The Yukon Adventure Challenge: not your typical day in the bush

The annual day-long foot, bicycle, rope and canoe race took place on Saturday morning at the Takhini Hot Springs

The annual day-long foot, bicycle, rope and canoe race took place on Saturday morning at the Takhini Hot Springs, testing local competitors’ athletic abilities on the trail, the deep woods and open river.

The course, held in the area surrounding the hot springs, changes each year and has been organized by Mike Tribes, a Whitehorse adventure challenge enthusiast and marathon runner, for the last two years.

“It was a standard adventure race,” said Tribes. “They generally include mountain biking, trekking, paddling and a rope section. This is a 12-hour event, it’s considered a sprint distance race because most challenges are a standard 36 hours…. They started biking from here to the top of Vista Hill and then they hiked overland then back to the hot springs. Then they biked down the Takhini River Road and paddled back.” he said.

The length of this year’s challenge was between 60 to 80 kilometres, depending on your route. Teams had 12 hours, beginning at 6 a.m., to finish the race, which featured two mountain bike courses, a stretch of bushwhacking, trail hiking, a paddling section as well as a final zip line over a pond. Nine teams competed in total, eight teams of two, as well as soloist, Michael Pealow.

Tribes chose the Takhini Hot Springs because it offers varied terrain for an affordable rate, close to Whitehorse.

“The hot springs is a nice staging area because it is a campground, we’ve got barbecues and everything. I am just making it easier for everybody. Down south adventure challenges can cost contestants a lot of money, this one costs $150.00 per team,” he said.

The Yukon Adventure Challenge offers contestants a brand new take on adventure racing. Contestants were not informed of the route until five minutes before the race began. After setting off, the racers navigated a course that included the “Sand Hills,” a 15-km bike race, followed by a trek through the “Fireless Fire Swamps”; an 11-km bushwhack, the “Thighs of Thunder;” a 20-km mountain bike ride; another 20-km paddle down the Takhini River called a “Twist of Fate” and then the “Final Insult,” a 3-km dash back to the zip line, where contestants soared to the finish, happy but exhausted.

Tribes’ unique brand of adventure challenge also required contestants to solve a Sudoku puzzle to start the race and complete a series of challenges along the way, including finding checkpoints throughout the course, which cost contestants a twenty minute time penalty if not discovered. There were also bonus challenges like crossing a bike ramp and even a maze section to be completed blindfolded. Time credit was also offered for every piece of litter collected along the trail. The race ended with a barbecue back at the campsite.

This year’s winners were Ryan Burlingame and Aliye Tuzlak who dashed to the finish with a time of 8:51:00, after having an hour deducted from their time for completing bonus challenges. Second place went to Nathan Millar and Ian Ruiteberg with a time of 9:24:00 after a 40-minute deduction and third was taken by soloist Michael Pealow who crossed the finish line after 10:06:00, with a whopping 105 minutes shaved off his time for completing the challenges.

The event’s fourth place finishers, 17 -year -olds, Drew Spicer and Conrad Kirkwood, were the youngest in the competition, and arrived at the finish line after 10:27:00, with 25 minutes saved.

Planning a race through such varied terrain, with so many participants is a major challenge for organizers, but according to Tribes, this year’s challenge was a success.

“The weather turned out quite nice. There was a lot of mud on the Takhini River Road but I am quite happy about how it turned out. I was a little worried about the track,” he said. “Because near the beginning is a two-kilometre bushwhack and we are always afraid of losing people.

So when the first team came out on the track it was like ‘yes, it worked!’”

Tribe will be organizing the event next year as well and said he is already planning the course. He believes the adventure challenge is a great way to stay active and get out to explore the Yukon wilderness and he wants to bring awareness to the sport locally.

“I would love to get more people out and interested in these events. It’s not as daunting as it seems. People think the sound of running 12 hours is daunting but you switch up every couple of hours. Its doable, some people should try it and see what they think.”

This year’s winners agree. Finally relaxing after clambering down from the 900 ft. zip line with his face and clothing splattered with mud from the trail, Burlingame reflected on his first-place finish.

“We lucked out, we found every trail, there are lot of little broken trails in there to follow and we found them, which really helped us out,” he said.

“The race is awesome, it’s a great day and a huge challenge but it’s a relief its done, he said, adding “I am looking forward to the next one already.”

By MAX LEIGHTON
Star Reporter