Safety a top priority on 2009 River Quest

When it comes to safety in the world's longest annual canoe and kayak race, the Yukon River Marathon Paddlers Association doesn't take any chances.

By Jon Molson on June 26, 2009 at 3:20 pm

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When it comes to safety in the world’s longest annual canoe and kayak race, the Yukon River Marathon Paddlers Association doesn’t take any chances.

To ensure the well-being of participants in the Yukon River Quest, the organization has 11 Safety Boats patrolling different sections of the 740 kilometre distance from Whitehorse to Dawson.

Canadian Ranger Gord Reed is one of the volunteers on the Whitehorse Safety Boat. Reed helped out in previous years at the River Quest’s Carmacks’ checkpoint, but this is his first year on the boat.

He said so far it’s going well.

“I still have a lot to see,” he said. “I’ve been on this part of the lake before, but it’s always a unique experience. It’s a really good event to be a part of and it helps you to feel a part of it when you can help them enjoy their experience as well.”

Reed, who has lived in the Yukon for most of his life, said the boat will travel from Carmacks to Kirkman Creek before finishing in Dawson City on Saturday.

All competitors in the 11th annual Quest must be in by 11:59 p.m.

Reed began his position on the Safety Boat in Whitehorse where the approximately 740-km race started on Wednesday. Besides assisting those in need, his job includes making sure people know the route to take along Lake Laberge, which was one of the first challenges paddlers encountered on the race.

Cam Beemer is the Yukon River Quests’ safety co-ordinator for the race. This is the fifth year he has been on one of the boats, but his first year in charge of safety.

Beemer said not too much is different this year, but commented about the importance of safety patrols due to the pace of racers and the lenth of the race.

Beeemer has witnessed a number of examples over the past five years to back up this belief - one year 10 teams were evacuated from Big Salmon and flips are always a danger running the Five Finger Rapids near Carmacks.

“Sometimes it can get really dangerous,” Beemer said.

He said conditions change every year, which have an impact on the number of withdraws each year.

“It’s just a tough race,” Beemer said. “People sometimes don’t realize how hard it is.”

This year, however, Yukon River Quest officials and safety crews have been lucky in terms of weather and race conditions.

“It’s been great, everyone is in good spirits,” said Beemer. “It’s been nice flat water and hopefully it just carries on.”

This year’s Yukon River Quest began with 73 teams and so far just seven have withdrawn, which is the lowest percentage of scratches in the race’s history. The annual canoe and kayak race features a number categories, including solo, tandem and voyageur. There is male, female, mixed and open classes as well.

Participants this year are competing for a record $36,000 in prize money.

Besides Canada and the United States, paddlers in this year’s race are representing Australia, Austria, Great Britain, Japan, Latvia, the Netherlands and the United Arab Emirates.

Canadian participants include paddlers from Alberta, B.C., Nova Scotia, Northwest Territories, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan and the Yukon.