The 740-kilometer wilderness adventure paddling race is held on the Yukon River from Whitehorse to Dawson City in Canada’s Yukon Territory. Held during the last week of June, the YRQ is known as the “Race to the Midnight Sun”. Paddlers race round-the-clock, as the sky never gets dark. It is a true marathon with just two mandatory rest stops of 10 hours over the course of the entire event.

Deadline for entries is May 1st, 2010, but teams are encouraged to register early due to the growing worldwide popularity of the event. There remains a limit of 100 canoe and kayak teams, which includes a limit of 23 solo kayak and 7 solo canoe teams. These solo teams should register immediately to reserve a spot. All boats must meet the specifications defined in the 2010 YRQ rules which are now posted on the website.

There are overall cash prizes for each class – tandem canoe, tandem kayak, solos, and voyageur canoes – as well as prizes for the top three in each division. There also are $500 cash prizes for the top all-Yukon canoe and kayak teams, as well as the new First Nations prize. Several special awards are also donated by Yukon sponsors. A complete prize breakdown can be found in the race rules on the website.

The start location for the Yukon River Quest will be at Rotary Peace Park, where the race will begin at 12 noon in the grass by the gazebo with the historic SS Klondike looming in the background. Paddlers will have about a 100-meter run to their boats.

The Yukon River Quest is the premier paddling event in Canada’s North and is widely recognized throughout the paddling world. It has been featured on NBC-TV, the BBC and CBC, in numerous paddling and adventure magazines and websites around the world, and in the National Film Board of Canada’s critically acclaimed “River of Life”.

Website: www.yukonriverquest.com - Photo: jeff Brady