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Despite a blanket of snow on the ground, preparations are already underway for the 15th annual Yukon River Quest to be held next June.

On Nov. 1, registrations began to be accepted for the 715-kilometre wilderness adventure paddling race held on the Yukon River between Whitehorse and Dawson City.

Scheduled to go from June 26 to 30, 2013, the River Quest is the world's longest annual canoe and kayak race.

Also known as the Race to the Midnight Sun, paddlers race around the clock under a Yukon sky that never gets dark. There are only two mandatory rest stops during the event.

Online entry forms are now available through a link on the River Quest website 鈥� www.yukonriverquest.com. Entry fees are $850 for tandem canoes and kayaks, $475 for solo canoes and kayaks, and $250 per person for voyageur canoe teams of six or more paddlers.

Deadline for entries is May 15, but teams are encouraged to register early due to the global popularity of the event. There is a limit of 100 canoe and kayak teams, which includes a limit of 30 solo teams. Solo teams are advised to register immediately to reserve a slot.

All paddlers should have race or wilderness paddling experience, and boats must meet specifications defined in the rules listed on the website.

Teams are required to have a SPOT device mounted on top of their boats and activated for tracking before their team is officially registered. Introduced last year, this requirement allowed teams to be able to be tracked during the race from links on the website.

"Knowing where boats are along the river helps improve racer safety,鈥� said River Quest president Carl Rumscheidt. "And the folks back home watching the progress of their favourite racers on the Internet really liked being that much closer to the action.鈥�

The 2013 race purse will be $36,500 if a full roster of 100 teams is registered by the May 15 deadline. Otherwise the purse is adjusted downward on a percentage basis.

There are overall cash prizes for each class 鈥� tandem canoe, tandem kayak, solos, and voyageur canoes 鈥� as well as prizes for the top three in each division. A complete prize breakdown can be found in the race rules section on the website.

The River Quest remains a popular paddling event, drawing participants from all over the world.

In 2012, 68 teams from 13 countries started the race and 54 teams finished.

Lake Laberge was unusually calm and the river was high and fast, accounting for fast times overall. The overall winner was an Australian voyageur team, Down Under Dogs, in a time of 41 hours, 51 minutes.

Two records were broken in women's divisions. Skirting Disaster, an international team, shattered the women's voyageur record in 42:50 and The Fascinators (Yukoners Martha Taylor and Ali Morham) beat the previous women's tandem kayak record by four hours with a time of 47:04.

The course record still belongs to Canadian voyageur Team Kisseynew's winning time of 39:32:43 in 2008.

Teams must finish the River Quest in 55 hours or less to receive prize money, but many do the race for the personal satisfaction of staking their claim to a coveted finisher pin in historic Dawson City.

Aside from two mandatory layovers at Carmacks (7 hours) and Kirkman Creek (3 hours), teams paddle non-stop to reach the "City of Gold.鈥�

The race is organized by the Yukon River Marathon Paddling Association. The association welcomes new members and will be hosting an Annual General Meeting at Sport Yukon at 5:30 p.m. Dec. 5.

If anyone is interested in joining or becoming a volunteer for the event, please email

info@yukonriverquest.com or call 333-5628.