Yukon River Quest (YRQ) Chief of Race Peter Coates made the prediction the day before this year's event got underway.

'We're going to have voyageurs one, two, three this year, unless something goes horribly wrong,' stated Coates, a past president of the YRQ board.

Well, everything went exactly right for the voyageurs, as they dominated from start to finish. When it was all over, they not only made good on Coates' prediction, but one-upped it by taking the top four spots.

The only spot that was ever really in jeopardy was fourth, when solo kayaker Andrew Jillings was in the mix for the first half. But once they reached Kirkman Creek, the voyageurs sprinted to the finish knowing they were now just jockeying for position. Third-place finishers Kisseynew Skookum Asphalt and fourth-place Saint Lawrence Valley Paddlers were head to head for the majority of the race.

Coureur des Bayou, from Texas, set a new record in the voyageur category, crossing the finish line in Dawson City Friday afternoon with a time of 41 hours and 15 minutes. They were followed by Kisseynew, with a time of 42:16:47, Kisseynew Skookum at 45:08:11, and the Saint Lawrence Valley Paddlers at 46:25:46.

'You never know how it's going to turn out,' said Wade Binion, a member of Coureur des Bayou. 'You can't underestimate the competition. You can only do what you can do. Everyone gave it their best effort.

'We had five goals to finish, to win our class, to win overall, to set the voyageur record and to set the overall record.'

Well, four out of five isn't bad. Coureur des Bayou fell short, by less than an hour, of breaking the overall course record, but they certainly looked convincing in reaching every other goal. While they held a short lead of about nine minutes over second-place Kisseynew through the first part of the race, they only got stronger in the second half, piling on additional minutes at every checkpoint.

'We wouldn't have been able to do as well as we did without the competition we had,' said Binion. 'It made for a much more exciting race.'

Binion said now that everyone sees the advantages of racing the YRQ as a large team, he expects enrollment numbers in the voyageur category will continue to climb.

'I think last year proved that voyageurs are capable of doing well with the right group of paddlers. Now I think it will grow by leaps and bounds.'

The first Yukoners across the finish line came in a voyageur, as members of Kisseynew Skookum Asphalt. Ryan Martin and Dan Girouard received gifts from the Yukon Brewing Company for their efforts.

It was Martin's second year in the race, as he was part of last year's Kisseynew team which finished second overall. It was that team that really started turning heads as to what the bigger canoes were capable of.

The team split up into two boats this year, captained by brothers Michael and Martin Bernardin.

'This year, it was a different race for us, because we saw a lot of other boats on the river,' explained Ryan, who joined Michael's crew.

'I trained more this year, because I knew more than three weeks in advance. It was great having Dan to train with too.

'There was probably less pain and suffering this year.'

Ryan said the highlight of the race for him was probably passing back and forth with the New York team, Saint Lawrence Valley Paddlers, and eventually staying ahead to the finish.

'At one point, we were all on the verge of losing consciousness, kind of dogging, fighting it. Then all of a sudden, we saw the New York team like 200 metres behind us. We all woke up and sprinted with them into Carmacks. That's what it was like pretty much the whole way.'

Of course, with 79 teams taking off from the start line in Whitehorse and 65 of them paddling the full 740 kilometres to Dawson, the voyageurs weren't the only story of the 2007 Yukon River Quest.

No other records were broken, but strong performances were put in by competitors in all categories. The top male solo kayak belonged to Jillings, who finished sixth overall with a time of 47:37:02, while the top female solo kayaker was Liz Winn in 55:56:03.

Taking first place in the men's tandem kayak division were the Evil Geezers, Philippe Blouin and Richard Steppe, with a time of 47:23:40, while there were no women's tandem kayak teams. The top mixed tandem kayak went to the Alberta River Runners, Darrell Wiebe and Jennifer Allen, who reached Dawson in a time of 53:18:39.

In the tandem canoe categories, the top men's team was Desnedhe Dene, comprised of Norbert Wolverine and Lionel Campbell, with a time of 51:32:20. The top mixed canoe was VT Express, Veronica Wisniewski and Thom Prichard. They finished the race with a time of 50:13:09.

Whitehorse's Pat McKenna and Elizabeth Bosely were the top women racers in this year's event, paddling their tandem canoe across the finish in a time of 52:42:17.

And this year, there was a lone solo canoe, powered by Joe (Bumbazer) Evans. Evans arrived in Dawson close to 4 a.m. Sunday, completing the river journey in 77 hours, 23 minutes and 56 seconds.

That meant Evans was also this year's red lantern or Yukon stove winner.

'When I got into Carmacks, I was feeling a little sick and I thought about not continuing the race,' said Evans, feeling much better after receiving his Yukon stove, which was cut in two pieces, at Sunday's award banquet.

'But then I realized, since I was the only solo canoeist, I was going to win. I had a chance to do something that's never been done before winning and coming in last in the same race.'

That was all the inspiration Evans needed to keep going, although it was now at an even slower pace. You see, the Walterville, Oregon resident wanted to finish last, but he had some competition.

'I was walking along the beaches looking for rocks, taking my time going down channels. I would see rescue boats and ask, Am I in last yet?', and they'd say, No', so I had to slow down even more. I pulled over and took some short naps.'

In the end, Evans got his wish, although it cost him another goal he had set before the race even began. A first-time competitor, Evans didn't know any of the other racers so he didn't aim too high. But as a veteran canoeist on lakes, rivers and oceans, he did know one thing.

'Last January, I said to my friend after registering for the race, I can't let this person by the name of Grandma Bun Bun beat me,' he laughed. 'My personal goal was to beat Grandma Bun Bun.'

As fate would have it, Grandma Bun Bun, aka veteran racer Linda Bourassa, was literally the first person Evans would meet as he drove into Whitehorse. Bourassa had heard about Evans' goal through the grapevine and when she saw the van painted with his team name, Bumbazer, painted across it, she ran up to introduce herself.

'She shook my hand and she almost broke it,' Evans recalled with a grin. 'I thought to myself, Uh oh.''

For the first portion of the YRQ, the two soloists had a bit of a friendly race going, travelling close together, but by Day 2, Bourassa had pulled ahead and went on to beat Evans by about 20 hours (57:23:36). No hard feelings.

'Oh, she's great,' said Evans. 'What a great woman.'

'This was the most fun I've ever had in my life.'

Evans plans to return for the 2008 Yukon River Quest, where he hopes to challenge Coates in the solo canoe category. Until then, he'll keep his momento of this year's finish nearby.

'It's going on the wall. The stove is in two halves, so I think I'm going to cut the plaque in half too and stick half on each piece of the stove.'