Two world-class kayakers will be returning to the Yukon in June to take part in the Futura Challenge.

The Futura Challenge is a 24-hour endurance world record challenge race, which will be done nonstop by solo kayak on the Yukon River.

The current distance registered by the Guinness Book of World Records is 327 kilometres (203 miles) in 24 hours by Ian Adamson on the Colorado River in 1997. Adamson also holds the unofficial record of 349 km (217 miles) set on the Teslin and Yukon Rivers in 1998, paddling a Futura Blade surf ski.

Adamson and Jerome Turan, the defending solo kayak champion from the 2003, 654 kilometre (406-mile) Yukon River Quest, will square off on the morning of June 20 at Lower Lake Laberge on the Yukon River. If conditions are good, they expect to paddle to a point below Fort Selkirk, more than 354-kilometres (220 miles) downstream from the start.

The race is being promoted by Futura Surf Skis, a Californian manufacturer of performance canoes and kayaks, in association with the Yukon River Marathon Paddling Association (YRMPA).

Adamson, who resides in Boulder, Colorado, is a three-time winner of Eco-Challenge and two-time winner of the Raid the North Extreme challenge.

'Ian Adamson is one of those eco-challenge athletes and he's on TV all the time,' said YRMPA member Linda Bourassa in an interview this morning. 'We watched a bit of Ian and his team. Ernie (Bourassa) called me downstairs to check out this guy he said was one of the best kayakers in the world.'

The very next day, said Bourassa, Adamson and his wife happened to stop in at city hall.

'Last year he tried to defend his challenge, but he couldn't, so he's back this year,' she said.

Initially, both the American and local sponsors were hoping to get more people taking part in the challenge, but that never happened. Still, the event should garner a fair bit of attention in magazines, and perhaps even on TV.

'They're bringing a professional photographer,' said Bourassa. 'They're hoping to get lots of exposure in different magazines.'

Adamson has told Bourassa he only stops every couple of hours to change and have a quick bite to eat. Besides that, he does not leave his kayak, so 'it's pretty extreme.'

Turan, who is from South Africa but now resides in Victoria, B.C., is no slouch when it comes to kayaking either. He holds 14 South African national kayaking titles and has also won the U.S. wildwater nationals.

Turan and Adamson will be brining their own support crew, along with someone from the Guinness Book of World Records, so the winning time will be official. A local person will be taking the men down the river to the far end of Laberge so they can set up.

'We're hoping that next year, Jerome comes back to the River Quest, and maybe even bring a couple of other kayakers with him,' said Bourassa. 'We need these good calibre athletes to help promote the River Quest.

'And that's sort of what we're doing. They're helping us promote the River Quest and we're helping them with this race.'

For more information on the Futura Challenge, visit www.geocities.com/ultrapaddling or www.polarcom.com/~riverquest/index.htm., ,