The two lead mushers in this year's Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race embarked on the final leg of their 1,600-kilometre journey Tuesday afternoon.

Three-time defending champion Lance Mackey, 37, left the final checkpoint at Braeburn, Yukon, at 1:53 p.m. PT, following a mandatory eight-hour layover.

Fairbanks musher Ken Anderson was ahead of Mackey on Monday.
(Cheryl Kawaja/CBC)

Ken Anderson, 35, an experienced musher running his first Yukon Quest, left at 2:12 p.m.

Both are expected to arrive at the finish line in Whitehorse late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning.

Fifteen of the original 24 mushers are still in the race, which began Feb. 9 in Fairbanks and runs along the Yukon River through Alaska and the Yukon.

The race for first place — and the $35,000 US top prize — has been very close between the two Fairbanks mushers in recent days, with both arriving at the last few checkpoints within minutes of each other.

Yukon Quest leader Lance Mackey, left, spoke to reporters in Dawson City on Thursday.
(Sandi Coleman/CBC)

After Mackey led the first half of the race, Anderson took the lead early Monday when Mackey took a wrong route on the trail between Dawson City and Pelly Crossing.

Mackey had regained the lead when he arrived in Braeburn, about 160 km from Whitehorse, at 5:53 a.m. Tuesday. Anderson arrived roughly 20 minutes later, at 6:12 a.m.

In third place Tuesday was 50-year-old David Dalton of Healy, Alaska. He, along with fourth-place musher Michelle Phillips of Tagish, Yukon, left the Carmacks checkpoint around 2 p.m. Fifth-place musher Brent Sass arrived in Carmacks half an hour after Phillips, at 9:30 a.m., but left 20 minutes later.

Dawson City musher Cor Guimond scratched from the race in Dawson over the weekend, for reasons race officials have not determined.