Carcross hosts third annual Yukon Adventure Challenge

It was a gruelling 12 to 18 hours for most of the participants in Saturday's Yukon Adventure Challenge, but no matter how long it took to complete the course, it was quite an accomplishment for all those who finished the race.

It was a gruelling 12 to 18 hours for most of the participants in Saturday’s Yukon Adventure Challenge, but no matter how long it took to complete the course, it was quite an accomplishment for all those who finished the race.

Competitors in the third annual adventure challenge came in at a variety of times Saturday evening and into the early hours of Sunday morning.

Thirty-three participants were brave enough to take part in the approximately 70 kilometre course, testing their skills in mountain biking, canoeing and trekking.

“This year it was technically tougher, so not as many kilometres, but tougher kilometres,” said Greg McHale, a co-organizer of the Yukon Adventure Challenge, along with his wife Denise.

The race began and ended in Carcross. From Carcross the competitors took to their mountain bikes and made their way up Montana Mountain. After going up and over Montana Mountain, competitors followed the Sam McGee Trail down to the next leg of the adventure challenge.

The next aspect of the race was confined to the the beautiful waters of Tagish Lake, as competitors were required to paddle northeast back in the direction towards Carcross. After teams and individuals completed the paddling challenge, they then made the final race transition to trekking.

The running element of the event was along Carcross country where individuals had to overcome a second mountain discipline by hiking up Caribou Mountain. From the top of Caribou Mountain, they then ran back down through the Carcross desert and finished by making it back into town.

McHale said there was a reason why both he and Denise wanted to hold the race in Carcross this year.

“It’s just such a beautiful area to race through and the mountains are spectacular, so it’s an easy choice,” he said.

“The Carcross-Tagish First Nation have been working on building some mountain bike trails there and we just wanted to use those mountain bike trails and let people know that they are there. They have put a lot of infrastructure and work into developing adventure activities for people like us, so anytime you can showcase those kind of things for them I think that is really important.”

This race’s format was shortened this year from the previous year when it was a 24 to 36 hour event to a 12 to 18 hour challenge. The 2007 adventure challenge was around 160 km.

Both Greg and Denise are active in the sport of adventure racing and just competed in the Primal Quest, which was held in June. Their team was called Peak Adventure and features both themselves as well as two individuals from Ontario.

Despite their commitments with training for the Primal Quest, which was held in Montana, the two have been working diligently to hold the Yukon Adventure Challenge for the past few months.

This year’s Yukon Adventure Challenge featured three categories in total. The main category was a four person co-ed team. There was also a two person team and a solo division.

The cost to participate in the adventure challenge in the four person co-ed category was $475, which was half the price as it was the previous year.

There was no cash purse at the race and all teams were competing for prizes donated by a variety of the event’s sponsors. 

One of the larger sponsors of this year’s Yukon Adventure Challenge was Outdoor Research, which supplied gear such as waterproof backpacks and hats.

Other sponsors of the race included Up North Adventures, Icycle Sports and Coast Mountain Sports.

The majority of the prizes were equipment geared towards adventure racing, such as chain repair kits and other bike maintenance supplies.

The team that finished in first place in the main category was given the waterproof backpacks from Outdoor Research, one-year memberships to either the Better Bodies Cross Training Centre or Peak Fitness and some bike repair tools. 

Participants in the race and volunteers were also given a buff, which is shaped like a neck tube and has multifunctional purposes for adventure racing.

There was also a banquet dinner on Sunday for participants and volunteers in the race, which is when the prizes were given out.

All participants this year were from the Yukon, with the exception of Chris Koch, who is the editor of http://www.sleepmonsters.ca, a website that promotes adventure racing. The Canadian version of Sleepmonsters is based out of B.C.

Koch has competed in numerous adventure races since he first got involved in the sport back in 1997, but this was the first time he participated in the Yukon Adventure Challenge.

He said one of the attractions to the Yukon Adventure Challenge was the destination.

“I have raced for a long time and I guess I am into it for more seeing the outdoors and the wilderness now than I am racing to win type thing,” he said. “I need a destination in mind to make me race.”

Koch, who raced in the solo category on Saturday, said the adventure challenge was unique compared to other competitions he has been in over the years.

“There isn’t many that are like this at all in this particular genre,” he said. “If I was going to compare it to say a short race, this one stacks up with almost some of the expedition races in what it demands of you. It’s very physical. I would say any of the local folks that have raced this and finished, they should get in some of the longer races. They have proven just by doing what they have done, they’ve got all the toughness they need.”

Since taking up the sport, Koch has raced in around 20 expedition races, which are week-long events and 40 to 50 weekend or day races.

Koch said he enjoyed participating in the adventure challenge and that it’s special to have this kind of race offered on an annual basis.

“I think the locals should hold onto something like this,” he said. “It’s a gem. They might not know it because I know you guys up north don’t get the benefit of travelling down south to race a lot, but you really do have a gem up here. Any of these folks that finished it, I don’t care how well they did, get in some of the other races because this was a tough one. I would like to see some of these guys down south.”

Jean-Francois Latour also competed in the Yukon Adventure Challenge and was on one of the four-person co-ed teams. This was Latour’s second year in a row taking part in the race and he said what turned him onto the sport was competing in this race last year.

In 2007, Latour was on a two-person team, but he said it was just as enjoyable of an experience competing in the main category.

“We were pleased because we knew it was a shorter version, so we didn’t have to worry about the speed of the team,” he said. “It went perfect.”

Latour said the team’s goal going into the race was to finish in under 18 hours, which they didn’t quite manage, but he was still happy with their overall time.

“We were definitely a bit over than what we expected, but we finished and we came in third place, so that’s pretty good,” he said.

He said their strategy heading into the race was to work together as a group.

“We knew we were not contenders for first place,” Latour said. “You always have little hopes, but our goal was to stick together, to take care of each other as much as we can because we knew what our strengths and weaknesses. Everybody is a little bit stronger or weaker in something, so we decided before we started that we would stick together and make it as fast as we can back to the starting point.”