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Longest canoe, kayak race is underway
An international fleet set out from Rotary Peace Park today for the longest canoe and kayak race in the world.
Photo by Whitehorse Star
READY TO RACE - Twins Richard (left) and Hendry Hendron, 28, of Richmond, Surry in the United Kingdom, are competing as Team Henron in the Yukon 1000 Canoe and Kayak Race. They are one of 19 teams who left Whitehorse this morning and will kayak the 1,000 miles - 1,600 kilometres - to the bridge where the Alaska Pipeline crosses the river. Star photo by KIERAN OUDSHOORN
An international fleet set out from Rotary Peace Park today for the longest canoe and kayak race in the world.
This year is the first for the Yukon 1000 Canoe and Kayak Race that will have 19 teams journeying 1,600 kilometres (1,000 miles) down river from Whitehorse to the Alaska Pipeline Bridge on the Dalton Highway.
Participating in the race are 13 tandem canoes and five tandem kayaks.
Throughout the race, the kayakers and canoeists will face challenges from bears to blisters, but the most challenging portion by far is the Yukon Flats just past Circle, Alaska, said organizer Peter Coates.
Coates said that the idea for the Yukon 1000 was developed through watching the Yukon River Quest, another race organized by Coates.
“It’s felt that the kayaks are faster in the River Quest, but I thought that over a longer distance, the kayaks would become too uncomfortable and the canoes would come back into their own, and we wanted to find out.”
Unlike the River Quest, the Yukon 1000 has no boats following behind to keep an eye on the racers’ safety.
“They can yell for help if they need to, but there’s no explicit safety cover,” said Coates.
But there are some safety measures. All teams will carry a Spot device used to track their progress. Team members simply push a button and Coates receives an e-mail with their location.
It is mandatory for racers to camp for six hours each night, information that can be confirmed by the GPS devices each team carries.
Another way the Yukon 1000 differs from the River Quest is that teams must be qualified to enter.
“So they’re all competent racers and bush people,” he said. “I turned three teams away who wanted to enter because they didn’t have the necessary experience.”
The members of Team Hendron have 10 years of kayaking experience. Together, Richard and Henry Hendron, twins from Richmond, Surrey in the United Kingdom, have twice won the 125-mile Devizes to Westminster canoe race, and they have completed it eight times.
They have travelled all around the world competing in canoe and kayak races.
“This is by far the most daunting race that we’ve both done, just because of its sheer size,” said Henry Hendron.
Henry Hendron said that they hope to finish the race on the seventh day, but because no one has completed the race before, they are faced with a “big question mark” when considering how the race will go.
“The fact that this is the first time makes it all the more exciting,” Henry Hendron said.
Coming from Ketchum, Idaho with 12 years of kayaking experience is Bob Polk of Tanned, Rested and Ready, along with teammate Trent Herbst.
“It occurred to me that the race was an opportunity to see some of the world’s great wilderness in an activity that represented perhaps the way some of the first explorers saw this part of the world,” said Polk.
He said the Yukon is a perfect location to host the longest canoe and kayak race in the world.
“You have long stretches of uninterrupted river travelling through sometimes rugged wilderness without the hazards of heavy water that you find in some of the other great rivers in the world,” he said.
Polk said he expects to complete the race in about 14 days, paddling 16 to 18 hours per day.
“I think the primary challenge will be psychological,” he said. “Long days in the same seat, and having to stay focused on our forward momentum.”
Russ Dawkins of London, England said the winning team will be the one that takes care of themselves.
“I pimp my ride,” said Dawkins, who is kayaking with Rod Colliver as team After the Gold Rush.
To prevent blisters and pain, Dawkins has lined his seat sheep skins and has a plentiful supply of Vaseline for his hands and feet.
Dawkins has been kayaking for 13 years, participated in many races and said he has prepared well, but he is still weary of entering a 1,600-kilometre race.
“It’s pretty scary,” he said. “Fear of failure, that’s the worst thing.”
Coates said the first team will probably cross the finish line in seven days. Winners will receive a cash prize.
After the competition, racers will return to Whitehorse for a finishers’ banquet at the Yukon Inn on Aug. 1.
Jeff Brady
Jul 20, 2009 at 8:51 pm
Peter Coates did not organize the Yukon River Quest. It is organized by the Yukon River Marathon Paddlers Association, a group of paddling enthusiasts from the Yukon and Alaska who wanted to carry on the tradiiton of the Dyea to Dawson centennial races with a more structured paddling event from Whitehorse to Dawson around the solstice. Peter was active on the board for a time - including being president one year - but no more. For his own reasons, he wanted to do something apart from the YRMPA. This new race is his brainchilld and the YRMPA is not associated with it, other than we have rented some of our canoes out to teams in it. The statement about being qualified requires a qualifier. The YRQ does require teams to state their experience, and we do not take novices – at least we try not to. But people enter races saying they are prepared when they are not. That is also the case in the Yukon 1000, but with it being more like a canoe and kayak rally where teams camp at night, they should be able to continue - it just might take them 2 weeks. The 2 races are quite unique, and readers should know the differences.