After 10 months at the Whitehorse Star , it is time for me to move on, but it isn't without a bit of sadness.

I really did have a lot of fun at the sports desk. When people say they love their jobs, I don't think they really mean it as much as I do. My best days in the Yukon have been spent working long hours chasing sports, and I wouldn't have had it any other way.

I believe I have shared my own personal athletic history a few times – when I was in Grade 10 my leg broke while I was running. When I got into high school the gym teachers nearly started drooling at my 6-foot height (I sprouted early), and begged me to join their volleyball and basketball teams.

It was in gym class that they discovered why I didn't volunteer, after I ran into the volleyball net, got tangled up and fell down.

I basically gave up on sports after that, and have spent the 10 months politely declining all invitations the many generous coaches and sports enthusiasts have offered me.

While I'd love to try out cross country skiing, orienteering, disc golf, regular golf and all the other sports I've been given a chance to have a go at, I just think history has proven I should stay off the court, pitch, trail or whatever venue sports are played on and just observe.

This lead me to being a sports editor, but as it turned out, even behind the scenes I can get myself into trouble.

I was covering one of the Whitehorse Huskies games this winter. I believe it was the five-game series they held. I headed to the game early. I didn't have time to eat dinner after my day at work, so I has hungry, and to be honest a little grumpy.

But nonetheless I found myself in the bleachers, scraping the last quarters from the bottom of my purse together in hopes that I would come up with enough for some of the delicious fries the Takhini Arena has at its concession stand.

I was about 50 cents short, so I settled into a spot, juggling my purse, notebook, pen and camera. As I was sitting down, the notebook – filled with the previous three days worth of notes ready to be written up – went tumbling from my hands, and fell into a crack in the bleachers.

My arms were way to big to get in there, and going from the bottom, they weren't long enough. I frantically searched for a small enough person that might be able to grab the notebook for me, but figured it would be a little weird asking someone to go digging around in a bleacher, so I was forced to cut my losses.

That Monday was a hectic one, as I had to cover the two games I had covered from memory. Luckily Huskies coach Randy Merkel was available to fill in the blanks.

Covering the Yukon Quest was an adventure everywhere I went, but for some reason I went from knowing nothing about dogs to being a Yukon Quest historian almost.

I went to lunch with my Dad yesterday, and he pointed to an old mushing picture on the wall of the restaurant, and I said, "that's Sonny Lindnor.”

It's crazy what I managed to learn about the mushing world.

It would have helped the week before though. I was up the Fish Lake Road taking photos of one of the Copper Haul Twister League's races. I was standing around a corner that headed up a steep hill.

A bunch of the mushers were having trouble getting their teams into the turnoff for the trail I was standing on. One team in particular flew by the turn, and had to be stopped and re-arranged. The musher jumped off his sled and pointed the lead dogs in the right direction, but the team became tangled in their harnesses.

As he passed me, I was the only other person around, so he yelled at me to run in and untangle the middle dog, who was having difficulty running as fast as the rest of the team with his leg strung up.

I dove in, holding the Star's camera, and tried to untangle the very friendly dog. He licked my face and wagged his tail as I struggled, but eventually I got the paw free. As I stepped back, it turned out I had become more tangled in the harness than the dog was, and I tripped over the lines.

I subconsciously thought, "save the camera!” And so I let myself fall, holding the camera high in the air. I landed on the wrist holding the camera, and injured it in the process. The camera suffered only a small dip in the snow, but was otherwise unscathed.

And that was only an eight-mile race, what had I gotten myself into volunteering to cover a 1,000-miler?

One of the most ridiculous things that happened to me during the Yukon Quest, was the morning before we were supposed to leave for Dawson. I had been abandoned for breakfast. A communication failure between myself, the Fairbanks Daily-News Miner's reporter and photographer and the Star's Jason Unrau meant breakfast happened, and I showed up to see them finishing up their plates.

They suggested I go without, but I warned them it was dangerous to let a girl go without breakfast, so they went back to pack up the car while I got my precious Eggs Benedict at the Eldorado Hotel.

While sitting there, Gerry Willomitzer walked by the window. All the mushers had left hours ago, but being immersed in my breakfast, I didn't think anything of it. Gerry also walked by Sam Harrel and Joshua Armstrong of the News-Miner. They bid him good morning, and continued packing.

We all carried on with our days. I skipped out of the Eldorado happily after my breakfast, ready to face a new day of chasing dogs.

About 20 kilometres outside of Dawson, I mentioned seeing Gerry. Sam and Josh added they had seen him as well.

It took about 30 seconds of silence before we realized Gerry should have left the night before.

What the heck was Gerry Willomitzer still doing in Dawson? And better yet, how did four journalists not notice something was up?

And back we went to Dawson, to discover Gerry had scratched.

Being from Kimberley B.C., we are spoiled by few mosquitoes. Up in the Yukon though, if you don't have bug spray, you shouldn't spend time in the bush. I learned this lesson repeatedly covering orienteering.

Taking pictures at orienteering events meant a lot of time spent crouched in the bush waiting for photos to come to you.

On one of these adventures I found myself down in a little ditch on Mt. McIntyre waiting for the runners to come over a little hill and into the dip.

I woke up the next day with about 50 mosquito bites, praying that being out-of-control itchy was a good excuse for a sick day. It was not, and I suffered for the next few days wearing shorts in weather that was not intended for summer clothes so I could get at all the bites and scratch.

I know, I know. You're not supposed to scratch, but when you have 50 of them, that rule goes out the window.

Covering the Yukon River Quest this weekend was another great adventure, and honestly the most perfect way to finish up an awesome job.

On Wednesday I was lucky enough to catch a ride on a boat across Lake Laberge to photograph the paddlers.

The Star had bought me a little rain suit, but I must have found the cheapest one in the world, because the vinyl quickly ripped while covering the start. It must have been from jockeying for position with all the people who were trying to get under my umbrella and in the way of my photo.

I then borrowed some track pants from one of our lovely advertising girls, and bundled up in about five layers, plus the remaining raincoat from my suit.

None of that mattered at all, because I ended up in the middle of the boat as we crawled across the lake, which was being battered by four foot or higher waves. The boat sent them directly into my face. Harry Kerns, one of the River Quest's photographers took photos of my misery. Hopefully they will surface some day.

We were on the boat for probably five hours taking photos of every team that passed.

I emerged on the shore soaking wet, dripping wet, really. But I have to say that was one of the best days of work I've ever had. Who else gets to call riding on a boat for five hours having a blast work?

So this will be my last bit of writing for the Whitehorse Star. I enjoyed my entire 10 months here, and hope to be back to enjoy the midnight sun again in the near future. I have never been this busy as a writer before, and never enjoyed myself at work as much as I did working here.

Thank you for reading.