The Cap Warriors are battling through adversity in the 2023 Yukon River Quest.

The Star spoke with members of the eight-person voyageur crew at Carmacks yesterday during their mandatory 10-hour layover, including veteran paddler Bruce Jobin.

"It's been great. I'm racing with my daughter this year, her first race and my sixth.

"She's amazing. She's loving it and she's looking forward to the second half of it."

Jobin's daughter, Prezley Jobin, at 15, the youngest person in the race, is enjoying paddling with her father.

"I think it's a really good experience to have with him. I've been thinking about doing this for a couple years because I've been watching him do it. So it's weird actually being in the race and not helping out with it instead."

Crew leader Donna Johns had high praise for her young crew.

"It was amazing. Those kids, they paddled like they're machines. They were givin' 'er."

Johns had to replace two people in the boat before the race. Shane Schinkel replaced Maria Boss. Barb Dawson also replaced Adam Joe.

Johns was also impressed with Prezley Jobin.

"She is amazing. Before coming here after everybody petered out and everybody's falling asleep and having a hard time moving, she was still just cheery and chipper."

Another young Cap Warrior, Ethan Boucher, talked about what he saw as their biggest challenge.

"I think working together, honestly, because a lot of people get tired after a while. And it's hard to just keep on pushing together. Some people might have more energy and the other person might just be exhausted. I found that to be tough."

As for the river ahead, Boucher said, "I think it's going to be a lot of fun but really tough. It's going to be really challenging, for sure.

"This is probably the hardest thing I've done in my life, to be honest. I've never done anything like this.

Boucher was optimistic that they could still do well.

"I think that if we push hard enough, I think we could win still.

"We got pretty tired after a while. We were in first place for a bit there, but that's when everybody got tired after a while."