If you want to see people walking on water, or to see a kayak climb right up out of the river and shake itself off, or to see how a bear leaps on the branches of the trees, it is time for you to visit he Yukon!

Latvian team, supported by Tahe Marine Expedition, told their story

This is story of adventure. It is a story about Yukon River Quest (YRQ) – the longest annual canoe and kayak race in the world – covering 740 km (460 miles) from Whitehorse to Dawson City in the Yukon, Canada. Looking back in history, the idea for the race is really based on the Klondike Gold Rush of the late 1800s. During the gold rush thousands of people made their way to Dawson City using the Yukon River as their “main roadway”. Originally the idea was to have a race that would retrace the entire historic “gold road” from Skagway, Alaska on the coast, all the way inland to Dawson City in the Yukon, including the crossing of the Chilkoot Pass. However, after the first race the organizers realized that this route was just too long. Thus they decided to shorten it into just a paddling race along the Yukon River from Whitehorse to Dawson City.
The model for the competition is now constant – the total distance traveled is 740 km (460 miles), and there are two mandatory stops along the way; a 7 hour stop in Caramcaks after the first 320 km (200 miles); and then a 3 hour stop at Kirkman Creek after another 255 km (160 miles). The fastest competitors typically finish the race in 45 hours or less, and the slowest ones usually take 60 hours or more. The race is limited to 100 teams, which includes 25 teams in the voyageur category and 75 teams in the other categories (solo kayaks, solo canoe, tandem kayaks and tandem canoe), and all teams are assigned on a first come first served basis.

Trainings and Preparation

Neither of us has ever been a professional athlete, so three months until the race was far too little time to improve our physical conditioning. We trained both separately and together – running in the evenings, swimming in the mornings, working out at home, at the gym, etc. Every weekend we took our newly made boat, which we had named “Black Berta”, and we paddled for as long as possible to accustom ourselves to sitting at a stretch for many hours.
On Saturdays we used to paddle 70-90 km (45-55 miles), and then on Sundays usually another 20-40 km (15-25 miles). Our lives were now focused on one aim – YRQ 2008. To test ourselves we participated in two races – the Võhandu Marathon (93 km - 58 miles) in Estonia, and then the Riga Paddling Marathon (60 km – 38 miles) here in Latvia. The light pace of the boat and our favorable results in both races encouraged us, and helped us develop that much need “team solidity”. Our confidence grew and we could feel inside that the “Great Race” would end in success.

The race

06:30 hours and the house is brimming with excitement! A lot of pasta is being cooked – as we will be taking it along. 08:30 hours marks the final checking of the mandatory equipment. Everyone will be starting the race in a predetermined order – and every boat is carefully positioned in its proper place within the consecutive order. Little by little the lawn near the river becomes a huge area where boats are being packed and re-packed as we are all trying to find the very best equipment arrangement to keep everything within easy reach. We are permitted to set our boats by the riverside only one hour before the start.
Once our boat is there and ready, our support team arrives with a bowl of cold pasta that is eagerly eaten with fingers near the edge of the brushwood.
After this we all go to the Main Street – the starting place. The start of the YRQ is on the street, and once the starting shot is fired the participants will need to run about 500 m (500 yards) to the river bank.
Half an hour before the start - the greeting speeches are made and all the participants’ names and countries announced. When we hear the name “Latvia” a great feeling of pride comes over us. At least a few people will now have learned that Latvia is in Europe and not somewhere in Africa. And then those last moments before the start are unforgettable. During the last six days while we were training and waiting for the Big Day, we felt neither fear nor thrill, we really didn’t even feel like we already in Canada. But now, poised under the starting line we are feeling real throbs of joy - our dream has come true. There is excitement all around.  Here we are standing under the starting line and counting seconds before we will be off into unchartered waters. And then it comes... ten, nine, eight, seven, six... everybody counts together... five, four, three, two, one... shot!...We are running!   

Epilogue

So what is this “Yukon River Quest”? It is a drug? Is it a Mecca for the paddler? Every racer is the most fierce competitor out on the river, yet everybody is happy to meet you again and again by the riverside. It does not matter who you are or where you are from. You become one ... one of those 250 crazy racers who paddle 740 km (460 miles), and then afterwards no one really knows just HOW you do it or WHY.

 
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