Photo by Marissa Tiel
SPRINT TO FINISH 鈥 K-2 team 2 Numbnuts (right) edges C-2 team Gorge Downwind Champs by five seconds at the finish of the 715-kilometre long Yukon River Quest. 2 Numbnuts beat the C-2 by five seconds to take second place overall in the race.
Photo by Marissa Tiel
FRIENDS AT THE END 鈥 Shaun Thrower (left) is embraced by Carter Johnson as Dave Jensen looks on at the finish of the Yukon River Quest. The two teams 2 Numbnuts and Gorge Downwind Champs battled to a sprint finish with Thrower鈥檚 team inching ahead.
Photo by Marissa Tiel
EMOTIONAL FINISH 鈥 Team Sisu鈥檚 Kelly Reid drops her head into her hand at the finish of the Yukon River Quest.
Photo by Marissa Tiel
HERO鈥橲 WELCOME 鈥 SUP Emily Matthews is greeted onshore by a massive crowd as the last paddler to finish the 2017 Yukon River Quest.
Photo by Marissa Tiel
BATTERED 鈥 Pater Hanzely exits the water at Carmacks.
The race was for second place.
The race was for second place.
After more than 44 hours on the river, the remaining spots in the Yukon River Quest top three would be decided by a sprint.
鈥淵ou start with a sprint; 444 miles; and you finish with a sprint,鈥 said tandem kayak team 2 Numbnuts鈥 Shaun Thrower, who along with teammate Steve King, edged ahead of tandem canoe team Gorge Downwind Champs鈥 Carter Johnson and Dave Jensen to secure second place in 44 hours, 38 minutes and 51 seconds.
The canoe crossed the line five seconds later.
When they鈥檇 started out in Coffee Creek about 12 hours earlier, Jensen and Johnson weren鈥檛 even sure they鈥檇 be able to catch the K-2 team, who were Yukon River Quest champions in 2014.
鈥淲e were pretty ecstatic when we saw them,鈥 said Jensen. 鈥淭hen after we saw them it took another hour and a half to catch them.鈥
They first spotted the K-2 after the White River joins the Yukon River.
鈥淚t changes a lot,鈥 said Jensen of the river. 鈥淭he water changes from pretty clear to pretty silty and it gets to be super wide with channels all over the place.鈥
The section of river they were entering, which 2 Numbnuts calls, the Braids, has many channels.
It鈥檚 a choose your own adventure with the knowledge that if you choose wrong, well, you could be in for a world of hurt catching someone who chose right.
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 actually wait for them, but we did think of waiting for them because when you get down to the braids, if they鈥檇 passed us in the braids, we might not have known they鈥檇 gone past us,鈥 said Thrower.
As the river split, each team chose their own way and Gorge Downwind Champs came out 500 metres ahead. It wasn鈥檛 the ideal situation, because now the K-2 could see their navigation choices, but it was a start. At least they were ahead.
鈥淎 few times Carter and I tried to take off on them, but we couldn鈥檛,鈥 said Jensen.
鈥淭hey were always behind us. If we鈥檇 stop, they鈥檇 stop.鈥
Jensen, an experienced canoeist, had teamed up with Johnson, an accomplished kayaker 鈥 he owns the men鈥檚 solo kayak record for this race, 42 hours and 49 minutes, set in 2010.
Jensen steered the boat while Johnson set the pace.
鈥淥ur preference would鈥檝e been to get rid of them before the finish, which we weren鈥檛 able to do.鈥
The decision to stick with the C-2 had been a conscious one, something the paddlers had already talked about.
鈥淲e were after no times, we were just after the best position we could get,鈥 said Thrower. 鈥淲hen they caught us, it didn鈥檛 bother us.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a lot harder for them to sprint in a canoe than a kayak.鈥
So with the two boats together, they let off the pace for about an hour and a half before the final long punishing sprint into Dawson City.
The sprint lasted for about 10 minutes with each team trying to get into the faster water on the river left side of the Yukon, close to West Dawson.
As they came around the bend upstream of the Klondike River, it was impossible to tell who was in front.
Support for both teams clustered around the finish line, an orange pylon sticking up from the bank on the river right side.
As they got closer, it became apparent that the K-2 had about a boat-length on the C-2.
With a better top boat speed, they pulled ahead, crossing the finish line five seconds before the C-2.
鈥淏low the whistle for God鈥檚 sake,鈥 shouted a supporter from the bank.
And it blew.
The teams cruised into the take-out.
There, they embraced, smiles abound as two teams 鈥 friends 鈥 appreciated the final sprint.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 racing,鈥 said Thrower with a smile.
With gear checks complete, he began to look forward to the fulfilling of traditions, namely King treating him to a triple-scoop of ice cream. Not vanilla or licorice, but perhaps strawberry.
As thoughts of ice cream formed for the 2 Numbnuts, the Gorge Downwind Champs were looking forward to a meal of fish, rice and veggies cooked on the Volkswagen stovetop by Jensen鈥檚 wife Judy and the promised sleep ahead.
Top Finishers
Special Awards
Youngest paddler Amelie Latour
Top Yukoners Yukon Wide Adventures, Team鈥圱s鈥檃lvit
Fastest Senior Team The Bickersons
Spirit of the Yukon Duck Juice
Red Stove Team Blondie Girls Who Yak
There weren鈥檛 many surprises in the first official year of the standup paddleboards (SUPs) in this year鈥檚 Yukon River Quest.
Bart de Zwart, who won last year鈥檚 experimental race, crossed the finish first again, shaving a handful of hours off his previous time to set a new SUP record of 52:16:06.
鈥淚 know I鈥檓 strong in the beginning. But in a race like this, you can鈥檛 keep it up,鈥 said de Zwart a few hours after finishing.
鈥淎 race like this you should do in your own pace.鈥
De Zwart, freshly showered and napped after eating a bag of Old Dutch ketchup chips and a tea in hand, reflected on his race as fellow SUPer Joanne Hamilton-Vale arrived onshore.
鈥淲ith standup, it鈥檚 not easy because it鈥檚 not a fast craft compared to the rest.
But de Zwart finished well under 55 hours again to earn $864 as the first SUP. Jason Bennett, who finished second in 53:12:54 won $384.
Of the eight SUPs that started, six finished.
It was almost five.
Emily Matthews, who鈥檇 celebrated the five-year anniversary of the first time she stepped on a paddleboard at the race鈥檚 start on June 28, had heard rumours that the cutoff time for the Carmacks checkpoint was 6 p.m. At her current pace, she wasn鈥檛 going to make it. So she stepped off the board and pulled it ashore at Little Salmon, calling for a ride and withdrawing from the race.
Fellow SUP, Stuart Knaack, who鈥檇 withdrawn from the race the previous day due to heat exhaustion, heard and raced in his truck from Carmacks upstream to find out what was going on.
鈥淎ll of a sudden his truck comes blasting up this road, gravel flying, dust aflying,鈥 said Matthews. She鈥檇 only woken 15 minutes prior.
She chucked her gear in the back of his pickup, sat down in the cab and said she was done.
Piece by piece they puzzled the story together and upon discovering that the checkpoint didn鈥檛 close at six, but hours later Matthews got back on the water.
鈥淪he was like, well f--- this, and gotout of the truck and grabbed all her stuff and threw it down on the board and swore up a storm and was not in a good mood,鈥 said Knaack. 鈥淸She] got on the paddleboard and took off.鈥
Matthews arrived in Carmacks a handful of hours later, plenty of time to spare before the cutoff and took her mandatory rest.
At 7:45 p.m. Saturday, she arrived in Dawson City to a hero鈥檚 welcome, the last craft left on the river.
鈥淚 was utterly flabbergasted. I thought my friends might be here to say yeah,鈥 she said at the finish, holding a bouquet of flowers that had been presented to her by many members of the crowd.
鈥淚t was a good adventure.鈥
As Team Ts鈥檃lvit exited the water after their finish, there were many hugs and many tears.
The voyageur team, comprised of Jim Boyde, Pam Boyde, Crystal Shimoon, Bryan Allemang, Midori Kirby and Peter Kirby, pulled into Dawson in 46 hours, 41 minutes and 11 seconds. They were sixth overall and the first fully-Yukon team to make it to the finish.
鈥淚t鈥檚 always an honour to be the fast Yukon team,鈥 said captain Jim Boyde. 鈥淎nd it鈥檚 always a challenge.鈥
The team was paddling a sleek voyageur canoe, which had been paddled by the course record-setting team Kissynew back in 2008.
For Boyde, the journey is not just about the race.
鈥淚 tend to do the Quest not just for the paddling,鈥 he said. 鈥淏ut for the country we go through and the animals that we see and the spirit of this place.鈥
Among the wildlife they spotted were bears, moose and a peregrine falcon.
After his 13th time competing in the Yukon鈥圧iver Quest, Boyde said he鈥檇 next like to see some younger paddlers, like the North American Indigenous Games paddlers take a seat in the boat.
After writing a long 鈥減leading鈥 letter to the Yukon鈥圧iver Quest board of directors last summer to try and get C-4 added to the race, John Vermilyea was pleased to finally be on the river in that boat.
His team, Saranac 4, was the first C-4 (four-person canoe) to cross the finish line, clocking a time of 45 hours, 48 minutes and 16 seconds.
They were fourth overall and the second voyageur to reach the finish after first-place team Yukon鈥圵ide Adventures.
鈥淚 knew this boat would do very well on this river,鈥 said Vermilyea of the C-4.
His team was comprised of paddlers from New York and Pennsylvania, where the boat type is popular in marathon races.
Teresa Stout, Ashley Cary and Ben Schlimmer also paddled the craft down the Yukon.
鈥淭hese guys were awesome,鈥 said Vermilyea. 鈥淭hat was the smoothest run down the river I鈥檝e ever had.鈥
In their inaugural race, four C-4s paddled in the River Quest. They were included in the voyageur class.
Goldilocks and the Three Bears was third in the class, while It鈥檚 Just Around the Bend was seventh and Yukon 4.1 was eighth. Saranac 4 was second in the voyageur class.
While the voyageur 鈥 minimum six paddlers in a canoe 鈥 class included the C-4s this year, Vermilyea doesn鈥檛 see the boats as comparable.
鈥淚 think they鈥檙e apples and oranges,鈥 he said.
But since they were included in the money this year, he wasn鈥檛 about to press the point.
鈥淚鈥檓 thrilled to be here,鈥 he said.
With three of the four finishing in under 50 hours (Yukon 4.1 finished in 50:07, the C-4 proved to be a fast way down the Yukon River.
And Vermilyea said he鈥檚 sure there will be more that enter in the future.
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