MARQUETTE — Quebecois musher Martin Massicotte is used to winning sled dog races, but a first-place finish in the UP200 has managed to elude him for years.

Until now.

Massicotte and his dog team claimed their first UP200 victory at 12:55 p.m. Sunday when they completed the 228-mile race at the Ojibwa Casino in Marquette.

The Saint-Tite, Quebec, musher earned second-place finishes at the UP200 in 2016, 2017 and 2019. He finished in third in 2018 and 2020.

“I had a lot of emotion when I crossed the finish line. It was an extraordinary team effort with my dogs, my partner Marie and my handler Joel Hendricks, whom I would like to thank for their dedication,” Massicotte said Sunday afternoon.

Erin Aili of Ray, Minnesota, finished second.

Massicotte will take home $8,700 in prize money, but that is not what means most to him about claiming the UP200 championship.

“I am happy to have achieved one of my goals,” he said. “I trained my dogs really hard and I thought about every detail.”

Massicotte and his team averaged 9.4 mph on trails he described as “slow and punchy.” He dropped three dogs at the Grand Marais checkpoint.

Massicotte’s UP200 victory comes on the tail of first-place finishes in the 100-mile Wilderness Dog Sled Race in southern Maine and PG Expedition Abitibi in Canada.

He also completed the 2022 Iditarod in Alaska, where he finished in 22nd place despite a harrowing experience in that race where he fought off a moose intent on stomping his dogs.

He is writing an autobiography that includes detailing that encounter and his life as a musher.

Massicotte plans to return to Marquette next February to defend his UP200 title.

“UP200 is definitely one of the best race organizations in North America and you can be proud of them and the communities who are involved in the success of this event. See you next year,” he said.