold.

"It was just too cold to sing,” he said. "So I started to dance to keep my body warm and it worked.”

While many of the mushers were slowed on the cold stretch, Casavant said his team was able to keep up their pace.

He was followed closely on the trail by four-time Yukon Quest champion Hans Gatt.

When Casavant arrived at Mendenhall, Gatt was 35 minutes behind.

"I was scared at that point,” said Casavant. "You never know with Mr. Gatt. You never want to take any chances, I didn't want him to get me.”

When Casavant pulled across the finish line in Whitehorse shortly after 7 a.m. Sunday morning he was over an hour ahead of Gatt, who finished in second place.

"I was really surprised and really happy with the finish,” said Casavant.

It was his second race in Whitehorse this season and his second win. Casavant also took home first place at the Carbon Hill sled dog race at Mount Lorne in January.

Gatt was not the only experienced musher on the trail with Casavant. The race's line-up boasted a plethora of former Quest and Iditarod competitors including Ed Hopkins, Gerry Willomitzer, and Brian Wilmshurst, who placed 16th in this year's Quest.

Casavant said the victory was even sweeter due to the highly competitive field.

"Having won in front of all these guys, it was really something for me,” he said. "I didn't expect to do something great like that.”

Gatt, who finished the race in 10 hours and 43 minutes, was a late entrant and came away impressed with the event.

"I was really pleasantly surprised with the race organization and all the volunteers,” he said. "I think it's a great local race that has a lot of potential to grow even bigger.”

Gatt said he hasn't been training aside from competing on the recreational circuit but was impressed with the speed of his team and their abilities on the trail.

"There were some really good teams out there and I was happy with how mine performed,” he said.

Gatt said the cold conditions on the Takhini River served as a reminder about the elements one faces as a competitive musher.

"On the way home it reminded me when I don't compete as much anymore because it was 30 below on the river and I froze my butt off,” he said, laughing.

"But overall the trail was unbelievable,” he said. "The snow conditions this year make for good trails everywhere, it was almost too fast.”

Casavant was driving a team that was bred partly from his own kennel and partly from Gatt's kennel.

"You can call it the Casavant-Gatt mix,” he said. "And it's a very good mix.”

Casavant said he has now put over 4,000-km on the young team as he prepares to compete in next year's Quest.

"They are all in really good shape and they are ready for the Quest,” he said. "The dogs are ready to compete, now I'm just trying to find sponsors.”

Casavant has taken some time off in the past two seasons to focus on grooming the team and launching an educational program with the dogs.

Casavant takes a unique approach to the sport and he's hoping to get others involved.

"We're working towards starting a mushing school and getting students and adults involved,” he said. "I want to show people how we train and feed the dogs with love.

"As humans we have to do the same. You have to train and eat well, exercise and get away from the computer, that's the direction I want to take things. I want to put my energy into getting kids and adults healthy and I think with the dogs, it's a very good way to do it.”

Fabian Schmitz helped organize the event and said his team received positive feedback from the mushers.

"Everyone seemed very happy with the trail and with the conditions,” he said.

Schmitz was happy with the turnout with 15 teams signing up for the sled race and three teams competing in the newly implemented 105-km skijoring race.

"It was really nice to see the Quest and Iditarod mushers,” he said. "It was a bit quiet in the beginning of the sign up phase but in the last minute it all come together and we were really happy with everyone who came.”

The shorter distance in the skijoring race was an alternative to the 210-km distance of years past.

Schmitz said the new race was well received.

"We had three teams start and three teams finished it so that was nice and all they seemed really happy with how it went,” he said.

Darryl Sheepway led the field, completing the race in 5 hours and 44 minutes. He was followed by Gaetan Pierard who posted a time of 7 hours and 43 minutes and Amelie Janin who completed the race in just over nine hours.

River Runner 100 Sled Results;

1- Normand Casavant- 9:38

2- Hans Gatt- 10:43

3- Ed Hopkins- 11:03

4- Martine LeLevier- 11:15

5-Gerry Willomitzer- 11:31

6-Will van Randen- 12:12

7-Steve Gibbons- 12:14

8-Claudia Wickert- 12:15

9- Alex Rochat- 12:16

10- Luc Tweddell- 12:40

11- Adam Robinson- 13:29

12- Brian Wilmshurst- 13:29

13- Matt McHugh- 13:33

14-Petra Bachhuber 14:30

15- Nathaniel Hamlyn- 16:28