Paddlers navigate lonely miles in Yukon 1000

The second annual running of the world’s longest canoe and kayak race, the Yukon 1000, takes off from Whitehorse today.

The second annual running of the world’s longest canoe and kayak race, the Yukon 1000, takes off from Whitehorse today.

Teams completed inspection Sunday and are set to face the long and lonely journey from Whitehorse down the Yukon River for 1,000 miles, or 1,600 kilometres.

The race goes past Dawson City, across into Alaska at Eagle, on to Circle and into the Yukon Flats. It then continues past Fort Yukon, Beaver and Steven’s Village, communities only accessible by river or air, eventually reaching the end of the race where the Alaska Pipeline and the Dalton Highway cross the river.

Here they find the Yukon River Lodge, a restaurant and hotel in the middle of almost nowhere.

Last year, 19 teams took part in the inaugural race, which was won by two British kayak teams in six days, two hours, 11 minutes and seven seconds.

This year, the champions did not return but there are paddlers from Canada, U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Sweden and the UK – nine teams in 10 boats.

“One of the teams is in solo kayaks, but they’re not allowed to go by themselves, so they had to pair up,” explained race organizer Peter Coates.

“It’s for safety purposes. You need someone there to tell you you’re getting weird, you’re getting cold, or just to stop you from talking to bears too much.”

Coates says a drop off in registration numbers from the first year was somewhat expected, but he believes there will be more teams next year.

“I am absolutely confident in that.

There are already people doing the River Quest and 360 in order to qualify next year.

“We require qualified people in this race. It’s not for amateurs.” In some ways, the Yukon 1000 is safer than the River Quest, since it requires sleep. Teams must stop for six hours each night, although there are no checkpoints.

They all carry Spotbeacon devices, both so they can be tracked on the race web site and to signal for help in the event of an emergency.

However, there are still plenty of risks. On the first day of the race, competitors must paddle the length of Lake Laberge.

Laberge has a reputation of being able to go from mirror smooth to waves two-metres high in a matter of minutes.

The lake capsized three boats in the Yukon River Quest that took place three weeks ago.

And Laberge is not the most demanding part of the Yukon 1000.

“Once you get into the flats, past Circle and into Fort Yukon, the river is so big it has all of the dynamics of a lake,” said Coates.

“You can get waves as big as anything Lake Laberge can throw at you only shorter and sharper, because the river is shallow, and more dangerous because of the current and the snags.”

There is also more traffic on the Alaska side of the river, said Coates.

While that can be helpful for teams who may get into trouble, it can also be dangerous. Last year, there was an 800-foot barge heading up the river while paddlers were doing the race.

“In Alaska, it’s entirely different,” said Coates. “It’s a working river there.

Here, it’s a tourist river.”

While the race has few rules othert han common sense there is one new rule that was brought into effect this year for safety reasons.

Last year the teams had straight forward weight requirements for food, but teams would just dump the heavy items as soon as they hit the river. This time around, the rule is you must have two weeks worth of food, but there is no set weight.

Organizers hope this will keep teams from cheating and dumping weight, but also supply them will enough food for the duration of the race.

Coates doesn’t expect last year’s winning time to be beaten, pointing out the river is not as high this year, at least on the Yukon side.

“The flats might be high, because of all the rain that area has been getting, but the Pelly and Stewart are doing nothing this year.”

Weather shouldn’t be a huge issue this year. Last year’s race received great weather, with hardly any rain and no wind. While nothing is a guaranteed,

the forecast looks much the same this time around.

So which teams should we expect to be in the fight for a first-place finish?

“If I was a betting man, I would say it’s a split between the two Australian teams,” said Coates. “One is a canoe, the other is the pair of solos. One of the guys, before this race, just finished guiding a three-week camel tour in the outback.

“That’s clearly the way you prepare for an Arctic canoe tour,” he added with a laugh.

One of the teams – Bearly Moving from Maine, U.S. – received some bad news off the start, arriving Saturday to find the airline had lost their luggage. There was no track in the system of where it might be, and they were told it was really unlikely it would get here in time for the race.

While the team was well organized and had air freighted a lot of equipment ahead of time, they were without any clothes, and had to borrow some equipment from local organizers. However, there was a happy conclusion to the story, as their luggage finally arrived at the hotel Sunday

They were well dressed and ready to go when the boats launched this morning from Rotary Park, just upstream from the Visitor Information Centre.

Watch for continued coverage of the race in the Star, or follow the results at: http://yukon1000.com.