It could be described as a race to dinner.

It’s not like racing your sister or brother to the kitchen table.

In this quest to see who dines first, you have to paddle on the Yukon River, you have to paddle a long way, from downtown Whitehorse to the mouth of the Takhini River, to be exact.

More than 60 souls took the challenge Wednesday in the 17th annual Chili and Bean-ers.

Julianne Girouard and Rogan Parry in their K-2 proved to be the hungriest, but only by a morsel.

The pair covered the 18.5 kilometres in one hour, 18 minutes and 26 seconds, or just 30 seconds ahead of Jake Paleczny and Rob Spinks in their C-2.

Peter Coates earned his seat at the table in his K-1, finishing third with time of 1:27:34.

Pat McKenna – paddler, chief cook, and race founder – and Mia Lee were fourth among the small boats, pushing their C-2 across the line in a time of 1:30:00.

Among the five larger boats, the voyageur team Stix Together – of Yukon River Quest fame – finished first in a time of 1:27:37.

The Mooney voyageur canoe, captained by Stephen Mooney of River Quest fame, wasn’t far behind in a time of 1:30:21.

McKenna recalled this morning how the Chili and Bean-ers began.

She’d just finished her first River Quest when Yvonne Harris, paddler and former city councillor, called her up and asked her to put on a pot of chili, because they were going to have a race that night.

And they did, and the paddlers of the four boats who ran the inaugural had chili and beans on the banks of the Tahkini River. That’s what they did last night too.