August 2023 Julie and I put our application in for 2024. So much more than a paddling CV is needed – details of wilderness experience and experience of stressful situations needed to be complemented by self-reflection on the multitude of deficiencies we had and how we would overcome them in time to allow us to start the race with confidence. Apparently 2750 teams applied, most get binned straight off. We made the interview stage with Jon, the race director and were somewhat surprised but elated to be one of 30 teams offered a place. A family illness intervened, but we were again allocated a place in 2025, which also turned out to be a blessing as I got bad elbow tendonitis and Julie dislocated her shoulder. Lots of rehabilitation was needed….
The following 2 years included masses of rehab and even more training, planning and kit buying, getting Devizes to Westminster fit and then paddling and wild camping 465 miles down the Loire to the sea to give us multiple back-to-back 6-hour paddling days. You cannot train 18-hour days as it’s too destructive!
By the time we arrived in Whitehorse in early July 2025, 30 teams had been whittled down to 22. One team was deselected as not thought up to it and others presumably got injured in training or thought better of it.
7.30 am July 10th and we were off. We had up to 10 days to paddle with camping where we could for a minimum of 6 hours. Yes, you really can paddle up to 18 hours a day! The vastness of the landscape and of the race cannot be overstated. There are road exits at 12 miles, 190 miles, 444 miles (Dawson City) and 1000 miles. You are totally self-sufficient – no help or contact from the outside world. Other than that, there are small remote settlements with only river or air access; you pass into the artic; the river is wide and in places so braided into channels that you can get lost – mapping is imperative, but none exist beyond Dawson, so we made them ourselves. Even to get to Dawson is a struggle – 65 hours of paddling time was the cut-off and would get you a finish in the Yukon River Quest (the worlds 3rd longest paddle race). We had our struggles; a rear quartering wind whipped up 2 foot waves on the 30 mile long Lake Laberge swamping our kayak multiple times resulting in us having to pump out the boat 3 times – others capsized; Mark got severe wrist tenosynovitis at the end of the second day (mileage ~ 240 miles) and couldn’t sleep leading to a 4 hour stop the next day to sleep to avoid capsizing the boat by dropping off; the rest of the day we worked so hard that Julie got double vision and paddled for 3 hours with one eye closed. Wrist swelling was managed by pain killers, a wrist brace, a smaller paddle and sleeping with hands in pockets to support them. We had to make Dawson by the evening of the 4th day. 100 miles or so in 14 hours seemed fine until we took a wrong turn in the river, clipped an eddy line flipping the boat and dumping us in the water. Cold water shock training and self-rescue practice worked a treat – after getting back to the riverbank, pumping out, changing clothes and having a hot drink we had lost an hour. There followed an almost desperate 8-hour time trial to make the cut-off at Dawson by a mere ½ an hour. Delighted to be waved through we celebrated by finding a good sunny campsite, drying our clothes and having a luxurious 6-hour sleep.
The 5th day was epic, yet more beautiful landscapes, a thunderstorm and crossing the border into Alaska at Eagle – where you must go into the village to phone US immigration. A stunning nighttime campsite near moose-prints, watching the dying embers of a forest fire and a colourful dusk (not followed by night because we were so far north) were our reward.
As we pressed further into Alaska the mountains slowly disappear until at Circle you enter the flats. Here the river spreads out across the vast planes, can be a mile wide and split into multiple channels. We had a ball in the flats with the careful route planning paying off, stunning scenery like the Norfolk Broads on steroids with intricate navigation all the way to Fort Yukon where the river turns west and gradually slows for the last 200 miles to the Dalton Highway Bridge. These were wonderful days, intense and intoxicating taking us into highs and lows of exhaustion – caffeine tablets and music helped to keep us awake; Mark drinking olive oil as he was struggling with the freeze-dried food; visual hallucinations; the scenery breathtaking, the island campsites sublime (even if only there for a too short 6-8 hours and forgetting the huge mosquitoes that plagued us 2 nights). The final days paddling with vast open skies and back into the mountains to the bridge was emotionally profound and the low-key finish after the bridge on a mudbank perfect. A cold beer lifted from the river, a medal given in a handshake, a T-shirt , a hot shower and flushing toilet then burger and chips were our reward. We had lived life as large as we could and despite the challenges the experience was wonderful. We were 18th of the 18 finishers in 8 days, 8 hours and 6 minutes (or 18/2750!). Our river speed was 8th/18th with the difference being the extra time we had had off the water to manage our hardships and electing to not go under 4 hours sleep a night. A life changing adventure. Go do it!