| Whitehorse
Star, June 24, 2004
Landick
and Barton on pace to break record as
they hit Carmacks
JUST THE BEGINNING - Ray
Hononich and Jeff Jager of team Shut Up
and Paddle
leave the start of the 2004 Yukon River
Quest Wednesday afternoon. © Photo
Whitehorse Star
By
ECHO ROSS
Sports Reporter
Current
Yukon River Quest record holder Steven
Landick and his canoeing partner Bruce
Barton were the first team to arrive in
Carmacks this morning, on Day 2 of the
2004 Quest.
Traveling under the team name "Michigan"
in honour of their home state, Landick
and Barton hit the Carmacks checkpoint
at 8:34 a.m., which is a record pace for
the River Quest. In the event's six-year
history, no racer has ever arrived at
the first checkpoint before 9 a.m.
They have a mandatory seven-hour layover
in Carmacks before heading out to Kirkman
Creek this afternoon, where they will
have a mandatory three-hour layover.
The race record in elapsed time on the
river is 44 hours and nine minutes, but
most teams average between 55 and 70 hours.
As of 10:30 a.m., the rest of the racers
were between Hootalinqua and Carmacks,
although officials reported a forest fire
just before Big Salmon which had jumped
the river and was making things a bit
tricky for the paddlers traveling through
the area.
Yukon River Quest Spokeswoman Dianne Villesèche
said there were three paddlers left between
the fire and Big Salmon, but she didn't
anticiapte any problems getting through
it.
Whitehorse's Linda Bourassa, competing
in a solo kayak under the name "Grand
Bun Bun", was the top woman in the
race at the start of Day 2. She was in
10th place overall.
Rounding out the top ten were: solo kayaker
Derek Crook (3-D Man-Go Kayaker) of Nanaimo,
B.C.; canoeists Chris Gerwing and Tim
Hodgson (Gerwing/Hodgson) of Winnipeg
and Whitehorse respectively; canoeists
Francis Roy and Jean-Francois Latour (All
North/Waterstone Frontec) of Whitehorse;
canoeists Terry Bolland and Edgar Vaneer
(Aussie Invaders) of Australia; Sam Vander
Merwe and Mark Puttey (Fookawi) of Victoria,
B.C., and Orange County, California, respectively;
solo kayaker Stephen Mooney (Promithian)
of Whitehorse; tandem kayakers Jason Merron
and Charmian Gradwell (Jason and the Argonaut)
of England; and Kent Fenton and Rick Brown
(Potato Barge II) of DeWinton, Alberta,
and Whitehorse respectively.
There were no scratches as of noon today
and the weather remains sunny and hot
with a light breeze.
The first teams are expected to arrive
in Dawson City during the early evening
on Friday or on Saturday. The wrap-up
barbecue and awards night, including the
cheque presentation, will be Sunday, June
27.
This news article was published
in the
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