Despite low water levels on the Yukon, the lead boats had a blazing finish into Carmacks early this morning. Under clear skies and peachy dawn light, team #37 Green Machine, a voyageur, pulled into the dock at 5:12 a.m., just over 23 hours after they set out from Whitehorse.
Only twelve minutes behind them came team #107 Mike and Steve, in a tandem canoe. “Thanks for the ride,” Mike told Steve as they shook hands and carefully headed up the ramp to shore, stretching their legs properly for the first time since the dash to the boats at the start line.
Team #24 Estonian Vikings, in a tandem kayak, finished in third place overall at 5:48 a.m. A member of their support crew waved a large Estonian flag on the dock as they approached, and then tucked it away and bent down to help extract them: everyone stiffens up in their boats during the long overnight stretches, but most racers would agree the kayakers have it worst.
In fourth place was a second K2 crewed by Estonians: team #85, Paddling for Est. They weren’t even on the dock yet when a race for fifth place shaped up behind them: team #103 Rage Against the Current, a C2, rounded the bend in a dead heat with #17 Belgian Bear, a solo kayaker. According to the official record, Rage Against the Current snagged fifth place just ten seconds ahead of Belgian Bear, our first solo finisher. (The sprint to the finish was good-natured – the two teams had spent hours in close proximity on the river, and congratulated each other as soon as they were pulled out of their boats.)
After the top six, finishers just kept coming: nearly two dozen boats finished the 300-kilometre race route in less than 24 hours. Volunteers and support crews on shore speculated that some teams had really opened the throttle, knowing that they wouldn’t have to carry on beyond Carmacks this year, as a result of the ongoing wildfires around Dawson City. “I think they put a little extra mustard on it,” one observer said.
The remaining teams are making their way through the Little Salmon monitoring point and on downriver to Carmacks. They have until 9 p.m. tonight, local time, to finish the race!