Snowmobile breakdown leads to nailbiter finish in Fort McPherson, N.W.T., race

The win appeared to be in the bag.

At a snowmobile race inFort McPherson, N.W.T., this past weekend, James Areyhad been leading the way for some time.

He was taking on 12 other competitors in the 160-kilometrerace.But as he rounded the last lap, just metres from the finish line,disaster struck: his machine broke down.

"Icould hear something grinding in my chain case or something," Areytold CBC North's Wanda McLeod Monday. "I was hoping it would hold out until the last lap."

It didn't.

"Can't go. Can't move," says Edward James Kogiak, in a video of the race he broadcast live on Facebook.

"Gottapush it for the win!"

And that's exactly what Arey did. He pickedup the snowmobileand started thrusting it towards the finish line.

'I tried to push as hard as I could'

The crowd went wild, with horns honking andpeople screaming and cheering.

"I just caught my second wind and I tried to push as hard as I could," Arey said.

The tension mounted as onlookers, and Arey,saw the snowmobile in second place gaining on him.As it roundedthe corner of the final lap,Areykicked it into high gear.

It wasn't enough. The sled whizzed past him taking the top prize.

Areydropped themachine and threw his helmet off but it wasn't in defeat. It was sheerdetermination.

He started pushing againas anotherracersped by him into second place.

"I knew he was going to make it eventually," Kogiak said. "He came pretty close to second."

Arey finally pushedthe snowmobile to the flag, finishing a heart-breaking, though hard-fought, third-place finish.

"My arms are [still] Jello-y," Arey said.

He's already competed in several snowmobile races in the area this spring, and plans to entermore.

Now it's time to work on his snowmobile.

"Gotta get it ready for Tuk, eh?"