Chris Spoor arrived in Dawson City to his father likening him to a superhero.

That comparison wasn't far off.

The Victoria, B.C., native took first in the solo kayak class of the 13th annual Yukon River Quest with a time of 47 hours, 37 minutes.

"I really wanted to get under 50 (hours),” Spoor said. "I only get to come up here once a year, so I try to leave everything I can out on the water.”

At last year's River Quest, Spoor reached the seven-hour checkpoint in Carmacks too exhausted to continue.

This year he was determined to get back in the boat.

But it wasn't easy.

"Between Fort Selkirk and Kirkman Creek I couldn't do anything for like four hours, I just got really tired, I couldn't eat anything, couldn't really paddle. My stomach was just killing me. I don't know. I'll have to find a better way to do that if I do this again.”

Spoor was followed most of the way by Shaun Thrower, who finished second in the solo kayak in 48:28, and Sharon Colley, who won the women's solo kayak in 49:05.

Spoor said the two English paddlers were on his tail at checkpoint seven before he pulled away.

"It was a bit frustrating, considering I had a lead on them,” Spoor said, adding that he was neck-and-neck with Colley for some time.

"We traded off the whole way up Laberge and most of the 30-mile. And then I met (Thrower), and then we traded off again coming into Carmacks.”

But he had trained himself to focus on his own race rather than worrying about other competitors.

Spoor cited an article written by past River Quest champion Carter Johnson as inspiring his way of thinking.

"If you focus on if other people are passing you or where you place is, you take your mind off what you need to do right now, and you're liable to make mistakes, either push yourself too hard or not eat good enough, and I think that's exactly what

I did last year. I was determined not to do that this year; I didn't care what anyone else did, I was going to take care of myself. If I win or I don't I don't really care. I'm going to push myself to the limits no matter what.”

That's a sentiment Colley can relate to.

She arrived wobbling in Carmacks.

The stretch between there and Dawson City was full of highs and lows, she said.

"It was mostly OK, but going into Kirkman, that seemed to take quite a long time.

And then the last stretch coming into Dawson, I knew I was close, but it just seems to take a long time,” Colley said.

She had been a support crew for two years before entering as a racer for the first time this year.

She's also paddled in the Devizes to Westminster International Canoe Race previously.

In that event, paddlers get out of the boat several times.

Not so on the Yukon.

"I was thinking about that for a long time, thinking about what it would be like to come down the home stretch,” Colley said. "Doing the race itself is OK, it's all the preparation and planning beforehand and getting yourself ready.”

Spoor added that while he was focused on his own paddling, it was nice to talk to Colley and Thrower on the river.

"I think if I could have talked to somebody I wouldn't have been as bad in the four-hour stretch when I couldn't stay awake. But this race, I never, ever expected to win, or even be in the lead. So I found my focus was really good, just because I was in the lead, looking for currents, and checking in with myself, if I'm warm enough or eating enough or paddling efficiently.”