2024 Yukon River Quest: Fires Shorten Race, But Don’t Dowse Energy or Excitement

Wildfires shortened this year’s Yukon River Quest Race, an annual 414-mile race from Whitehorse to Dawson City, but they didn’t dampen the camaraderie or fun. The 2024 race ended in Carmacks due to increased fire activity along the race route on road and river. Paddlers were stopped there and did not carry on to the usual finish line in Dawson City.

At 10 pm on June 26, officials announced: “The Yukon River Quest had a brief stoppage this evening when increased fire activity was observed by CASARA at a previous burn site about 18 kms. down the Thirtymile stretch of the river. For the safety of the teams, the YRQ comms centre sent text messages to the 10 boats that had made it past Lower Laberge to pull over. With support from a patrol boat and a helicopter from Wildland Fire, it was determined that the fire had calmed down and the boats were texted to resume their journey. Several boats were held at Lower Laberge in the intervals that they arrived, and have been released. All times will be adjusted in Carmacks where required. Thanks to CASARA and Wildland Fire for their prompt action and for the cooperation of paddlers and volunteers. Support crews in Carmacks were given updates this evening.”

Thirteen hours later, at 1 pm on June 27, they amended it to say: “The 24^th Yukon River Quest is ending in Carmacks this year due to circumstances beyond our control. The board of the Yukon Marathon Paddlers Association made this difficult decision today after conferring with government officials about the fire situation along the North Klondike Highway, which has been closed except for essential travel. Thanks for the cooperation of the EMO with Wildland Fires for providing us the information needed to make this call. The YRQ does not want to impact the egress of fire control or present more challenges from trying to send a fleet of support vehicles and volunteers into an active fire zone. Racers also were impacted by the Thirtymile fire last night. While we know this is disappointing news, it is the responsible decision for the safety of our race community. Thanks to the patience of racers, volunteers, and support crews. Racer times coming into Carmacks will be the final results, and awards will be at 10 am Friday morning at the Coal Mine Campground checkpoint.”

The world’s longest annual kayak and canoe race and touted as “the race to the midnight sun,” the Yukon River Quest challenges canoeists and kayakers from around the world to test their endurance on a race from Whitehorse to Dawson City. Paddling the mighty Yukon River day and night for 715 km (444 miles), competitors range from larger groups in Voyageur canoes to lone kayakers, all assembling together along the banks of the Yukon River in downtown Whitehorse for the start. More than 170 volunteers also helped put on this year’s race.

Of the 74 teams that started the race, 58 teams finished before the cutoff time of 34 hours in Carmacks. With the river also was at a low level for late June, winds also came up from all four directions for the leaders, and then later in the evening, which caused several solo teams to miss the off-lake cutoff time.

And how did our fair racers fare? The drumroll, please, as broken down by division:

SOLO CLASSES

Top 3 in each class receive pendant from Gold Trail Jewellers of Dawson City.

 Women’s Solo Canoe C1:

1. Team #48 Fitbuddy – Leslie Davenport, Gloucester, ON, Canada [27:45:42].

 Men’s Solo Canoe C1:

1. Team #23 Mike and All His Friends – Mike De Abreu, Arnprior, ON, Canada [24:19:16].
2. Team #57 Whine Naught – Colin Lathe, Cornwell, ON, Canada [25:17:48].
3. Team #55 Octopus Shipyard – Jan Basta, Oubenice Kocabou, Czech Republic [27:27:13].

Women’s Solo Kayak K1:

1. Team #54 Midnight Sun – Michelle Bousquet, Montreal, QC, Canada [26:50:41].
2. Team #46 Stroke of Serendipity – Kimberly Dodds, Whitehorse, YT, Canada [27:41:52].
3. Team #31 Bite Me – Julie Ardoin, Orange Beach, AL, USA [28:09:58].

Men’s Solo Kayak K1:

1. Team # 39 Belgian Bear – Bernard Moyersoen, Liege, Belgium [22:04:10]. 7TH OVERALL.
2. Team #61 Golden Retriever – Wayne Anderson, Calgary, AB, Canada [23:55:15].
3. Team #53 Arwed – Emile Gauthier, Chibougamau, QC, Canada [24:12:28].

 Women’s Stand Up Paddleboard (SUP):

1. Team # 45 Weronika Murray – Weronika Murray, Whitehorse, YT, Canada [30:22:08].

 Men’s Stand Up Paddleboard (SUP):

1. Team #51 Toby Cracknell – Toby Cracknell, Woy Woy, NSW, Australia [24:21:49].
2. Team #2 Suptrainer Canada – Chris Prince, Ottawa, ON, Canada [29:32:11].
3. Team #32 Forward Progress – Kevin Crowe, Calgary, AB, Canada [29:38:50].

TANDEM CANOE CLASSES (C2)

Women’s C2:

1. Team #37 Oar We There Yet – Anne-Christelle (Kiki) Vidal & Heidi Cyr, Whitehorse, YT, Canada [29:25:45].
2. Team #29 Midnight Madams – Michelle Larson & Anne Keyworth, Scottsdale, AZ & Raleigh, NC, USA [29:42:47].

 Mixed C2:

1. Team #20 6ix to 6ixty – Adam Pukier & Tali Pukier, Toronto, ON, Canada [21:57:33]. 6TH OVERALL.
2. Team #43 Ripple FX – Chris Prater & Trina Lynn Ross, London, ON & Winnepeg, MB, Canada [22:53:22]. 9TH OVERALL.
3. Team #24 Tashmanian Devils – Natasia Varieur & Steve Varieur, Huntsville, ON and Canmore, AB, Canada [24:11:57].

Men’s C2:

1. Team #44 Seb & Gates Go for a Paddle – Seb Courville & Gaetan Plourde, Golden Lake, ON, and North Gower, ON, Canada [20:23:57]. 1ST OVERALL.
2. Team #60 Team Alpha Super Awesome Cool Dynamite Wolf Squadron – Robert Spinks & Jake Paleczny, Whitehorse, YT, Canada [20:45:12]. 2ND OVERALL.
3. Team #76 Rudderly Ruthless Racing – Crispin Studer & Shane Orban, Whitehorse, YT, Canada [21:05:40]. 5TH OVERALL.

TANDEM KAYAK CLASSES (K2)

Women’s K2: (none raced in 2024)

Mixed K2: (none raced in 2024)

Men’s K2:

1. Team #21 Team 132 – Jeff Brainard & Bob Ross, Kingston, ON, Canada [20:47:19]. 3RD OVERALL.
2. Team #73 daron team – Paul Laforet & Gorgan Wildberger, Saint pierre Reunion & Meudon, France [23:03:47]. 10TH OVERALL.
3. Team #41 The Yukon Boys – Richard Holland & Owen Bennett, Vancouver, BC, Canada [25:28:30].

4-PERSON CANOE CLASSES (C4)

Mixed C4 (2 men, 2 women): (none raced in 2024)

Women’s C4 (all women):

1. Team #15 Fat Bottomed Girls – Carmen Gustafson, Bonnie Pankw, Sophie Coupal, & Heidi Virtanen – Whitehorse, YT, Chelsea, QC, Cantley, QC, & High River, AB, Canada [21:04:22]. 4TH OVERALL.

 Open C4 (all or predominantly men):

1. Team #17 Spirit of the Yukon – Peter van den Berg, Francis Soenen, Danny Veys, Pascal Waeyaert – Essen, Roeselare, Marke, & Beernem, Belgium [22:28:00]. 8TH OVERALL
2. Team #13 Bucking the Tide – Justin Dorn, Wesley Brooks, Harlan Nimmo, & Seth Mason – Juneau, AK, Sacramento, CA, & Carbondale, CO, USA [23:49:12].
3. Team #13 Wet Mondays – Ben Menkens, Rodney Dowd, Daniel Ballaam, & Marc-Andre Chartrand – Townsville, QLD & Tumbi Umbi, QLD, Australia, & Whitehorse, YT, Canada [28:01:39].

VOYAGEUR CANOE CLASSES (6 or more persons – VC)

Women’s Voyageur (all women):

1. Team #5 Stix Together – Cheryl Rivest, Carolyn Relf, Kirsti de Vries, Susan Hamilton, Anna Peacock, Jennifer King, Natalie Haltrich, Maddie Nicholson – Whitehorse, YT, Canada [24:26:48].
2. Team #7 Team Whoa – Tunde Fulop, Elizabeth Clune, Lisa Robertson, Noreen Schaefer, Patricia Clune, Rolanda Barabonoff- Whitehorse, YT, Toronto, ON, Mackenzie, BC, Canada [27:15:05].
3. Team #9 Paddlers Abreast – Eliza Pahl, Colleen Latham, Marianna Berko, Monique Levesque, Asa Berg, Lynn Rice-Rideout, Jay Cherian, & Amy Miller – Whitehorse, YT, Canada [27:42:41].

 Mixed Voyageur (1/3 of team must be women):

1. Team #8 Listers Motor Sports – Brian Edelman, Spencer Edelman, Ariana Edelman, Aiden Harvey, Jason Biensch, & Linda Casson – Whitehorse, YT, Canada [24:24:33].
2. Team #3 Dyea Dippers – Nicole Kovacs, Jen Larsen, Jon Hillis, Stephanie Hawney, Sam Best, Logan Weber, & Alexandra Luque – Skagway, AK, Bellingham, WA, & Puyallup, WA, USA [26:51:02].

Open Voyageur (all or predominantly men):

1. Team #6 Billy Smart & His One Trick Ponies – Peter Mant, Rob Howe, Bill Baker, Iain Burnett, Paddy Broughton, & Angus Woods – Armagh, Monmouth, & London, Great Britain, Sydney, Australia, & Wicklow, Ireland [23:45:41].
2. Team #4 The James Whalen – Eric Bongelli, Aaron Brecka, Carter Morash, Stu Maclean, Jordan Kamerman, Bailey Gleed, Devin Van Elburg, Josh Newransky, Tim Baxter, & Zach Maclean – Thunder Bay, ON, Canada [24:21:22].
3. Team #1 Northwestel – Kerry Pettitt, Wade Schmidt, Sean Booth, David Bakica, Scott Legge, & Thomas Bakica – Whitehorse, YT, Canada [25:30:55].

YRQ 300 (registered for Half Quest to Carmacks)

Women’s C4 Half *

1. Team #11 Mini Stix – Deb Bartlette, Anne Jessup, Karen Mann, Kim Schlossser – Whitehorse, YT, Canada [24:11:39] *.

Women’s Solo Kayak

1. Team #52 Fortytude – Nadia Kang, Nictaux, NS, Canada [33:00:42].

 SPECIAL AWARDS

Top Overall Team: Team #44 Seb and Gates Go for a Paddle – Seb Courville and Gaetan Plourde – Ontario [free entry for captain and same team members in 2025 YRQ and name on permanent trophy).

Top Solo Awards: Gold/silver pendants from Gold Trail Jewellers of Dawson City will be presented later to top solo paddlers in each class (noted above).

Top Yukoners:  Men’s C2 team #60 Team Alpha Super Awesome Cool Dynamite Wolf Squadron [Yukon Brewing beer pack].

Spirit of the Yukon Award: The volunteers at the Lower Laberge Checkpoint who were tasked with holding up and checking on paddlers for 2.5 hours after the Thirtymile fire flared up: Dan Potvin (CP coordinator), Atlin Potvin, William Oestreich, Brad Lovell, and Mary Ellen Kellington. [Engraved paddle by Dawson City students from Klondike Visitors Association]

Red Lantern: Team #52 Fortytude, K1 Half Quest paddler Nadia Kang of Nova Scotia for being the last paddler to finish.

 Great River Club additions: Due to the race stopping in Carmacks, there were no new additions to the 10,000 and 5,000 kilometre lists this year.

RACE NOTES:

– Sixteen teams scratched: 11 at Lower Laberge or on the lake, 4 after the lake, and 1 that arrived after the cutoff time of 34 hours in Carmacks. The scratch rate was 22%, but there may been a few more if the race had continued past Carmacks.

– The youngest paddler in the event was River Lougheed (16) in Team #18 Midnight Marauders, while the oldest were Anne Jessup (70) in Team #11 Mini-Stix and Peter van den Berg (70) in Team #17 Spirit of the Yukon.