2018 Yukon River Quest Awards

Jul 5, 2018 | News

[Teams that finished under 55 hours receive prize money]

Solo Classes

[Recipients of hand-made canoe pendant from Gold Trail Jewellers of Dawson City, as well as prize money]

Open Solo Canoe C1:

  1. Team # 116 Sika Adventure – Bryan Allemang, Whitehorse, YT, Canada [54:05:36]. $1044.
  2. Team #19 Mr. Bill – William Siersgorfer, Houston, TX, USA [55:42:18].
  3. Team #67 Love of Paddling-Solo – Margo Millette, Whitehorse, YT, Canada [56:45:57]

Women’s Solo Kayak K1:

  1. Team # 57 AlaskaEileen – Eileen Visser, Potsdam, NY, USA [50:59:38]. $1044
  2. Team # 31 Lootas – Kelley J. Watson, Port Townsend, WA, USA [53:59:42]. $464.
  3. Team #48 Currently a Solo Birch – Carmen Gustafson, Whitehorse, YT, Canada [64:07:50]

Men Solo Kayak K1:

  1. Team # 34 Akita – Wayne Anderson, Calgary, AB, Canada [49:58:39]. $1044.
  2. Team # 41 Sheep Stations –Tony Hystek, Lidcombe, Australia [51:50:48]. $464.
  3. Team # 55 Kingdom Adventures – Michael Doerksen, Malo, MB, Canada [52:52:26]. $232.

Stand Up Paddleboard (SUP):

  1. Team # 59 Starboard – Bart de Zwart, Haiku, HI, USA [55:35:30] repeat champion.
  2. Team # 61 Alex de Sain – Utrecht, Netherlands, [69:45:11].
  3. Team # 43 Emily Matthews – Burlingame, CA, USA [69:54:52]

* Team # 104 handivison sport evenement, Le Meaux Sebastien assisted by Lebland Stephane, France, finished in 60:25:46 in SUP but was not eligible for prize money.

Overall Solo Winners:

  1. Team # 34 Akita – Wayne Anderson, Calgary, AB, Canada [49:58:39]. $1044
  2. Team # 57 AlaskaEileen – Eileen Visser, Potsdam, NY, USA [50:59:38]. $464
  3. Team # 41 Sheep Stations –Tony Hystek, Lidcombe, Australia [51:50:48]. $232.

Tandem Canoe Classes (C2)

[Recipients of hand-made canoe pendant from Gold Trail Jewellers of Dawson City, as well as prize money]

Tandem Canoe classes (C2)

Women C2:

  1. Team # 70 Ross Sisters – Frances Ross and Susanne Ross, Old Crow, YT and Revelstoke, BC, Canada [54:53:28] $1276.
  2. Team # 4 Huptown Girls – Heidi Virtanen and Brooke Ramsay, Calgary, AB, Canada, [56:06:51].
  3. Team # 10 A Dachsund’s Physique – Erin Schulz and Kori Marchowsky, Seattle, WA and Anchorage, AK, USA, [69:33:23].

Mixed C2:

  1. Team # 15 The Bickersons – Bonnie Pankiw and Christopher Weber, Chelsea, QC, Canada [49:00:21]. $942.50
  2. Team # 96 Golden Lake Crew –Sebastien and Jennifer Courville, Golden Lake, ON, Canada [49:00:21]. $942.50
  3. Team # 52 Dozy Drifters – Dale and Luine Bulmer, Dawson City, YT, Canada [52:27:35]. $377          

Men C2:

  1. Team # 37 Team Alpha Super Awesome Cool Dynamite Wolf Squadron – Robert Spinks and Jake Paleczny, Whitehorse, YT, Canada [45:07:05]. $1276
  2. Team # 21 Perfect Storm – Jeff Brainard and Gaetan Plourde, Roslin and N. Gower, ON, Canada [46:35:32]. $609
  3. Team # 3 Strokes of Genius – Mike De Abreu and Tom Phillips, Arnprior and Ottawa, ON, Canada [48:56:08]. $377

Overall Tandem Canoe:

  1. Team # 37 Team Alpha Super Awesome Cool Dynamite Wolf Squadron – Robert Spinks and Jake Paleczny, Whitehorse, YT, Canada [45:07:05]. $1276
  2. Team # 21 Perfect Storm – Jeff Brainard and Gaetan Plourde, Roslin and N. Gower, ON, Canada [46:35:32]. $609
  3. Team # 3 Strokes of Genius – Mike De Abreu and Tom Phillips, Arnprior and Ottawa, ON, Canada [48:56:08]. $377

Tandem Kayak Classes (K2)

[Recipients of hand-made canoe pendant from Gold Trail Jewellers of Dawson City, as well as prize money]

Women K2:

            No awards – only one team in this class this year and it did not finish.

Mixed K2:

  1. Team # 28 The Kiwis – Ian Huntsman and Wendy Riach, Christchurch, New Zealand, [44:57:56], set new record in this class and finished third overall. $1276
  2. Team # 29 Hot Wheels & the Other Guy – Esther Wheeler and Shane Hudson, Sydney, Australia and Tilbury, ON, Canada, [55:35:59].
  3. Team # 37 Spirit of America – Josh Friedman and Julie Kirk, Moyie Springs, ID, USA, [55:39:02].

Men K2:

  1. Team # 39 World of Kayaks Team Estonia – Leivo Sepp and Andres Kaju, Harju, Estonia [48:07:28]. $1276
  2. Team # 36 BendRacing/YogaSlackers – Jason Magness and Daniel Staudigel, Bend, OR, USA [49:03:27]. $609
  3. Team # 16 Estonian Vikings – Ivar Hutt and Mart Reimann, Tallinn and Kuusalu, Estonia [49:15:59]. $377

Overall Tandem Kayak:

  1. Team # 28 The Kiwis – Ian Huntsman and Wendy Riach, Christchurch, New Zealand, [44:57:56], set new record in this class and finished third overall. $1276
  2. Team # 39 World of Kayaks Team Estonia – Leivo Sepp and Andres Kaju, Harju, Estonia [48:07:28]. $609
  3. Team # 36 BendRacing/YogaSlackers – Jason Magness and Daniel Staudigel, Bend, OR, USA [49:03:27]. $377

C4 (4-person Canoe) Class

Open C4:

  1. Team # 88 The More the Merrier – Cyril Derreumaux, Red Pedrick, Lois Behn, and Dave Loustalot, California and France [52:04:18]. $1914
  2. Team # 85 Louisiana Lionheart – Joshua Clark, Johnny Lionheart, Greg Dumka, and Laura Carter, Dawson City, YT, Canada, [69:23:16].

Voyageur Canoes (6 or more persons) Class

Women’s Voyageur:

  1. Team # 47 Stix Together – Whitehorse, YT, Canada [51:34:15]. $2552
  2. Team # 50 Paddlers Abreast – Whitehorse, YT, Canada [61:12:28].
  3. Team # 45 Horny Women of the Yukon – Whitehorse, YT Canada [64:07:59].

Mixed Voyageur (1/3 of team must be women):

  1. Team # 102 Voyageur VIII Mission, MN, OH, NY, MA, USA [47:20:49]. $2552
  2. Team # 23 Ts’alvit – Whitehorse, YT, Canada [51:15:59]. $1131
  3. Team # 14 Yukon Slayers – Nanaimo and Burnaby, BC, Canada [65:01:51].

Open Voyageur (all or mostly men):

  1. Team # 1 Yukon Wide Adventures – Whitehorse, YT, Inuvik, NWT and Saltspring Island, BC, Canada [44:21:53]. Repeat overall champions. $2552
  2. Team # 78 Paddlesports Mongrels – United Kingdom [44:44:31], second overall. $1131
  3. Team # 38 Dyea Devils Club – Skagway and Dyea, AK, USA [51:50:46]. $551. 

Overall Voyageur Canoe

  1. Team # 1 Yukon Wide Adventures – Whitehorse, YT, Inuvik, NWT and Saltspring Island, BC, Canada [44:21:53]. Repeat overall champions. $2552
  2. Team # 78 Paddlesports Mongrels – United Kingdom [44:44:31], second overall. $1131
  3. Team # 102 Voyageur VIII Mission, MN, OH, NY, MA, USA [47:20:49]. $551

Special Awards [Cash if under 55 hours]

Top All Yukon Canoe: Team # 37 Team Alpha Super Awesome Cool Dynamite Wolf Squadron – Robert Spinks and Jake Paleczny, Whitehorse, YT, Canada. $580.

Top All Yukon Kayak: Team #48 Currently a Solo Birch – Carmen Gustafson, Whitehorse, YT, Canada [64:07:50]

Top First Nation Team: Team # 81 River Misfit, Ian Jobin, Whitehorse, YT [62:26:14].

Special Awards [Sponsors]

Youngest Paddler: Liam Palmer, 15, of Glennallen, AK, USA, in C2 Team #94 Palmer’s Progress [Gold paddle pendant from Fortymile Gold in Dawson City]

Top Yukon Men & Women: C2 Team # 37 Team Alpha Super Awesome Cool Dynamite Wolf Squadron and VC Team # 47 Stix Together [Yukon Brewing beer packs]

Fastest Senior Team (55+): C2 Team #15 The Bickersons (9th overall) [Alaska/Yukon history book from Skagway Book Company]

Spirit of the Yukon: Volunteer and Support Crew member Tony Thole of Minnesota, who, in an epic Indiana Jones-style rescue, saved our photography/safety boat that had broken free from its mooring at the Coal Mine Campground checkpoint in Carmacks after a floating tree knocked out the stump it was tied to. Tony quickly commandeered a nearby recreation canoe and paddled to the power boat, jumped in the boat, got it started, and grounded it on a sandbar upriver of the bridge. It had run out of gas by then, and he then managed to switch fuel tanks and get it going back upriver to the checkpoint.  [Decorative paddle from Klondike Visitors Association]

Red Stove: K1 Team # 111 Jon Bowen of Revelstoke, BC, Canada [70:44:36] for winning the race to not be the last to finish. He finished half a minute before the last racer to cross the finish, K1 Team #115 Smooth Granite, Michael Love of San Diego, CA. [Half of a Yukon stove donated by Haywire Industries, Griffith’s Mobile Maintenance and Harry Kern Photography]. The award honours the Pierre Berton story about two prospectors whose partnership fell apart upon arriving in the Klondike, to the point that they split everything in half, including their Yukon stove. Harry also presented the long-awaited 1999 Red Stove award to the first team to finish last, Jeff and Dorothy Brady, who still hold the record for the slowest time in the event at 103:50.

Top Overall Team: Team #1 Yukon Wide Adventures, Thomas de Jager (capt.), Gus Oliveira, Stephen Mooney, Spencer Edelman, Kendall McDonald, and Brandon Johnston [free entry for captain and same team members in 2019 YRQ and name on permanent trophy] first to finish at 18:21:53 on Friday, June 29. [YRMPA]

Race Notes

  • A record 103 teams started the race and 76 teams finished. Twenty-seven teams (26.2%) scratched. Most of those were in Carmacks. Link to the 2018 Race Tracker at http://www.yukonriverquest.com for complete results.
  • Yukon Wide Adventures, a men’s voyageur team with paddlers from the Yukon, NWT and BC, repeated as overall champion (with a few new paddlers switched in) in a time of 44 hours, 21 minutes, 53 seconds, beating the VC team Paddlesports Mongrels from the United Kingdom by about 23 minutes.
  • A new record was set in Mixed Tandem Kayak by Team 28 The Kiwis, paddled by Ian Huntsman and Wendy Riach of Christchurch, New Zealand. They finished third overall and their time of 44:57:56 beat the 2005 K2 mixed record of 45:22:09 by Brandon and Heather Nelson of Bellingham, Washington, USA.
  • Teams were beset with several challenges this year: another low river year, especially in the first 350 kilometres; head winds on the first half of Lake Laberge; and thunderstorms with lightning in spots from Coffee Creek to Dawson City, including powerful head winds that forced the leaders to shore at one point. As a result, most winning times in various classes were slower this year.
  • The YRQ dominated the Canada Day parade with more than 300 paddlers, support crew members and volunteers marching behind a 20th Anniversary banner that thanked the community of Dawson City. This was the culmination of a week of events organized by our 20th Anniversary Committee that began with a grand Meet & Greet at the SS Klondike in Whitehorse, moved on to a Volunteer Party at Carmacks before racers arrived, and concluded with a huge Race Gallery Tent and the parade in Dawson. Thanks to Yukon Government Community Development Fund for helping us make this celebration happen!
  • At this year’s Awards Banquet, the YRQ introduced the GREAT RIVER CLUB of 5,000 and 10,000 kilometre paddlers. See updated list on the website led by Larry Seethaler of Anchorage, Alaska and Ingrid Wilcox of Whitehorse, Yukon.

2019 Race Dates: The 21st annual Yukon River Quest will be held on June 26 to June 30, 2019. Registration opens Nov. 1, 2018. Remember to register early. Rules and more information will be posted in October.

Share your YRQ stories! The Yukon River Quest is still collecting stories for possible inclusion in a 20th anniversary book. E-mailing them to info@yukonriverquest.com. All stories will be posted on the website as well.

Media Questions: email Jeff Brady, YRQ Media, wjbradyak@me.com