The Yukon Quest International Association announced yesterday afternoon that executive director Wendy Morrison would be stepping down from her position after the 2010 race.

"Working with the Yukon Quest for the past four years has been an amazing experience,” Morrison said. "My love of Yukon winters and outdoor activities is one of the things that attracted me to the Yukon Quest.”

Morrison said the decision was bittersweet.

"It's a happy and sad time,” she said.

Her decision to step down, she said, was made so that she has more time for some personal projects.

"After four years I'm just kind of wanting some more time for some personal projects I have coming up,” Morrison said. "I am looking ahead to next year where I will have more time to train and spend time outdoors with my dogs.”

While she is stepping down from the job, Morrison said she will still follow the race.

"I'll also enjoy the Yukon Quest as a spectator and online fan,” she said.

While she has no concrete plans yet, Morrison said the timing was best for the Quest association to be able to find the right candidate.

Morrison will resign officially as of the end of March, to give the organization time to find and train another candidate.

"It's the best time for that to happen,” she said.

The new executive director will start the organization for the 2011 race right at the beginning.

Morrison said the 2010 Yukon Quest will be wrapped up by the end of April, and then planning will begin on the next year's race.

"It has been a pleasure working with Wendy over the past four years,” said Al Doherty, president of the Yukon board of directors. "We look forward to a great race this year and to working with Wendy to find a suitable replacement who will help lead the organization forward.”

Morrison said that many people think once the race is over, the work stops. When the race ends, Morrison and her one staff member at the Whitehorse office do a year-end wrap up, and then begin plans for the next year's race.

While Morrison admits the race is a lot of hard work, she loves what she does.

"It's a really fun job,” she said.

One thing Morrison has enjoyed is that it has never been hard to find volunteers for the Yukon Quest.

Last year, over 400 volunteers helped make the Yukon Quest a success.

"That's one of the things that continually surprises us,” Morrison said.

Morrison got a chance to go on the Yukon Quest from check stop to check stop in 2009.

"It was amazing,” she said. "You get to meet some of these Yukon Quest legends, it is really amazing.”

The Yukon Quest International Association (Canada) has begun the search for the new executive director.

Anyone interested can find a detailed job description at www.yukonquest.com/site/jobs-contracts, or by emailing yukonquest@polarcom.com.