YUKON RIVER QUEST 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 5, 2007

Two hundred paddlers on 85 teams for 2007 YRQ
Record field includes 10 voyageur teams

WHITEHORSE, YUKON – Registration has closed for the ninth Yukon River Quest, the longest annual canoe and kayak race in the world. A record field of 85 teams from nine countries are expected at the starting line on Wednesday, June 27.

This year’s race will be run from June 27 to July 1. The 740-kilometer (460-mile) wilderness adventure paddling marathon is held on the Yukon River from Whitehorse to Dawson City in Canada's Yukon Territory. It begins with a mass start at 12:30 p.m. on Whitehorse’s Main Street, with teams running to their vessels on the Yukon River.

Deadline for entries was May 26, and the 2007 race roster includes teams from Great Britain, Australia, Israel, Austria, South Africa, Latvia, and Japan as well as from all across Canada and the United States.

This year’s field includes 28 tandem canoes, 20 tandem kayaks, 25 solo kayaks, and 10 voyageur canoes of six to 10 paddlers. There also is an experimental solo canoe class with two entries.

Information about the teams and a race schedule may be found at the race website: www.yukonriverquest.com.

The total 2007 race purse has been set at $26,500 (CAD). Winners in the solo and tandem categories receive $1,600 each, while the top voyageur team will win $2,500.

The growth of the voyageur class has been expected, said Jeff Brady, president of the Yukon River Marathon Paddlers Association.

“Team Kissynew from Saskatchewan set a new bar last year, finishing second overall,” Brady said. “They will be the favorite this year, since the record-setting tandem kayak team of David Kelly and Brandon Nelson will not be back.”

But they will have competition from other voyageurs from as far away as Texas, New York, Maine and Ontario, as well as the Yukon. The British RAF is sending three competitive tandem kayak teams, and some world class teams are coming from Australia and South Africa. Canoes also should be fast this year with a change in the specs to allow standard canoes up to 18’ 6” in length, but with waterline width restrictions to ensure safe passage on Lake Laberge and through Five Finger Rapids.

The race schedule kicks off with the world premiere of the National Film Board production of “River of Life” at 7 p.m. on Sunday, June 24 at the Yukon Arts Centre. The film, directed by the Yukon’s Werner Walcher, tells the story of Yukon’s Paddlers Abreast team of breast cancer survivors, with the 2006 race as the setting for their amazing stories. The film also will be shown in Dawson City at the Odd Fellows Hall on Saturday, June 30 at 7:30 p.m. Paddlers Abreast will race again this year, along with the Canadians Abreast team “Messengers of Hope” from Toronto.

The Yukon River Quest is one of the premier events in the north and the paddling world, featured on the BBC, CBC and in numerous paddling and adventure magazines. After a LeMans-style start in downtown Whitehorse, teams paddle round-the-clock under the midnight sun, stopping for just two mandatory rests at Carmacks (7 hours) and Kirkman Creek (3 hours). It is a grueling wilderness adventure race that tests the stamina of both professional and recreational paddlers from around the globe. The prize, for many, is just finishing the event in world-famous Dawson City, site of the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897-1898.

In 2006, 74 teams started the event, while 57 finished. It was the second straight high-water year, and six category records were broken, including the new course record of 40:37:05 set by Kelly and Nelson.

“Results will be updated several times a day during the event, thanks to the hard work of our safety boat crews, checkpoint crews, radio dispatcher, webmaster, and others,” Brady said.

The 2007 race marshal is Peter Coates.

Volunteers are the cornerstone of the event. If anyone is interested in helping, please contact the race organization at info@yukonriverquest.com or call 867-33FLOAT.

The race is organized by the Yukon River Marathon Paddling Association, based in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. Major logo-level sponsors are the Whitehorse Star, Canadian Rangers, Yukon Emergency Measures Organization – Whitehorse and Faro SAR branches, Air North-Yukon’s Airline, Kanoe People-Clipper Canoes, PR Services-yukoninfo.com, Northland Beverages-Aquafina Water, and Integraphics.

There are many other businesses and individual sponsors who assist with the event, and they are listed on the sponsor page on the race website. Businesses may contribute on a smaller scale by sponsoring a paddler bib for $200. A bib form may been downloaded at www.yukonriverquest.com.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Jeff Brady, YRMPA president., info@yukonriverquest.com