There's one week left until the start of the Yukon 1,000 canoe and kayak race.

This 1,000 mile race will have teams paddling hard down the Yukon River for seven to 10 days.

The race begins in Whitehorse and runs to the bridge where the Alaska Pipeline crosses the river north of Fairbanks in Alaska.

There are 19 teams competing in this, the inaugural year for the race.

This is almost twice what organizers expected. The quality of the teams is quite exceptional too, with world class racers from Alaska, Canada, the Lower 48, and the UK.

Organizers already have a lot of interest from teams wanting to compete next year.

There are 13 tandem canoes, five tandem kayaks, and one voyageur.

All teams will be carrying Spot devices which will be used to track the racers on the web site. Registration, gear inspection and boat check will take place outside the visitor centre on Sunday at noon. The public is welcomed to attend.

The race begins in Whitehorse at 11 a.m. one week from now.

The start line will be marked by a flag each side of the river by the Visitor Centre.

There will be warning whistles at 10:55 a.m., 10:58 a.m., and 10:59 a.m., and at 11 a.m., the final whistle will blow and the racers can cross the line.

The racers then paddle downstream. Racers are required to stop each night, and camp for at least six hours.

This is checked on the telemetry received from their spot devices and will be verified from the track data in their GPS's when they finish.

The first night will see the teams off Lake Laberge and onto the 30 Mile River...unless the weather is against them.

The second night should see most racers at or past Carmacks. By the fourth night the race likely be well spread out.

Some boats could still be upstream of Dawson, while others might be near Eagle. Some teams will probably not see another competitor after they leave Lake Laberge until they get to the finishing line.

By the end of Day Five, almost all the teams should be into Alaska: the race is half over, but they have the Yukon Flats to contend with.

In Whitehorse, the Yukon River is 100 metres wide.

In the Flats, the River is kilometres (miles) wide, and the channels can be up to a kilometre and a half wide.

In the Flats, the river slows, there are few landmarks to tell you where you are.

The Flats are one of the big challenges of this race. There are big slow channels that can waste you hours while teams behind you take other, faster channels.

There are few land marks to tell you where you are, and the river is immense.

The size of the river in the Flats is so big that it has all the dynamics of a lake: a sudden wind can whip up the waves, and you still have to deal with the current, the shallows, the snags and the sweepers.

In shorter races, if a racer gets wet or gets blisters, he or she could tell themselves to "suck it up" and paddle on. However, on this race, that attitude will not help.

The Yukon 1,000 will be won and lost on how well the teams can look after themselves.

It has been said that the race will be won on dry land: How efficiently teams can cook and camp, dry their clothes, and manage their aching bodies for 18 hours paddling a day.

At the conclusion of Day Seven, the first teams should have reached the finish line, had showers and a big meal, and be feeling justifiably pleased with themselves.

By the end of Day 10 the back of the pack should be done.

There will be tales told of big rivers, big waves, big storms, and as like as not big bears. And they will all get bigger in the telling.

Many of the racers will be returning to Whitehorse where the finishers' banquet will be held at the Yukon Inn in Saturday Aug 1.

Press release provided by Peter Coates on behalf of the Yukon 1,000 Canoe and Kayak race.

Teams in the Yukon 1,000

Team One: Darren Crocker and Earl Hewett (kayak).

Team Two: Mary Houck and John Ders (canoe).

Team Three: Cristan McLain and Alex McLain (canoe).

Team Four: Richard Hendron and Henry Hendron (kayak).

Team Five: Michael J Sullivan and Steve Daigle (kayak).

Team Six: Gordon Warnica and Allan Billard (canoe).

Team Seven: Larry Seethaler and Greg Tibbetts (canoe).

Team Eight: Roland Ring-Jarvi and Bob Carrigan (canoe).

Team Nine: David M Dahl and Doug Berg (canoe).

Team 10: Kerry J. Newell, Paul Repak, Helen Crouch, Mike Trump, Matt Trump and Teresa Stout (voyageur).

Team 11: Ardie Olson and Rod Price (canoe).

Team 12: J.T. Hessert and Mike Jayne (kayak).

Team 13: Brian McDonnell and Andrew Jillings (canoe).

Team 14: Jonathan Morgan and Ben Schmidt (canoe).