Welcome to the official Yukon River Quest web site. The Yukon River Quest is an annual marathon canoe, kayak and stand-up-paddleboard race. Paddlers come from around the world to test their endurance, racing day and night to the Klondike on one of North America’s great rivers. It is open to solo and tandem canoes and kayaks, solo SUP, and C4 and Voyageur canoes. Please fully explore our site for information on how to participate in this great event, whether as a racer, a member of a support crew, or as volunteer. The Yukon River passes through five First Nations on our race route: Kwanlin Dun, Ta’an Kwachan Council, Little Salmon/Carmacks, Selkirk, and Trondek Hwechin. Our race honours their culture and those who have lived off the river and nurtured it for centuries.

2019 RACE DATES – June 26-30: Watch for rules and updated information for the 21st annual YRQ in mid-October. Registration will begin on November 1.

20TH ANNIVERSARY RACE June 27 – July 1, 2018: Our 20TH ANNIVERSARY race week was incredible, featuring a great race in which a record 103 team started and 76 teams finished through all kinds of weather.  We had wonderful events surrounding the race with a Meet & Greet at the SS Klondike, a Volunteer Appreciation Party at Carmacks, and a great 20th Anniversary Tent Gallery by the finish line in Dawson City. Following the race, more than 300 YRQ paddlers, support crew members, and volunteers marched in the Canada Day parade. See photos on our YRQ Facebook and YRQ Instagram pages.  During our Awards Ceremony, we unveiled our GREAT RIVER CLUB of 5,000 and 10,000 kms paddlers! 

RACE RESULTS & REPLAY –  Click on our outstanding YRQ RACE TRACKER courtesy of Yukon 1000 Software, where you can see complete results in every class and category and replay the whole race!  Also see our AWARDS PRESS RELEASE for the top 3 winners in each class, Special Awards handed out at our Awards Banquet, and Race Notes.  Yukon Wide Adventures repeated as overall champion, beating Paddlesport Mongrels from the United Kingdom by about an hour, and a new Mixed K2 Record was set by the third place overall team, The Kiwis. Congrats to all 76 finishers in the 2018 race!

LIVE START ACTION – There were Facebook Live feeds from the start on the CKRW-The Rush FB page. Check our YRQ Youtube page for drone coverage when it is made available. Thanks to Save-On-Foods for the FREE KLONDIKE BARS at the Rotary Park Start and down the riverwalk!

RECORD TEAM COUNT  –  See all 103 teams and their paddler bios under RACERS tab above. After registration closed on June 1, we had a record pre-race official count of 116 teams, resulting in a boost in the total potential purse to over $48,000. That team number had dropped to 115 when this pre-race PRESS RELEASE was issued June 8th, and as of final registration on June 26 was down to an official start count of 103. At this year’s start we saw 242 paddlers from 14 countries: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Estonia, France, Germany, Latvia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, South Africa, United Kingdom, and the United States of America. PADDLERS:  Paddler Evaluation survey monkey forms were e-mailed a few days after the race. If you did not receive one, e-mail us!

VOLUNTEERS – THANKS FOR VOLUNTEERING!!!: More than 300 of you made our race shine under the Midnight Sun! All volunteers signed up this year and past volunteers were celebrated at our Meet & Greet on Monday night in Whitehorse, in Carmacks after the start, and in Dawson City. See our big Thank You Ad from the July 27 Whitehorse Star (now on Volunteer page). VOLUNTEERS: Watch for a Volunteer Evaluation form in your email box, and we apologize to those of you who did not get a shirt. We have more coming so please email us by July 31 to make sure we have you on our list.

THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS!!! We have a lot of great sponsors who help us immensely in making this a great race. Please view our SPONSOR PAGE for a list of all sponsors big and small. Also check out our 2018 BIB SPONSORS for this year’s 20th Anniversary Race!

RACERS & SUPPORT CREWS INFO: Go through the RULES & PREPARATION part of our site to view our Racers Briefing, and go over in the rules what you are required to carry on this journey. To review the 2018 RULES (posted in six languages), just click on a flag above.  Check out the FAQs to learn more about insurance requirements, support at Carmacks, how to get back from Dawson, and more. Support crews should check out the SUPPORT link above to view a separate Support Briefing and learn more about what you need to do to help your team get to the finish line! Finally, take advantage of the three shuttled training runs June 23-25 (see Schedule). 

BECOME A MEMBER & SUPPORT THE YRQ : Join the Yukon River Marathon Paddlers Association for just $20 a year (adults), $10 a year (juniors 18 & under), or $100 for lifetime. Email the race office for details or attend our December AGM. See Race Schedule for more information about what happens during Race Week and consider becoming a Volunteer or Sponsor. We have several sponsorship levels and the popular Bib Sponsorships to show your support for our teams and the race.

YRMPA BOARD NEWS:  Read our new Vision, Values and Mission statements on our ABOUT US page. Next Board Meeting: Thursday, October 11 at 5:30 p.m. in Sport Yukon Room 2.