As more than 200 Yukon River

Quest (YRQ)competitors race from the

start line this afternoon in downtown

Whitehorse,spectators of the world 's

longest annual canoe and kayak race will

likely find it hard to miss what has

become this year 's major factor.

Ten voyageur canoes will be wait-

ing for their paddlers at Rotary Peace

Park,a new high in the event.Organiz-

ers,volunteers and racers are predicting

the 2007 race may well be won by a

voyageur,for the first time in the YRQ 's

seven-year history.

Last year,six of the larger boats,

made up of eight-person teams,entered

the event.One of them,Kisseynew,shat-

tered the previous voyageur record

(55:50)by more than 12 hours,with a

time of 42 hours,56 minutes and 13 sec-

onds,finishing second overall.

'We 're going to have voyageurs one,

two,three this year,unless something

goes horribly wrong,'stated Peter

Coates,a past president of the YRQ

board and volunteer,at Tuesday 's reg-

istration.

'Three voyageurs were built specif-

ically for this race and two of them are

very similar boats.One is from

Saskatchewan and one from New York.

It will be fun to watch those two go head

to head.'

The 2006 voyageur winners are back

this year but with a twist.Brothers

Michael and Martin Bernardin have split

up into two teams,Kisseynew and

Kisseynew Skookum Asphalt.Michael

will race in last year 's boat with the

Skoookum team while Martin,who built

both canoes,will race in the new one.

It 's Martin 's boat that Coates feels

will be duking it out for top spot with

Texas team Coureur des Bayou,while

Skookum and New York crew Saint

Lawrence Valley Paddlers are also

expected to be fast in the mix.

Coates was ready to make bold pre-

dictions Tuesday.

'It will be Texas,as long as (Lake

Laberge)is smooth,'said Coates.'If

it 's rough and the wind is from the South,

it will be New York or Kisseynew.And

if the wind is from the South,it will go

to a more conventional voyageur,which

is the Skookum team.'

Members of both the American

teams put winning as a goal in their racer

bios,but the Kisseynew crews were a

bit more hesitant to call anything right

off the bat.

'We don 't really have any set goals,'

said Michael,as he sat in his canoe mak-

ing some final preparations at registra-

tion.'We 're using last year as a bit of a

time to beat,but we 're not going to be

disappointed either way.'

Michael said the team is going to

keep a lot of the same strategies as they

had last year.After all,it worked.

'We 're going to paddle right

through,limit the amount of downtime.'

Kisseynew Skookum Asphalt,which

is made up of Edmonton-area,

Saskatchewan and Whitehorse residents

Ryan Martin and Dan Girouard has

a lot of experience but not much

together.

'We paddled as a team for the first

time last night,for about 20 minutes,'

Michael explained with a smile.'We

were hoping to get out one more time

(Tuesday),but that doesn 't look like it 's

going to happen.We 're going to have a

lot of learning on the trip I think.

'Half of us just met each other yes-

terday.We 're from all parts of the coun-

try.But that adds to it,too.'

Asked why he feels there 's been a

sudden influx in the amount of voyageur

canoes,Michael said he would like to

think it 's partly because of his team 's

performance last year.

'It opened up a lot of eyes.'

Coates agreed,adding it also may be

because voyageurs are allowed to race

with six crew members now,instead of

the old mandatory eight.

As for Coates 'assessment that the

larger canoes will own this year 's YRQ

a sentiment shared by many others

Michael said he 's hopeful that 's true.

'I don 't think they 're necessarily

referring to us,but I would sure like to

see a few of the voyageurs finish in the

first spots.I think that would be great for

the race.'

Any friendly wagers between he and

his brother on who will be ahead?

'Bets?I bet that if they tip,we 're

going to beat them,'he laughed.

The ten voyageur teams will join 69

solo and tandem canoe and kayak teams

for the start of the 2007 YRQ at 12:30

this afternoon in downtown Whitehorse.

Two teams withdrew Tuesday,includ-

ing former YRQ champion Steve

Landick,who was planning to go solo

this year,as well as solo kayaker Jack

Simpson.

Racers will start the 740-kilometre

journey at the White Pass &Yukon

Route building on Main Street,then run

down to their boats on the bank of the

river in Rotary Peace Park.

There is a verbal checkpoint after

Lake Laberge and then a seven-hour

mandatory layover in Carmacks.

There is also a mandatory three-hour

layover in Kirkman Creek.

The River Quest wraps up with an

awards banquet in Dawson City on Sun-

day,July 1.The first finisher is expected

into Dawson Friday afternoon and the

last team must be in by 8:30 Sunday

morning.

The Star will have full coverage

throughout the race.