With a sharp blast of a horn, 155 paddlers competing in the Yukon River Quest started running from Rotary Peace Park to the river, quickly hopping into their boats.

The loud noise at noon today marks the start of what will be a long journey with little rest and lots of blisters—more specifically, a 715-kilometre paddle down the Yukon River in hot pursuit of the finish line in Dawson City.

It is sunny and blue-skied in Whitehorse, the type of day that makes race president Harry Kern kind of nervous.

“There have been days like today where people get hypothermia later on from sweat or rain. If they don’t take a few minutes to change their clothes, they’ll be done by Lake Laberge,” Kern said.

Along with threats of hypothermia, there’s also a greater need for hydration when racers sweat in the sunshine, he said.

“When you hydrate properly, it has to come out eventually, which can be inconvenient in a canoe.”

But with some common sense and a little bit of luck, Kern said that racers will be successful.

Hit with two strokes of bad luck is Skagway, Alaska’s voyageur team “Alfred E. Paddlers.”

Just recently, the team found out a racer would have to be replaced.

Luckily, the Skagway School’s cross-country coach Kent Fielding stepped up to the plate.

Fielding ran the Mayo Midnight Marathon last weekend and is apparently “itching” to get going today.

If the teammate shuffle wasn’t enough, the team woke at 6:45 this morning to find their truck had been broken into at the River View Hotel.

All six of the team members’ sleeping bags were gone, along with a handmade spray deck for their canoe, a bag of personal gear, a tent and the canoe “kitchen.”

Skagway paddler Cory Thole called Whitehorse RCMP, who were able to retrieve most of the gear at the Robert Service Campground and arrest a suspect.

The team seemed to be in good spirits despite the still-missing rain jacket, headlamp, two sleeping bags and one pink Keen sandal.

There are 12 countries participating in the race this year, which Kern said can also be an impediment to racers, as maneuvering the Yukon River won’t be as instinctual as it might be for local racers.

British Columbia’s Laura Maclean and Lisa Brougham have been to the Yukon many times for both work and play, but admit they are still a little daunted by the race.

The two will be paddling a tandem kayak under the name “Alpine Start.”

Brougham has taught several courses at the Polarettes Gymnastics Club over the years and is also a kayak guide.

Both women say they love the Yukon— that’s why they came back to do the race.

Maclean calls herself a “mostly willing participant in a potpourri of long, short and occasionally ill-conceived paddling adventures” around B.C.

The two women will be up against two other women’s tandem kayak teams from the Netherlands and France.

Although they haven’t paddled on Lake Laberge yet, they hope their training will carry them through in one piece.

“We have had some pretty choppy ocean paddles during training,” Brougham said.

Racers will be paddling through Lake Laberge tonight through the wee hours until they hit Carmacks, the first mandatory rest stop in the race.

There, they will have seven hours to rest and refuel before continuing on to the next rest stop at Kirkman Creek.

If all goes well, the leaders of the pack will start trickling into Dawson by Friday afternoon.

The Yukon River Quest is now in its 17th year.

Also known as the “Race to the Midnight Sun,” the paddling odyssey is the longest annual canoe and kayak race in the world.