Yukon River Quest 2004

Landick and Barton on pace to break record as they hit Carmacks

By ECHO ROSS (from the Whitehorse Star)

Current Yukon River Quest record holder Steven Landick and his canoeing partner Bruce Barton were the first team to arrive in Carmacks this morning, on Day 2 of the 2004 Quest.
Traveling under the team name “Michigan” in honour of their home state, Landick and Barton hit the Carmacks checkpoint at 8:34 a.m., which is a record pace for the River Quest. In the event’s six-year history, no racer has ever arrived at the first checkpoint before 9 a.m.
They have a mandatory seven-hour layover in Carmacks before heading out to Kirkman Creek this afternoon, where they will have a mandatory three-hour layover.
The race record in elapsed time on the river is 44 hours and nine minutes, but most teams average between 55 and 70 hours.
As of 10:30 a.m., the rest of the racers were between Hootalinqua and Carmacks, although officials reported a forest fire just before Big Salmon which had jumped the river and was making things a bit tricky for the paddlers traveling through the area.
Yukon River Quest Spokeswoman Dianne Villesèche said there were three paddlers left between the fire and Big Salmon, but she didn’t anticiapte any problems getting through it.
Whitehorse’s Linda Bourassa, competing in a solo kayak under the name “Grand Bun Bun”, was the top woman in the race at the start of Day 2. She was in 10th place overall.
Rounding out the top ten were: solo kayaker Derek Crook (3-D Man-Go Kayaker) of Nanaimo, B.C.; canoeists Chris Gerwing and Tim Hodgson (Gerwing/Hodgson) of Winnipeg and Whitehorse respectively; canoeists Francis Roy and Jean-Francois Latour (All North/Waterstone Frontec) of Whitehorse; canoeists Terry Bolland and Edgar Vaneer (Aussie Invaders) of Australia; Sam Vander Merwe and Mark Puttey (Fookawi) of Victoria, B.C., and Orange County, California, respectively; solo kayaker Stephen Mooney (Promithian) of Whitehorse; tandem kayakers Jason Merron and Charmian Gradwell (Jason and the Argonaut) of England; and Kent Fenton and Rick Brown (Potato Barge II) of DeWinton, Alberta, and Whitehorse respectively.
There were no scratches as of noon today and the weather remains sunny and hot with a light breeze.
The first teams are expected to arrive in Dawson City during the early evening on Friday or on Saturday. The wrap-up barbecue and awards night, including the cheque presentation, will be Sunday, June 27.

Record temperatures may benefit U.S. and overseas paddlers

By ECHO ROSS

More than 50 teams took off from Main Street at 12:30 today, for the start of the 2004 Yukon River Quest.
This year, racers are expected to paddle through sunny, 30 C weather the entire way to Dawson City — something a few of the competitors, such as the Australians and those from the Southern U.S., are quite used to.
“It’s great for us that it’s warm because that’s what we’re kind of used to,” said Texas resident Ginger Turner, who is competing in the Quest with her sister, Kaki Burrus, who lives in Maryland. “I spent six months amassing clothes to wear in cold weather. Actually, I was really freaked out about the cold weather.
“I could have outfitted three people to do this race.”
Both Turner and Burrus have competed in the Texas Water Safari, a 260 mile marathon canoe race. Last year, they did the safari with their two other sisters, which was the first time in history four sisters completed the race.
“It has a lot of similarities (to the Quest) but the water safari has a lot of dams and portages, which you’re not going to have here,” said Turner. “Also, the speed of the rivers is different. That I’m really excited about – just to get out there and really fly.”
Burrus said the sisters had a really good time, “But it was my fourth finish, so in a way I felt like I’d done all that the race had to offer.”
So she decided to join her sister in the Yukon after they heard about the race through a friend.
“I do the Texas Water Safari frequently and that’s a really long race,” Turner explained. “This one was even longer so it just seemed fun to me to do this race.”
Neither sister has ever been to the Yukon, or anywhere Northwest of Oregon in the U.S. Turner did travel to P.E.I. one summer to do some sea kayaking, but said she feels extremely lucky to be in the Yukon right now. Both said their goals for the race are just to finish and experience the wilderness, although many feel they have
a shot at breaking the Quest’s record for female paddlers.
Turner said it’s really hard for them to judge the competition, because the people who live here will have an “extreme advantage”, due to the fact they know the
river.
“We’re going to give it our best shot,” said Burrus. “My goal is to keep up with her (Turner).”“It would be nice to break the record, but that’s not why we’re here,” added Turner.
Both women have been training very hard for the race, paddling at least five days a week as well as hiking and biking. Burrus said everything else has to take the back-burner, such as “your dishes, your cleaning and your social life.
“There’s nothing like knowing you have to paddle 1,000 miles to make you train hard because you know if you don’t, it’s (the race) going to be impossible,” she said. “And I need that kind of pressure to really push myself.”
A lot of people think the hard part is doing the actual race, she added, but the real hard part is day in and day out, getting out to practice — and the anxiety of getting your boat together.
“My immediate desire is to get the boat ready,” agreed Turner. “After that, we just have to remember to eat and drink. That’s going to be key I think.”
For the Australian team of Terry Bolland and Edgar Vaneer, the key to their trip will be staying healthy — they’ve already been on the river for six days. Bolland and Vaneer originally planned to paddle the full length of the Yukon River as a leisure trip, but then heard about the Quest and decided to include it in their plan.
So the two men flew to Whitehorse, where they bought a canoe for their river trip and rented a separate canoe for the River Quest itself. They then drove to Lake Bennett where they began their adventure.
“We spend two days here and then compete in the race,” explained Bolland. “After that, we keep going, from Alaska to the Bearing Sea. So we will have done the entire river.
“We couldn’t really resist combining the two (race and river trip) and we’re hoping that we’re not going to kill ourselves on the way down.”
Bolland, who owns a surf shop in Australia, said neither he nor Vaneer have done races of this length before. They haven’t really had much time to train either, he added, and the idea was to get fit on the way.
That’s not to say either one is out of shape though. Bolland has paddled the Mississippi River before and also cycled, canoed and walked around the United Stated and Australia — about 24,000 kilometres.
“So I’m pretty familiar with marathon races but not as much races,” he said. “Ed (Vaneer) is a good play boater. He likes the fun. He does the local weekend races – a 135 kilometre light water race.
“Still, we’re trying to do our best and hopefully we’ll get through and give it a good shot, making sure we don’t injure ourselves or we’ll be coming back.”
Bolland admitted having to quit the race or the rest of the river trip would be a huge disappointment, considering how much work and money went into getting to the Yukon. He hopes to do some more sightseeing once they finish the trip, if they have time. The two men will be flying out of Anchorage eventually, but their canoe will probably we staying behind.
“There’s probably no way we’re going to get it back, so we’ll probably give it to somebody as an early Christmas present,” he laughed.
The 740-kilometer (460 miles) Quest, the longest annual canoe and kayak race in the world, runs from Whitehorse to Dawson City.
The race record in elapsed time on the river is 44 hours and nine minutes, but most teams average between 55 and 70 hours. This does not include layovers at Carmacks (seven hours) and a new Kirkman Creek checkpoint (3 hours), which has been added at the request of racers this year for extra rest time before the final stretch.
The 51 teams are divided into these classes: tandem canoe and kayak, voyager canoe, and solo kayak. This year, there are 18 solo kayak entries, four tandem kayaks, two voyageur canoes and 26 tandem canoes.
The first teams are expected to arrive in Dawson during the early evening on Friday or on Saturday. The wrap-up Barbecue and awards night, including the cheque presentation, will be Sunday, June 27.
Nearly $15,000 in prize money will be up for grabs. Under a new prize structure, the top 10 teams overall will receive prize money and cash bonuses also will be awarded in several categories. The first place team will receive $3,000 plus entry in the 2005 race to defend their title.

By ECHO ROSS (from the Whitehorse Star)

The 2004 Yukon River Quest will have a record number of teams competing when the race gets underway in Whitehorse on Wednesday, June 23.
The deadline for entry into the race was May 26, and as of this morning 51 teams (95 racers) had registered. There is still the potential for even more, as officials will still accept entries from overseas postmarked for May 26. The previous record for the number of teams entered was 33.
Boats are divided into these classes: tandem canoe and kayak, voyager canoe, and solo kayak. This year, there are 18 solo kayak entries, four tandem kayaks, two voyageur canoes and 26 tandem canoes.
“We have teams from Europe, Australia (1) and all over North America,” said Dianne Villesèche, a director of the Yukon River Marathon Paddling Association — which runs the race — and this year’s “voice of the race”, in an interview this morning. “There are also quite a few from Whitehorse, but we have teams from Scotland (1), England (6), Austria (1), Germany (1) and all over the U.S. (18) and Canada (22).”
Villesèche believes word of mouth, media attention and the Quest’s website (www.yukonriverquest.com) are responsible for the continued growth of the event.
“There are people from different canoe and kayak clubs around the world coming here,” she explained. “And the website has been a huge influence, just promoting the race and providing information.
“We’re also being picked up by different media. The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) was here in 2002 and a show aired in Britain on the race.”
Villesèche said the YRMPA itself has also been pretty active in trying to promote themselves. The organization had brochures and other items sent to Toronto for a canoe expedition show about a month ago.
“We have a lot of elite racers that come here because it’s an extensive endurance race that really tests an athlete mentally and physically,” she said.
Whatever the race organizers are doing, it seems to be paying off. The BBC will once again be making the trip this summer, this time for the filming of a reality show during the race.
Two British canoeists, one professional athlete and one novice, are being thrown into the competition. They were trained by an Olympic coach and the challenge will be to see how well they can work together — and whether or not they can finish the race.
The BBC will air a one-hour reality show on the outcome. Local company Up North Adventures will guide the film crew through the race. Half of the film crew will arrive in Whitehorse June 16 while the other half, as well as the competitors, will arrive on June 20th.
“It’s fabulous that this is happening,” said Villesèche. “There’s also a story coming out this month in a Canadian kayaking magazine. Any time that kind of thing happens it just raises the interest, especially among extreme athletes.
She also believes other adventure shows on TV, such as the Eco-challenge, pique people’s interest in challenging themselves.
“When a race comes along that gives them the opportunity for something they can participate in, they want to do it,” she said. “It’s almost like a dream for some people to get to do this. Most people are just happy they can finish it.”
The 740-kilometre (460 miles) Quest, the longest annual canoe and kayak race in the world, runs from Whitehorse to Dawson City.
The race record in elapsed time on the river is 44 hours and nine minutes, but most teams average between 55 and 70 hours. This does not include layovers at Carmacks (seven hours) and a new Kirkman Creek checkpoint (3 hours), which has been added at the request of racers this year for extra rest time before the final stretch.
The first teams are expected to arrive in Dawson during the early evening on Friday, June 25, or the following Saturday. The wrap-up barbecue and awards night, including the cheque presentation, will be Sunday, June 27.
Nearly $15,000 in prize money will be up for grabs. Under a new prize structure, the top 10 teams overall will receive prize money and cash bonuses also will be awarded in several categories. The first place team will receive $3,000 plus entry in the 2005 race to defend their title.
Other changes this year include a tightened specification on canoes and kayaks allowed in the race and a verbal checkpoint on the side of Lake Laberge.
“We’re trying to stop people from going down the centre of the lake because it’s really dangerous,” said Villesèche. “It’s for safety reasons.”
The YRMPA is also trying to push the safety aspect for individual racers this year, including more appropriate clothing — no cotton allowed.
“Generally about one third of the teams drop out before Dawson, due to fatigue, injury and hypothermia,” she stated. “Some people come and they’re just not prepared for it.
“The temperature of the river is between six to eight degrees. If you’re in the water, you have about one hour to survive. And even if you make it to shore, you have to be prepared, with the proper clothing.”
With exactly three weeks to the start of the race, organizers are keeping busy, selling bib packages and finalizing the safety committees and boats. There will be seven safety boats this year. The deadline for bib sponsorship is Monday, June 7.
“The bibs are very important to us because they help us purchase boats and keep the race running,” said Villesèche, adding it can be too expensive for competitors from overseas to ship their canoes along with themselves. “We need to have boats available for competitors in the Yukon to use. And you want to have quality boats available to the racers.
“As the race is growing, we need to keep up with the demand.”
Anyone wishing to sponsor a bib can call 33-FLOAT(333-5628) or visit the River Quest website and print off a sponsorship form. Bib sponsors of the race receive a signed half-bib from their paddler, an introduction at the beginning of the race and mention throughout the race to various media outlets.
Sponsors also get thank-you ads at the end of the race in the newspaper and a framed photo of their paddler. The cost to sponsor a bib is $200. Official buffs (similar to bandanas) are also for sale to support the race. You can buy them at Intersport, Sport Yukon or Coast Mountain Sports.

Nearly $15,000 in prize money will be up for grabs in the longest annual canoe and kayak race in the world, the Yukon River Quest, which will have its sixth running in late June.
Under a new prize structure, the top 10 teams overall will receive prize money, and cash bonuses also will be awarded in several categories. The first place team will receive $3,000 plus entry in the 2005 race to defend their title.
Boats are divided into these classes: tandem canoe and kayak, voyager canoe and solo kayak, and there are bonuses for top mixed, women’s, and senior entries as well.
The 740-kilometre (460 miles) paddling marathon is held on the Yukon River from Whitehorse to Dawson City. The race begins with a Le Mans style start in downtown Whitehorse at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 23.
The race record in elapsed time on the river is 44 hours and nine minutes, but most teams average between 55 and 70 hours. This does not include 10 hours of layovers at Carmacks (seven hours) and a new Kirkman Creek checkpoint (three hours), which has been added at the request of racers this year for extra rest time before the final stretch.
The first teams are expected to arrive in Dawson during the late afternoon or early evening of Friday, June 25.
The Yukon River Quest grew out of the gold rush centennial Dyea to Dawson races and has increased in popularity each year, from 16 teams in 1999 to more than 30 teams in each of the last two years. Organizers expect to reach the 40-team mark this year, and are actively soliciting teams in Alaska and the Yukon, as well as internationally through paddling magazines, canoe and kayak clubs and its website, www.yukonriverquest.com. Race brochures are available at outdoor stores in many northern communities.
As of early April, 16 teams had already registered, including entries from the Yukon, Alaska, British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec, New York, California and England. This year’s race has already drawn media attention from the BBC and Explorer Magazine.
Entry forms and other information, from race rules to prize breakdowns per category, can be downloaded off the website. Deadline for entries is May 26.
The Whitehorse Emergency Measures Organization (E.M.O.) and Canadian Rangers from several Yukon communities will assist the race safety crews again this year, from Lake Laberge all the way to Dawson.
The race is organized by the Yukon River Marathon Paddling Association, based in Whitehorse.