After seven days, 11 hours and 20 minutes, British Columbia’s Jessie Thomson-Gladish won one of the world’s longest ultra-female winter marathons in Alaska.

Originally from Kamloops, the athlete traveled 560 kilometers on foot, skiing and cycling through the snow, bursts and cold weather at the Iditarod Trail Invitational.

Only 70 men and women from all over the world participate in this very long distance race which also offers a circuit of 210 kilometers and another of 1610 kilometers.

Thomson-Gladish says he slept little during the race because the weather does not stop when the riders take a break. His training at -30 degrees Celsius consisted of running, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing.

This extreme race is not that of the Iditarod sled dogs that started on Sunday, March 4th in Anchorage.