Matias Saari looked no more tired at the finish line than a man who had just mowed his lawn.

"You don't even seem winded,” a spectator remarked.

The Anchorage-based runner shattered the previous Yukon River Trail Marathon record by nearly 15 minutes.

Saari, 40, finished the Marathon (42.2 kilometres) in two hours, 45 minutes, 47 seconds.

The previous record was set by now-MP Ryan Leef, who ran the marathon in 2:56:26 in 2000.

Saari knew he was on pace to break the record, though he expected the finish to be closer.

"I'm tired, but I had a big lead. And I knew I was way under the course record, so I was just maintaining the last five kilometers coming in and not pushing too hard.”

Tracking his time, Saari clocked himself at 1:21 after 20 km, which would put him on pace to break Leef's record by roughly five minutes.

"I'm not certain this course is 42 km; I wouldn't be surprised if it was a kilometre or two short. I thought I'd be here in about 2:52.”

The course has evolved since 2000.

Organizers have eliminated certain inclines and attempted to have the route run through trails rather than along roads, particularly to the top of Mile Canyon and along Schwatka Lake.

The alterations showed in fast times in this year's marathon.

Fairbanks runner Mike Kramer took second with a time of 3:01:46.

Whitehorse runners Michael Richards and Denise McHale finished third and fourth respectively.

Richards, who won last year's marathon with a time of 3:13:37, this year finished third in 3:10:56.

McHale was the top female finisher with a time of 3:11:51 – breaking a women's record she set in 2003 (3:18:21). She finished with a time of 3:18:34 in 2009.

"I ran pretty consistently,” said McHale, who regularly represents Canada at the International Association for Ultra Runners (IAU) events. "I was five or six minutes faster than the last two years I did it, so I felt good with that.”

In July, she finished 10th overall (8:48:35) in the 70-km IAU World Trail Championships in Connemara, Ireland.

On Aug. 21-26, McHale and her husband Greg will enter the open mixed category of the 2011 Gore-Tex TransRockies Run in Colorado, which tracks a distance of 193 km.

For the pair, the trail marathon provides good training.

"The frontrunners were out there and they took off and I could tell that I wasn't going to catch them, so I was just running against my own time and focusing on keeping my feet up,” Denise said of Sunday's race.

Saari also used the Yukon River Trail Marathon as training for an upcoming event.

Though it was his first year competing in the trail marathon, Saari has entered in the Equinox Marathon in Fairbanks for 11 years, with the 49th edition of the race set for Sept. 17.

A retired Fairbanks-based sports writer, he is even working on a book detailing the history of the Equinox.

"I wanted to compare it to Whitehorse to see how it was scenery-wise, and challenging,” said Saari, who clocked his fastest time in the Equinox in 2:49.

"It's equally as scenic. I'd say the Equinox is a few minutes slower, a little bit harder course, comparable climbing – but you got about a 600-m climb in one shot in the middle of that. Here the climbs are a little more broken up, so you can run them faster.”

Richards said it only takes runners like Saari and Kramer to be ousted from the top spot of the river marathon.

"There's always someone faster,” Richards said. "You just try to do your best. I wanted to win today. For sure I wanted to win today. Every race I enter I want to win. Even when I come 30th, I still want to win. But winning is going out and trying your best on the day.”

Sunday, however, was the Alaskans' day, he conceded.

"Matias and his buddy (Kramer) went out and they were just incredible, a different class, completely different class. I just went out and tried to catch them. It was not going to happen, but it was just a really good motivator to know those guys are out in front,” Richards said.

"Next time I race against him I'll know him. But you know at the beginning of the race where they're going to place, and I knew from the get-go that guy was going to be way out in front. I hear 2:45 – that's a huge record.”