A long-time passion for the Yukon Quest is spurring Normand Casavant to enter the 2012 edition of the international sled dog race.

"Some people don't realize that they are lucky to have that race here in the Yukon,” the 48-year-old musher said. "It's like a mountain. Each morning when you wake up you open your window and you don't notice the mountain and the mountain is beautiful, and that's the way I see the Yukon Quest. I really love the Yukon Quest, it's a beautiful race, it's a professional race.”

Casavant and fellow Yukon-based mushers Sebastian Schnuelle and Marcelle Fressineau, along with board members and fans, were on hand for the Yukon Quest's 29th birthday party, held at Antoinette's Restaurant on Friday. Joe Bishop provided live music, while organizers held Quest trivia and handed out prizes.

Originally from Mont-Tremblant, Que., Casavant moved to Whitehorse specifically to compete in the Yukon Quest.

"Some people have goals in their life that they want to reach, and the Yukon Quest is one of them for me,” said Casavant, who is also a board member.

He finished 10th in both the 2009 and 2010 races. Now he's looking for sponsors to enter the 2012 Quest, which is set to start in Fairbanks, Alaska, on Feb. 4.

There are 27 mushers currently signed up, four of which are based in the Yukon.

Casavant's previous two efforts were paid for with the money he earned with his Quebec-based touring business Casaventures. Now he's starting a Yukon-based business, Nomadic Sled Dog School, which will offer lessons on the mushing, everything from off-season training to how to treat the dogs.

Casavant has been mushing for 25 years.

"I spent a lot of years mushing and I want to show what I know,” he said.

The doors are tentatively scheduled to open for business at the end of November.

That's hardly enough time to pay his own way this year.

The first year he invested upwards of $25,000, which means his current costs are closer to $10,000-$15,000, he noted.

"I've heard that some guys who have done this for 10 years are paying maybe $6,000,” Casavant said.

Sebastian Schnuelle is one of those mushers.

The 40-year-old is opting out of the 2012 Quest, but is taking a break after a string of impressive results.

Schnuelle won the 2009 Yukon Quest and finished second in the Iditarod the same year. He also placed seventh in the 2010 Iditarod and 10th in the 2008 edition of the famed Alaska race.

"I've said that before, that I'm not going again, but this time I have absolutely no doubt,” Schnuelle said of the Quest.

Instead, Schnuelle said he will take time to travel and visit his family in Germany.

"For me I feel it's time to move on to something different,” Schnuelle said.

His first Quest was in 1999, when, by his own admission, he says he had "absolutely no idea what I was doing,” and scratched.

He returned in 2004, and competed in the majority of Quests from then until 2011, he said.

"I love the Quest. It's a lifestyle. I really enjoy the lifestyle, the training. I miss it in the mornings, the sunrise, packing up the dog team; I don't miss getting up at five in the morning – it's a catch 22.”

Schnuelle, who was also a board member, knows how difficult coordinating an international dog sled race can be.

"It's a challenging thing to do, to put on a 1,000-mile race,” Schnuelle said. "A lot of volunteers have been there for the whole time. For everybody involved I think it's a lifestyle. It's part of the north, it's part of our culture.”

And he had advice for rookie mushers:

"Enjoy. Don't compete. Don't even see it as a race, as a competition, see it as a beautiful trip and get your feet wet. The trick is, if you want to do well in the long run, you need experience.”

That's what Marcelle Fressineau is counting on.

Originally from Switzerland, Fressineau scratched in both the 2002 and 2005 Yukon Quests.

She has, however, completed the Copper Basin 300 and Percy de Wolfe Memorial Sled Dog Race, both in 2011.

Her goal for this year's Quest is simply to finish.

"That's why I've come back,” she said, adding of her previous years' efforts, "I made many mistakes.

"When you're a musher you try to make the best of what you can.”