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They slid into Dawson City after dinner on Friday, a 715-kilometre journey complete.

The banks, lined with supporters on Canada Day cheered on 鈥淧erfect Storm鈥� as Jeff Brainard and Gaetan Plourde took their final strokes in the Yukon River.

Excited whispers turned to murmurs, turned to shouts as spotters zeroed in on the tiny specs as they rounded the corner where the Klondike meets the Yukon.

Plourde, of Kanata, Ont., pulled into shore looking like he had just been out for a sightseeing tour, and not the gruelling 46 hours of paddling from Whitehorse to Dawson. His bowman, Brainard, of Roslin, Ont., breathed a little harder than his teammate.

鈥淔eeling happy and tired, probably in that order,鈥� said Plourde as a group of about 50 people crowded the takeout.

The tandem canoe team beat the next boat, solo kayak Dave Hutchison by almost an hour.

鈥淚t was a weird race for a couple of hours,鈥� said Plourde. 鈥淲e got them (another tandem canoe) off our draft then we had to sprint for almost two hours until we got rid of them. Even after an hour of sprinting, they were still 20 metres behind us.鈥�

鈥淪o then in the middle of the night we decided to sprint again for half an hour straight just to get more distance from them, then we did it again for another 20 minutes to get more and more distance,鈥� added Brainard.

鈥淎nd that was probably the toughest paddle I鈥檝e ever done,鈥� said Plourde.

The duo soon traded their gatorade for beer and waited for the next teams to come in.

First was Hutchison, the Montana man who, last year, won the Yukon鈥圧iver Quest with Bob Ross in a tandem kayak.

After pulling into Carmacks, further into the pack, he paddled hard in the last 400 kilometres, fuelled by rock and roll in his tiny red iPod shuffle to finish in 47:17.30.

His family greeted him at the take-out, as volunteers offered him gatorade.

鈥淪orry dad,鈥� his son said. 鈥淚鈥檇 give you some of mine, but I drank it all earlier.鈥�

Hutchison would also relax on shore with a meal and wait for the third place boat, tandem kayak 鈥淭eam Jester,鈥� to arrive.

The Australian duo arrived 40-some minutes later.

They impressed themselves at their first River Quest showing, especially after their boat was accidentally left in Sydney. Organizers pulled a few strings and they were able to start the race in a new boat.

鈥淭he first time we sat in that boat was when we went from the start,鈥� said Jeeb Smith. 鈥淲e鈥檙e very happy with coming in like we have, because we didn鈥檛 think we would.鈥�

The duo finished the race in high spirits.

鈥淲e had a strategy where we stopped thinking about where it was and just kept paddling,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou know when you鈥檙e out there and you feel bad, you鈥檝e got to keep going or you can鈥檛 get here.鈥�

Their close bond also kept the team going in hard times.

鈥淚 think if anybody whinges too much, the other tells him to shut up and stop whinging. But we鈥檙e both fairly optimistic, so we didn鈥檛 have any morale problems,鈥� said Smith.

The team was able to support each other wordlessly at times paddling harder when needing that boost.

鈥淚f you can tell one person is down, you鈥檝e got to try and liven up a bit, otherwise if you both go down, then it鈥檚 not going to end well,鈥� said Derek Chart.