Keith Aili is back and stronger than ever.

After returning to the sport of sled dog racing last year after taking about six years off, the musher from Ray clinched the top spot in last weekend’s U.P. 200 sled dog race in Marquette, Mich.

Aili and his team won the race Sunday, finishing the 12-dog, 240-mile race shortly before 2 p.m. in Mattson Lower Harbor Park. It was Aili’s fourth U.P. 200 victory after winning the race in 1998, 1999 and 2000.

It was Aili’s first victory since returning to the sled dog scene. He finished with a total trail time of 26 hours, 20 minutes and 19 seconds.

”It’s nice to get that first win out of the way,” Aili told The Journal Tuesday. “(The race) took me a little longer than I wanted, I think my expectations were too high, but I’m still happy to win. The competition at this race was high.”

Ryan Anderson, also of Ray, finished second in the event and was the winner in the previous four U.P. 200 races.

Since nobody has been crowned a five-time champion of the event, next year’s event could get interesting, Aili said.

Anderson didn’t express a lot of disappointment with his runner-up finish and said his opponent and neighbor deserved the win.

“Keith definitely deserved it,” he said. “It wasn’t like I handed the win to him. He did really well...I can’t win them all. The odds of winning five in a row are not very good.”

The musher, whose total trail time was 26 hours, 36 minutes and 56 seconds, noted fresh snow made him run the race at a slower pace, but said his dogs performed well.

“This was probably the best team I’ve ever brought to the U.P.,” he said. “They were strong and fast and did really well.”

Aili said he agreed 6-8 inches of fresh snow the area received just before the race began slowed the trail down and created more of a challenge for teams.

“I had a few problems with the type of booties I was using,” he said, adding that slowed the team down, too.

Still, Aili’s team was strong and ready to run.

Just more than two weeks ago, Aili took second place in the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon at the end of January.

“My dogs recovered really well from the Beargrease,” he said. “It proves a point you can run both races and still do well.”

In fact, the team did so well, Aili earned the race’s vet award for finishing with the 12 dogs he started with.

“That doesn’t happen too often,” he said.

The musher hopes to be back in action in two weeks at either the Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Race in Maine, which Anderson will compete in, or the Copper Dog 150 in Michigan.

“I’d like to run four races this year,” Aili concluded. “It all depends on the dogs. I’ll see if they’ve recovered enough.”