The 2024 Yukon Quest seems to be about overcoming challenges.

Like last year, the 2024 Quest consists of a 100-mile race to Braeburn, a 250-mile dash to Pelly Crossing and the 450-mile race to Dawson City.

The start location of the trail, of course, has been changed to Suncatchers Inn Cattery, near the Dawson Overland Trail, at 906 Takhini River Rd.

The start time has also been changed to 2 p.m. Saturday to accommodate logistics and the timing of the race.

The Star spoke to Anne Tayler, the Quest’s board president, last Friday, before the changes were announced. At the time, Quest volunteers were working on an overflow issue by the Walmart store.

“At this point, the trail is looking great,” said Tayler. “The (Canadian) Rangers, as always, have been doing a good job to help both the Quest and the (Yukon) Ultra, so we feel really comfortable with the trail once they’ve done their work.

“We’ve been getting really great trail reports that the officials can use.”

Work on the trail has been going on since early January.

“Other than that section in the industrial area, the reports are that everything is really good,” Tayler said.

“There’s some jumble ice in a couple places, but nothing that can’t be managed.”

Overall, she said, the trail is looking excellent.

She did have some prophetic words about the start location, though.

“We’d really like to do a start at Shipyards. If we have to go downriver a bit, we can’t get as many people out to see it.”

Tayler said Muktuk Kennels has been using the trail to Dawson for a while now.

“It’s in excellent shape.”

They’ve had a number of people going up and down the trail, Tayler said, and the only stretch they were concerned about was Shipyards Park out to the Takhini River.

“There’s always going to be overflow,” she noted. “I can’t remember a year when the Quest didn’t have overflow and, as you know, I’ve been out there for many years with Frank (Turner). Overflow is not nearly as bad as I’ve seen it.”

Overflow occurs when the ice on a river drops and the water is forced over top of it.

“That always happens on rivers,” Tayler said. “You just never know where it’s going to be.”

She mentioned one obstacle the Canadian Rangers had to deal with.

“They’ve got a little spot of open water that they built a little fence with dead trees between the trail and that bit of open water just to make sure that they (mushers) wouldn’t be able to get at it,” she said

“The Rangers are extremely resourceful, and they’re really into risk management. So we rely on them hugely. And they have such great attitudes of helping out with that trail for the Quest and the Ultra.”

Adding to the Quest’s challenges this year are that the previous execu-tive director, Bonnie Michaudville, and operations manager, John Hopkins-Hill, have moved on. Michaudville has moved to B.C.

“She left a really good binder full of stuff for (executive director) Ben (Smith) to work through,” related Tayler. “That really helped us make the transition.”

Tayler spoke highly of the Quest’s new hires, Smith and operations manager Abi Horobin.

“They both really bring a lot of professional experience in the area of running an organization, and Abi, she’s spent a lot of time working operations before, so it’s been great.

“I’m not sure anybody else could have picked up when there was actually no staff in the office for a month or so and actually just dive in and get things in ship-shape. So it’s been tremendous.

“And they both love the race and they both have really great attitudes,” Tayler added.

“They worry they aren’t doing well enough, but we keep reminding them that they’re doing great. It’s been a real joy to work with them.”

One of the first challenges was putting together a new website for the Quest, since the old one had passed its best-before date.

“As soon as Ben started, that was the first crunch, so they’ve been flat-out ever since they each started,” related Tayler. “Getting a new website these days is a long process.”

Tayler said they’re loading information gradually onto the website.

“People will see it improving and getting more information on it all the time. The guys doing the site are working very hard to get it all loaded. But they prioritized this year’s race and tracking and all those things that people like to watch during the race.”

Tayler asked for patience during the process.

“It will be fully loaded as quickly as they can do it.”

A new challenge the organizers face is from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).

“In 40 years, we’ve never been asked about what dog food people are bringing across the border,” recalled Tayler.

“All of a sudden now, we have to get permits. The only way to do it logically was to have Yukon Quest as the importer. Because otherwise, all the Americans would have had to fill out a form that you need a CFIA business number for.

“If we lost all of our Alaskans, we wouldn’t have a race.”

Tayler said Ella Clarke, one of the staffers in MP Brendan Hanley’s office, was instrumental in negotiating the red tape to help the Quest become a “food importer.”

“She was absolutely incredible and just so helpful in getting us eventually to the right person in the right place,” Tayler said.

“I had to explain to several of the folks at the food agency what a dog race was. And they really didn’t understand that people are taking their food on a remote northern trail. It was a lot of education.

“And then finally, a wonderful person who had dealt with the Calgary Stampede to have horses come across the border, once we got her, she basically spent the day on the phone with me walking me through the permit because the staff didn’t have time to do it.

“So basically I spent three weeks on it, which I will never get back. It was crazy,” Tayler added.

“But now we know what to do going forward, and we can make it a lot easier. We made sure all the mushers got a copy of the permit and the permit number for when they come across the border.”

It was hard to see some mushers drop out of the race this year due to injuries and other issues, Tayler said.

“The mushers, when they drop put, it’s really hard for them. They do it with great reluctance. They actually want to run in the race but they can’t.

“It’s harder for them than for us. We’re sad to see them go.

“But for them, it’s a huge loss. They’ve gotten thousands of dollars in sponsors and now they can’t report back to them. So we have a lot of respect for those who withdraw for the sake of the team and for themselves,” Tayler said.

Staff are ensuring those people remain on the Quest website.

“We’re recognizing that they did want to run the race,” said Tayler. “I can often hear tears in their voice. It really is hard.”

She also commented on “how amazing Yukon businesses, especially smaller businesses, are in supporting us.

“Everything like Northern Vision and Whitehorse Motors down to tiny little stores like Baked Café and places like that.

“So many little businesses support us and we really appreciate that. We really couldn’t do the race if they didn’t help us out.”

See related coverage.