Photos: 2016 Yukon Quest

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Former champion Hugh Neff, of Tok, mushes to the Braeburn checkpoint on Sunday, February 14, 2016. Neff was the first musher into Braeburn, where mushers have a mandatory 8-hour rest. The Braeburn checkpoint is about 100 trail miles from the finish in Whitehorse, Yukon. The Yukon Quest is a 1,000-mile sled dog race from Fairbanks, Alaska to Whitehorse, Yukon.

The Yukon Quest is a 1,000-mile sled dog race starting this year in Fairbanks, Alaska and finishing in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. The route retraces historic mail and supply routes along the Yukon River.

DAWSON CITY — For the third straight year, Brent Sass is the first Yukon Quest musher to reach the Klondike.

The defending champion arrived in Dawson City at 11:21 a.m AST Wednesday and will claim four ounces of Dawson City placer gold if he reaches the finish line in Whitehorse. Four ounces of gold is currently valued at nearly $4,800.

Read more: Despite sick dogs, Sass reaches Dawson City with a 2-hour lead