Yukon Quest Alaska and Yukon Quest Canada held a combined board meeting Wednesday.

According to a joint press release, they discussed moving forward with separate races for 2024.

They also said that even though the 1,000-mile race is still on hold, they will "continue to explore ways to once again bring it to life for mushers and fans alike."

The Star spoke with Yukon Quest Canada president Anne Tayler Thursday, and she explained how the meeting came about.

"The president on the Alaska side (Mark Webber) and myself have been communicating since November and had agreed that we would try to – made a commitment that we would meet with both boards after the races were done this year,” she said.

“So we have been working on that for quite a while. We've tried to make sure we get together again."

Tayler explained what they talked about during the meeting.

"We talked quite a lot about what's possible right now. There are a number of issues affecting long distance mushing.

“I know that people have already seen some of the critiques of our press release. And so I understand that people are upset that we didn't go in the room and magically resurrect the 1,000-mile race, but I think that most people are not aware of what it takes to actually put it on.

"One of the challenges right now is the declining number of teams that are able to run 1,000 miles, that is kind of a byproduct of increasing costs.

"And also COVID had an impact on a lot of mushers, their ability to keep feeding a team. Prices for everything including dog food have skyrocketed.

“It's more difficult for people to maintain a large-enough kennel to put together a team for a 1,000-mile race. And we saw that most vividly in the Iditarod, which had just over 30 mushers, and that's, I think, the lowest field they'd ever had or maybe matched the lowest field.

“So that's been the second decline in a row for them, even though it's post-COVID. So we've been looking at who is actually signing up for those races and where where we would actually attract mushers to enter the race.

"And certainly in the Yukon, we used to have half a dozen stalwart mushers that would show up for every Quest.

“We've really only got a couple of kennels with teams that could do a 1,000 mile right now, so we don't have kennels on this side of the border.

“There's maybe a team in Northwest Territories, maybe one in B.C., but it's far and few between.

“It would be terribly irresponsible to spend the kind of money we need to spend for five mushers. That's a challenge, so we have to build up the field.

“So part of what we did this year on this side, by having a 100, the 250 and the 450, was provided races that could build up some of the mushers who are doing shorter races.

"They would get the opportunity to camp, because a lot of mushers that do shorter races don't have camping experience. It also gives them the opportunity to work their way up to a 100. Then do a 250 and then work up to 450 and then at that point you would be ready to take on a 1,000-mile race.

"If you think about mushing, it's a quite a solitary process. It's not like sports where there's a group of people that are training coming up, like baseball or basketball or many other sports teams.

“There isn't that group of people in the wings waiting to move up to the 1,000-mile. And so we're hoping that we can increase the number of mushers able to do that by having the mid-distance races."

Tayler said the Alaska board is in a similar situation.

"They had really good attendance in their 80-mile race and not so much in their 550. So it's a challenge. We're looking at how to overcome that challenge. Where do you get the mushers from?"

Tayler said the other thing that's a real challenge is climate change.

"If we did have the (1,000-mile) race this year, we would have had to cancel at Dawson anyway because they weren't able to put a trail on that stretch between Circle and Eagle. Even the people that live along the river said that it wasn't possible to put in a trail there this year."

Tayler cited miles of jumble ice on the trail as a reason they couldn't hold the race between Circle and Eagle.

"People think that the Yukon Quest has been running so long that 'no problem. We'll just get up and running again.'

“It's not that simple. We have to find the resources to be able to tackle those challenges.

"And we need teams. I encourage people that are that are frustrated or upset with us to volunteer on one of the committees and help us figure out ways to tackle all of these different problems."

Tayler said they covered a lot of ground in the meeting.

"We talked about the issue of mushers. We talked about dog care, improving dog care, and that was not a difficult conversation. There's a commitment to that.

“We're going to be working jointly, and I think we'll have some more announcements soon about how we'll do that. But we're doing the best we can with the cards we have at the moment."

Tayler said they have already gotten some aggressive comments on Facebook regarding the press release.

"Some people are pretty harsh on this. And I understand that they may be frustrated, but they are not in the room looking at the situations that we're looking at.

"I think our first commitment is to getting the sport built back up so that we have enough teams to run the race; maybe something we can only run every second year, which would not be that unusual for a major event.

“And if you think about any major events, sometimes they only run every three or four years or every two years. It's a lot of money to put on the race and how do you raise that? We have to be fiscally responsible as a board.

"We are dealing with all of the different issues with the fundraising, with where we find the money to do it. How we help the mushers who are struggling financially? How do you make sure they take really good care of their dogs? We simply can't afford it."

When asked if the decline in mushers is a sign of the times, Tayler replied, "We're also extremely focused on dog care. Younger mushers are much more aware now of all it takes to take care of the team well and to provide really good dog care.

"Maybe it is that the sport is waning. We hate to think that we're losing that tradition. So that's one of the reasons we commented on maintaining the spirit and the history of the race, because we don't want to lose that tradition.

"The amount of money that we put out to put on the longer race between the two boards is huge. So we have to balance that out with getting enough teams to make it viable. Everybody wants that on the board. It's not a question of not wanting it. We would all love that.

“But we have to find the resources and put all the pieces together to be able to do it responsibly.

Tayler said the meeting was "really great. We had really good conversations. There was no animosity. There was nothing left over from previous issues. And that for us, was a really important first step."

Asked if the odds of holding a 1,000-mile race have now increased as a result of this meeting, Tayler replied, "Absolutely. That's the important thing. We've made a commitment to work together. And our goal is to do it again.

“And now it's a matter of working through all of the obstacles and challenges."