2023 Yukon River Quest Awards

Jul 11, 2023 | News

Top 3 by class listed here of the teams that finished. Top 10 overall also noted.

* Denotes new record in this class (none this year)

2023 Yukon River Quest Awards

Top 3 by class listed here of the teams that finished. Top 10 overall also noted.

* Denotes new record in this class (none this year)

 

SOLO CLASSES

Top 3 in each class received pendant from Gold Trail Jewellers of Dawson City.

Women’s Solo Canoe C1:

  1. Team # 78 Shut Up and Paddle – Tania Halik, Invermere, BC, Canada [65:20:31].

 

Men’s Solo Canoe C1:

  1. Team #69 Matt@newwestdesign.ca – Matthew Smith, Calgary, AB, Canada [54:13:16].

 

Women’s Solo Kayak K1:

  1. Team #74 Team Lootas – Kelly Watson, Port Townsend, WA, USA [54:09:20].
  2. Team #68 Rough Cut Diamond – Patricia Jones, Delta, BC, Canada [57:00:41].
  3. Team #61 Stroke of Serendipity – Kimberly Dodds, Whitehorse, YT, Canada [59:36:06].

 

Men’s Solo Kayak K1:

  1. Team #85 Vini Vidi Vici – Thomas de Jager, Whitehorse, YT, Canada [51:53:46].
  2. Team #76 The Waterman – Robert Gill, Vancouver, BC, Canada [52:00:05].
  3. Team #73 CaCoCa – Jake VanLue, Granby, MO, USA [57:07:48].

 

Women’s Stand Up Paddleboard (SUP): (none raced in 2023)

Men’s Stand Up Paddleboard (SUP):

  1. Team #80 Yster Sweden- Goran Gustavsson, Halmstad, Halland, Sweden [57:04:04]
  2. Team #64 Airboard – Thomas Schillig, Dietlikon, ZH, Switzerland [57:32:28].
  3. Team #72 RGP – Christoph Weber, Chelsea, QC, Canada [59:20:16].

 

TANDEM CANOE CLASSES (C2)

Mixed C2:

  1. Team #21 Golden Lake Crew – Seb Courville & Jen Courville, Golden Lake, ON, Canada [46:17:12]. 1ST OVERALL.
  2. Team #40 Planned Grit – Mike De Abreu & Sophie Coupal, Arnprior, ON & Cantley, QC, Canada [47:00:05]. 2ND OVERALL.
  3. Team #26 Broderson – Chris Broderson & Emily Broderson, Maple Grove, MN, USA [48:53:04]. 5TH OVERALL.

 

Women’s C2: (none raced in 2023)

Men’s C2:

  1. Team #34 Free Animal – Ragnar Robinson & Scott Fraser, La Ronge, SK, Canada [48:15:12]. 4TH OVERALL.
  2. Team #31 Pangal Norte by Kilrich – John Philip Apostol & Joshua Apostal, Whitehorse, YT, Canada [49:02:33]. 6TH OVERALL.
  3. Team #23 Watch Our Wake – Brian Groves & Shane Ringham, Whitehorse, YT, Canada [49:53:49]. 8TH OVERALL.

 

TANDEM KAYAK CLASSES (K2)

Mixed K2:

  1. Team #29 Spirit of America – Josh Friedman & Julie Kirk, Moyie Springs, ID, USA [51:43:27].
  2. Team #38 Power Couple – Madison Power & Jeremy de Kroon, Victoria, BC, Canada [66:15:00].

Women’s K2: (none raced in 2023)

Men’s K2:

  1. Team #30 Yukiwis Graham Sutherland & Greg Lloyd, Christchurch & Martinborough, New Zealand [51:20:08].
  2. Team #36 The Revenant – Ben Lott & Scott Worthington, Wanaka & Tarras, New Zealand [51:35:26].

 

4-PERSON CANOE CLASSES (C4)

Mixed C4 (2 men, 2 women): (none raced in 2023)

Women’s C4 (all women): (none raced in 2023)

Open C4 (all or predominantly men):

  1. Team #14 Spirit of the Yukon – Francis Soenen, Peter van den Berg, , Danny Veys, Holly Crouch – Roselare, Essen & Marke Belgium and Sherburne, NY, USA [49:09:00]. 7TH OVERALL.
  2. Team #13 Usain Boat – Adam Strand, Michael Johnson, Giovanni Allevato, Douglass Endrizzi – Urbana, IL, Rapid City, SD, Kaneohe, HI & Monona, WI, USA [54:51:01].
  3. Team # 12 Mix Match – Martin Like, Anthony Ellis, Shawn Warren, Jerome Libecki – Powys & Shrewsbury, United Kingdom, Ft. McMurray, AB, Canada, & Springville, USA [56:59:14].

 

VOYAGEUR CANOE CLASSES (6 or more persons – VC)

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

  1. Team #3 3-2-1 Go 2023 – Tina Hoeben, Kathy Jensen, Cindy Lee, Margaret Caudle, Andrew Lane, Cheance Adair – Penticton, BC, Canada, Wallace, MI, Newark, Alameda & San Diego, CA, and Lena, WI, USA [47:36:03]. 3RD OVERALL.
  2. Team #4 Ts’alvit – James Boyde, Pam Boyde, Midori Kirby, Peter Kirby, Marina McCready, Marianne Douglas – Whitehorse, YT, Canada [49:56:02]. 9TH  OVERALL.
  3. Team #1 CAP Warriors – Donna Johns, Bruce Jobin, Wes Kemble, Prezley Jobin, Dominic Johns, Shane Schinkel , Ethan Boucher, Barb Dawson – Carcross, Whitehorse & Haines Junction, YT, and Atlin, BC, Canada [52:51:31].

 

Women’s Voyageur (all women):

  1. Team #2 Stix Together – Cheryl Rivest, Carolyn Relf, Kirsti de Vries, Susan Hamilton, Anna Peacock, Natalie Haltrich, Kathy Burden, Jennifer King – Whitehorse, YT, Canada [49:57:34]. 10TH OVERALL.
  2. Team #7 Team Whoa –Tunde Fulop, Lisa Robertson, Patricia Clune, Noreen Schaefer, Danielle Boisvert, Tracey Hutton – Whitehorse, YT, Toronto, ON, Wynndel & Victoria, BC, Canada [54:03:57].

 

Open Voyageur (all or predominantly men):

  1. Team #5 Good Company – Charlie Bodkin, Sam Horsley, James Samuels, Louis Hugh-Jones, Piers Haskard, Harry Horsley – South Coogee, High Range, Bondi Beach, Mosman, Manly, & High Range, NSW, Australia  [53:57:51].

 

YRQ 300 (half quest to Carmacks)

Women’s VC Half

  1. Team #8.5 Paddlers Abreast – Lynn Rice-Rideout, Asa Berg, Dawn Fralick, Rachel Zral, Stella (Mooney) Martin, Amy Miller, Monique Levesque, Jay Cherian – Whitehorse, YT & Atlin, BC, Canada [26:00:05].

 

SPECIAL AWARDS

Top Overall Team: Team #21 Golden Lake Crew – Sebastien and Jen Courville [free entry for captain and same team members in 2024 YRQ and name on permanent trophy).

Top Solo Awards: Gold/silver pendants from Gold Trail Jewellers] presented to top solo paddlers in each class (noted above).

Top Yukoners:  Team #31 Pangal Norte by Kilrich [Yukon Brewing beer packs]

Spirit of the Yukon Award: Extraordinary volunteer Colin Lathe of Aurora, Ontario. He jumped in at Whitehorse and never let up, working where needed, including going upriver in a safety boat from Dawson to help two teams near the end of the race. [Engraved paddle by Dawson City students from Klondike Visitors Association]

Red Lantern: Team #83 Oggy for winning the race at the end to not finish last.

Great River Club additions: Reaching 10,000 kilometres: Lynn Rice-Rideout. Reaching 5,000 kilometres: Josh Friedman, Julie Kirk, and Francis Soenen. All received special GRC pins.

In addition, Susan O’Halloran (formerly McVeigh) was awarded her 5,000-kms pin for her seven YRQ finishes on Team WHOA in the early 2000s. See complete GRC list at https://www.yukonriverquest.com/great-river-club/

 

RACE NOTES:

– Of the 54 teams that started the race, 44 teams finished the full YRQ in Dawson City, and one finished the YRQ 300 in Carmacks.

– Nine teams scratched: 1 on the lake, 5 in Carmacks, 1 in Minto, and 2 on the river before Dawson. The scratch rate of 16.6% is low compared to the average of closer to one-third. Teams encountered irregular waves from the west on the lake, but most powered through it fine. On the second day, conditions turned very hot on the river with day-time high temperatures around 30C. Teams did their best to stay hydrated all the way to Dawson City.

– The youngest paddler in the event was Prezley Jobin (15) in Cap Warriors, while the oldest was Jim Boyde (80) in Team Ts’alvit.

– The river was considered at a low to normal level for early July, and no course records were broken this year. The 2023 race was moved to early July after last year’s record high water. The 2024 dates will be announced later this summer.

– More than 150 volunteers were involved in this year’s Yukon River Quest and we thank every one of them, along with our many race sponsors. They will be named and thanked in a full-page ad in the Whitehorse Star later in July.