Hans Gatt jumped into the Yukon Quest in 1993, and in his maiden year, he decided he would never do it again.

Or so he thought.

"It kind of shocked me. I thought I'd never run that race again,” said Gatt, who is originally from Austria.

With a mushing career spanning two decades, it was 20 years ago that he tried mushing and became hooked. He liked the sport so much he decided to become a professional.

Gatt began doing sprint races in Europe before relocating to Canada to compete in races here.

Gatt has an impressive resume. He is a four time European champion, Wyoming Stage Stop four time winner, and he's finished the Iditarod 11 times.

After Gatt's first shocking introduction to the Yukon Quest, he returned in 2002, nearly 10 years after his first run to become a three time Quest winner.

This year Gatt is training 24 to 26 dogs for the 14 member team he will run this year.

"I've always had a lot more dogs,” said Gatt. "Last year I had 50 dogs I was training.”

The smaller amount of dogs has allowed Gatt to rediscover his love for the sport.

"I'm actually enjoying mushing again this year,” he said.

While he hasn't officially signed up to the Quest yet, he signed on to the Iditarod right after last year's run in March.

While Sebastian Schnuelle talks of retiring, Gatt has a harder time coming to terms with that retirement would really mean.

"I could easily retire from the racing, but I can't just sell the dogs,” he said. "I'm pretty picky about my dogs.”

It also isn't the right time to launch into talks about ending his 20 year career.

"Right now we're talking about a new season, I don't want to be talking about retirement,” Gatt said.

His expectations for the new season that begins shortly go hand in hand with how much he enjoys it.

"I race because I love it, because I love the dogs, but I also expect to win,” said Gatt.

When not racing, Gatt hand builds dog sleds for fellow competitors through Gattsled.