FORT KENT, Maine – Minnesotan Keith Aili has won this year’s Can-Am 250 race, finishing in less than 28 hours with a time of 27:25:38, according to results posted on the race’s tracking website.
Race officials began calculating final results once musher Mark Roberts arrived at 7:18 a.m. Tuesday morning to finish the race.
Aili, 51, who traveled all the way from Ray, Minnesota for this year’s race, also participated in the 2023 Can-Am 250 and received the second place prize. Aili has been mushing since 1990, according to his biography on the Can-Am website, and said he looks forward to seeing the “beautiful woods of northern Maine and the great people that live there.”
Erin Altemus received second place with a total time of 29:53:03. Like Aili, Altemus also traveled all the way from Minnesota to join the race. Altemus comes from Grand Marais and has been racing dogs with her husband for 14 years. They have a kennel, named Sawtooth Racing, near Grand Marais with 30 dogs.
Tristan Longchamps came in third place with a time of 32:52:58. Longchamps is a 23-year old musher from Pont-Rouge, Quebec. This is his third time racing the Can-Am 250. Longchamps said in his biography that his entire family is involved with mushing, and that he was born into it. He said he enjoys spending time with his dogs.
Can-Am officials wrote via the event’s social media page that they appreciated the determination of every musher who sought to take on the daunting 250-mile journey across the northern Maine wilderness.
“Your grit, dedication, and love for your dogs is what makes this race something truly special,” the Can-Am’s post read.