A Montana musher Wednesday won the 400-mile John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon across northeastern Minnesota in wind chills plunging to 40 degrees below zero.

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Jason Barron, 36, of Lincoln, Mont., and his 11 dogs finished the course from Duluth, up the North Shore of Lake Superior to near the Canadian border and back in 34 hours, 43 minutes and 26 seconds, the Duluth News Tribune reported. Their effort won Barron $8,000.

Barron, his beard covered in ice, told the newspaper the trail "was tough." It was his first time in the Beargrease sled dog race. Last year, he finished eighth in Alaska's grueling Iditarod, an event once won by his father.

"My team is so tired. The hills finally took their toll on the last run," he said.

Second place went to John Stetson of Duluth in a time of 35:18:04. Twenty-seven teams started this year's event and 12 finished.