The 2024 Yukon River Quest has officially ended in Carmacks, cut short by wildfires.
According to the YRQ Facebook page, all teams are now into the Coal Mine Campground in Carmacks.
The last team, Brad Pennington in a solo kayak, arrived just before 11 p.m. last night.
Unofficially, 58 teams finished the abbreviated race in Carmacks before the cutoff time of 34 hours.
16 teams scratched – 11 at Lower Laberge or on the lake, four after the lake, and one arrived 3 hours after the Carmacks cutoff time.
Meanwhile, an awards ceremony took place at 10 a.m. in Carmacks today.
C2 team “Seb and Gates go for a paddle”, Seb Courville and Gaetan Plourde, finished first overall in 20 hours, 23 minutes and 57 seconds.
The first K2 team in were K2 “Team 132” (their name, not their number – they are team number 21), Bob Ross and Jeff Brainard, came in to Carmacks in a time of 20:47:19.
The “Fat Bottomed Girls” – Carmen Gustafson, Bonnie Pankiw, Sophie Coupal and Heidi Vertanen – were the first C4 team in at a time of 21:04:22.
The first K1er in was the “Belgian bear”, Bernard Moyersoen, in a time of 22:04:10.
The first voyager team in was “Billy Smart and his one trick ponies” – Peter Mant, Rob Howe, Angus Woods, Paddy Broughton, Bill Baker and Iain Burnett – in 23:45:41.
The first SUPer in was Toby Cracknell, who reached Carmacks in a time of 24:21:49.
YRQ race coordinator Cynthia (Cyd) Onions made the cancellation announcement yesterday in Carmacks to a gathered crowd of racers and supporters at the Coal Mine Campground.
“The 2024 Yukon River Quest will end in Carmacks this year,” stated Onions.
“Due to circumstances beyond our control, the board of the Yukon Marathon Paddler’s Association made this difficult decision today after conferring with government officials about the fire situation along the North Klondike Highway, which has been closed except for essential travel.”
“The YRQ does not want to impact the egress of fire control or present more challenges from trying to send a fleet of support vehicles further up the highway and into an active fire zone.”
“Racers were also impacted by the 30 Mile fire last night and there were other fires burning near the river close to Dawson City.”
Onions added, “While we know this is disappointing news, it’s the responsible decision for the safety of our race community.”
Onions spoke to the Yukon Star afterward about the situation.
“It’s difficult of course, because so much work goes into planning and all the volunteers ahead of the race are not going to be able to do their thing with our racers.”
Onions added, “I think it’s the right decision.”
C2 Team 44, “Seb and Gates go for a paddle”, Seb Courville and Gaetan Plourde, pulled into Carmacks first this morning.
Cheryl Rivest of “Stix Together” agreed with the decision.
“It’s the right decision. 100 per cent. Our team had talked about it prior to this announcement and had decided if they weren’t gonna call it, we were gonna scratch.”
Rivest explained her team’s decision.
“We didn’t think it was right to be participating in a recreational activity and having that kind of impact on a community that’s dealing with the situation that they’re dealing with up there.”
Rivest said the paddle up to Carmacks was “a bit of an adventure.”
“We paddled through a thick, thick cloud of smoke on the 30 Mile with fires burning on both sides of the river.”
Michelle Bousquet of Montreal, team “Midnight Sun”, came into the Coal Mine Campground shortly after the announcement.
“I would have wished we could go on but I completely understand, 100 per cent. It was for the safety.”
Bousquet then spoke of her experience with the extreme conditions, saying she was inhaling smoke “for a good two hours.”
“It’s not good for anybody, so I understand the decision.”
Bousquet said she got ashes in her eyes as well.
However, she summed up her paddle as “a good experience.”
The approximate distance to Carmacks from Whitehorse for the race was 315 kilometres, or just under half of the 715 total kilometres of the race to Dawson City.
