Do you really want to do this?

Whitehorse to the Alaska Pipeline/Dalton Highway

1000 Miles / 1600 Km

7 to 12 days of 18 hours solid paddling

July 20th, 2009

The Yukon River 1000: A new canoe and kayak race, a new style of canoe and kayak race.

The Yukon River 1000 is a new LONG endurance paddling event that will start Monday 20th July 2009. This race is the longest canoe and kayak race on the calendar, knocking other long races into a distant second place.

Take a look at the new Yukon 1000, Yukon 360 shop, you can buy mugs, T shirts, race shirts, and our beautiful posters.

The Race will start from Whitehorse and continue down river all the way to the Alaska Pipeline Bridge on the Dalton Highway, 1000 miles, 1600 Kilometres downstream. Dawson is not even halfway!

This race is held in the same spirit of the 20th century explorer prizes: the first to fly the English Channel, the first to fly the Atlantic.  No one expected the Daily Mail or Raymond Orteig (who offered the prizes) to provide any safety cover.  Teams should enter the race in that in mind.  We provide the frame work of the race, we provide monitoring and  presentation of the progress of teams, and that is where our responsibilities end.  Each team should think of itself as being on a self sufficient expedition.

We have a travel deal in place with Air North that gives competitors and their support crews 10% off the price of their tickets.  Air North flies to Whitehorse from Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton.  They also fly between Whitehorse, Dawson and Fairbanks.  Contact us for information on how to take advantage of this offer.

An Apology: the entry forms didn't work in Firefox.  This is really embarrassing, and no one noticed until last week, when it suddenly hit three teams.  I believe the problem is resolved.

Please note that the Yukon 1000 has reorganised to be "double headed" having legal presence in both Canada and in the USA.  This should have little effect on competitors other than that there will be a US postal address and a fixed US$ entry fee.  The principle driving force for this is to make race insurance feasible, actually cheap.  Another change that comes from the same place is that we will be a USCA sanctioned race.  To make that work, there has been a minor change in the specification for the C2 class.  see the rules for this change. 

Take a look at the new section on the Yukon 360, a "short" race that fits in the 3 day weekend Yukoners have 15-17th August this year.  This is being run with similar rules to the Yukon 1000, but is a third the length.

The FAQ, rules, waiver, and 5 fingers pages have been rejigged so they print nicely.  the FAQ prints very well "2 up".  I printed it in "booklet" format, but my printer is clever that way.

The Yukon 1000 is made feasible by new technology. In the past, putting on a race of any length has required a small army of volunteers to man checkpoints. But this race will be using the new Spot devices ( findmespot.com). These devices are little boxes a bit larger than a Garmin ETrex GPS, have no display and only 4 buttons. Inside, they have a GPS receiver and a Sat phone messenger. You push a button, and it sends a little message from almost anywhere in the world telling those you want to know where you are and if you are OK. In addition, these devices come with a panic button and $100000 of rescue insurance. This is a completely new way of running a race that has not been possible before.

This race is long. We anticipate the leaders taking 7 or 8 days to complete the course. We want to prevent racers from being "overenthusiastic" and paddling all night so we will require each boat check in every evening before 11:15, and again in the morning FROM THE SAME PLACE at least six hours later. This enforces a night time stop for each boat.

The race will be open to tandem canoes and kayaks, voyageur canoes, and pairs of solo canoes and kayaks. Solo boats must travel together and must camp together each night. The river is too big and the race too lonely to allow solo competitors.

We're extending the registration deadline until midnight on the July 10.  This is (a) because I sort of screwed up the entry form for Firefox users, and more importantly to allow and Yukon River Quest Paddlers time to get their entries in after they realise what a wonderful river this Yukon is, and discover they want more punishment.

The entry fee is $212.50 US or $250 Canadian per paddler, so that's $425 US or $500 Canadian for a pair of buddied solos or a tandem kayak or a tandem canoe.  The US and Canadian prices have drifted out of alignment, so I'm going to increase the Canadian price to $525, and drop the US price to $410 per tandem, $205US, $262.50 Canadian each.  I will make this change on March 15th.  In the future, when the exchange rates drift so the tandem prices are $25dollars different, I will raise the lower price to match.  If we have a turbulent exchange rate, the price will ratchet up as race day approaches.  It is in your interests to enter, and pay, early.

Two questions that keep coming up are "How will I get my boat back from The middle of nowhere?" and "Where can I rent a suitable boat?" I am looking into this There will be boats available one way or another, and there will be transport back from the highway bridge.

It you are interested in this race, I suggest you read the rules, and waiver. Then if you are still interested,
email me at info@yukon1000.com,
phone me on +1 867 668 4630
fax me at +1 425 799 1160 or
AIM me at yukon1000race
The postal addresses are
710B East Hancock Street, Laramie WY 82072, USA
185 Falcon Drive, Whitehorse YT  Y1A 6T2, Canada

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