The 21st annual Yukon River Quest will begin Wednesday, starting at Rotary Peace Park.

This year's race will feature 124 teams and 290 paddlers – another record-setting year.

Thirteen countries will be represented, as paddlers hail from Australia, Austria, Canada (nine provinces and territories), France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States (18 states).

The trend of increasing numbers continued and registration reached the limit of 125 teams soon after the registration opened in November. A few teams have dropped since that time but their spots were filled off of the waitlist.

Last year, 103 teams started the race in Whitehorse. The YQR organizers are certain that the field for the 21st YRQ will break the record.

On Monday, the paddlers in the 2019 race gathered at the Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre for the YRQ Meet and Greet.

All the paddlers mingled and met the newcomers, and later in the evening, teams and their bib sponsors were introduced.

Solo kayaker Dr. Wolfram Schleicher, from Eichwalde, Germany, on team number seven, "PaddleJumper", said the paddling community of the Yukon River Quest is great to be involved in.

"It's a lot of happy people," said Schleicher. "There are some people from last year come here before and that's really nice. Some are new but all people come together."

This will be Schleicher's fourth Yukon River Quest, and he is looking to finish it for the second time. He touched upon his goals before the race.

"To be happy," said Schleicher. "Only to be happy and of course come to Dawson in time.

"Now I will finish a little bit faster than last year of course and have more fun than last year. Now I know the complete lane."

He said he is feeling nice and ready because he has been paddling every other day.

Team one, "Yukon Wide Adventures”, a voyageur boat in the men's class, features Thomas de Jager, Spencer Edelman, Stephen Mooney, Jason Biensch, Gus Oliveira, and Pat McLellan.

The team has been the top overall finisher in the last two Yukon River Quests and is looking to tie "The Texans" for consecutive overall champion. "The Texans won it in 2009, 2010, and 2011.

Biensch is one of two new paddlers to the team. Although he is new to the voyageur class, he has YRQ experience in the tandem canoe.

He said it was nerve-wracking when the fastest overall boat of the past two races approached him to join the team.

"It's intimidating. These guys are intense," said Biensch. "There is a lot of training that goes into this. I was excited last week but terrified last week."

Biensch touched on what he can bring to the boat.

"I've got a little bit more of a reach than some of these guys. Also, a complete unawareness of my own limitations," said Biensch.

"I don't know what kind of condition we will be in, in Dawson, but it will be a ride."

When joining "Yukon Wide Adventures", Biensch said he it was his goal to maintain the precedent that has been set.

"Oh yeah, absolutely," said Biensch. "Bruises and blisters and beers in Dawson."

De Jager is the team's captain and he the team is pushing for that three-pete.

"Of course we want to get the three wins in a row," he said. "We want to be equalized to "The Texans"; that would be great. We will see if we can do it. There is strong C2 and K2 boats out there."

De Jager said the competition in the race will make it entertaining.

"Let's put it this way: it makes it certainly more interesting," de Jager said. "The strategies might a change a little bit because the question is do you go from the beginning very hard or just let the other guys go in front of us, then, all of a sudden cruise away because we know the better channels."

The team will determine their strategy once they are on the water.

"We have certain things that we want to do now but we just have to see how strong the other racers are," de Jager said.

Being the two-time overall champions, de Jager and the rest of the team said they feel the target on their backs.

"Certainly, yes," said de Jager. "We are maybe in age one of the older teams in the race, but the old guys still have it."

In the boat, the team has 23 years of YRQ experience.

Even though Whitehorse has seen plenty of rain in the last three weeks, de Jager said the river is still low. He got out early after the ice melted to check the river, and has an idea of what channels are still available and were the sandbars located.

"It is an honour to race with these guys and there is pressure on me to find the fastest water, the fastest road and give my best," said de Jager. "So certainly, the pressure is on."

The number 24 team, "Stix Together", a voyageur canoe featuring Cheryl Rivest, Deb Bartlette, Carolyn Relf, Anne Labelle, Monique Levesque, Anna Peacock, Susan Hamilton and Kirsti de Vries, will be paddling for the Yukon Cancer Care Fund.

The team features four new paddlers and four veterans, and the team has been around since 2016.

Last year, the team finished 19th overall, first in the women's voyageur, as well as the first Yukon women's team to finish.

Rivest, one of the team veterans, got started in the YRQ as a member of "Paddlers Abreast" in 2014, but was unable to finish the race due to the flu. Once again with "Paddlers Abreast", she finished the race in 2015.

"When I finished the race, I said, 'if I ever do this race again, I'm not doing this for nothing; I'm doing it to raise some money for something,'" said Rivest. "I lost my brother to cancer in 2005, and there was a gentleman who donated a significant amount of money to him to help with expenses.

"Having a little bit of extra money makes a huge difference. We talked to the Yukon Cancer Care Fund and said we would like to raise money for that charity."

The money that is raised goes to Yukoners and Atlinites.

"It is northerners helping northerners," said Rivest. "It stays at home and you see a direct impact on people who may be your friends and family."

In 2018, the team members had a brand new voyageur canoe and trailer donated to them by an anonymous donor.

"They wished to stay anonymous," said Rivest. "They said 'just keep doing what you're doing' so we call them Casper."

In years prior, the team had to rent the boat they raced, now the monies that are raised can all go to the charity.

Since the boats inaugural race, the team has raised a significant amount of money for the Yukon Cancer Care Fund.

"We have raised just over $28,000 in the last four years," said Rivest, "and I've just heard that today our online donations for this year are at $10, 835."

Rivest said when the team is on the water and their bodies start to hurt and maybe they are feeling mentally down it helps them push through knowing they have a charity they are racing for.

"It makes a huge difference," said Rivest. "Everybody has their own story. Everybody in the boat has someone that they are paddling for. I don't think anyone is spared from the effects of having a cancer diagnosis whether it is personally or whether it is a family member or a friend. It touches everyone.

"We don't hesitate to say 'you think you are feeling lousy right now? Think about your friends or your family member who has gone through chemo or radiation that is with us, isn't still with us, the fight that they had; everyone digs a little deeper."

For those paddling junkies, you can follow the race even if you cannot travel down the river by going to the Yukon River Quest website.

The start line events begin at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday at Rotary Peace Park. The teams will be introduced, and there will be speeches by Yukon dignitaries and race officials.

The start of the race will start at noon. In a mass start, teams will run from Rotary Park along the Canada Trail and down to their designated boat positions in the launch area.