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Registration opens for 2007 Yukon River Quest

Registrations are now being accepted for the ninth annual Yukon River Quest.It’s the longest annual canoe and kayak race in the world, and…

Registrations are now being accepted for the ninth annual Yukon River Quest.

It’s the longest annual canoe and kayak race in the world, and will be held June 27 to July 1, 2007.

The 740-kilometre wilderness adventure-paddling marathon follows the Yukon River from Whitehorse to Dawson.

Entry forms and other information can be found on the race website, www.yukonriverquest.com.

Deadline for entries is May 26, 2007, but teams are encouraged to register early due to the growing popularity of the event.

“Yukoners and Alaskans are encouraged to register early to ensure a spot in next summer’s event,” said Jeff Brady, president of the Yukon River Marathon Paddlers Association.

“We filled up by the end of February for the 2006 race, and I expect we could fill by the first of the year for the 2007 event.”

There is a new limit of 85 canoe and kayak teams, plus voyageur teams.

This increase from last year’s limit of 70 teams allows for two new classes: an open standard canoe racing class, and an experimental solo canoe class.

All boats must meet the specifications defined in the River Quest rules on the website. There is also a limit of 25 solo kayak and five solo canoe teams.

Entry fees remain C$700 for tandem canoes and kayaks, $400 for solo canoes and kayaks, and $200 per person for voyageur canoe teams of six or more paddlers.

In addition, each team must post a refundable $200 rescue deposit in the event that they, along with their gear, have to be evacuated by safety boat.

With the additional classes, the total 2007 race purse has been increased to C$26,500 from $20,250 in 2006.

“There has been interest over the past few years in adding a faster canoe category for the serious racers out there, so we have taken that step,” said Brady. “However, this should not reduce entries in our stock canoe category which has been very popular over the years.

“The experimental solo canoe category will feature a special class of canoes with rudders that should be able to keep up with the rest of the field.”

Additional safety measures have been put in place as well, Brady added.

“We have ramped up our mandatory gear list,” he said. “With the wet, chilly weather last year, we found that quite a few teams did not have additional changes of clothing, so we’ve moved that from a suggested item to a mandatory item.

“Teams also must carry a backpack-type stove and pot for heating water. We hope this will cut down on the number of teams that scratch early, like we had last year. If they can stop and warm up, and then carry on, then everyone’s happy — they are able to finish and we have fewer teams to rescue.

“Still, we’ll have the usual complement of safety boats out there to help those who need it.”

Volunteers are the cornerstone of the event, Brady added, but more are needed to help as the race grows.

“We have great safety boats and great checkpoint crews, but we will need more bodies to help make the event run smoothly,” he said.

If anyone is interested in helping with the event, please contact the race organization at info@yukonriverquest.com or call (867)-33F-LOAT.

The Yukon River Quest is one of the premier events, both in the North and in the paddling world.

It has been featured on the BBC, CBC and in numerous paddling and adventure magazines.

Last year, the National Film Board followed the Yukon Paddlers Abreast team, which will be featured in an upcoming film called River of Life.

After a LeMans-style start in downtown Whitehorse, teams paddle round-the-clock under the midnight sun, stopping for just two mandatory rests at Carmacks (seven hours) and Kirkman Creek (three hours).

It is a grueling wilderness adventure race that tests the stamina of both professional and recreational paddlers from around the globe.

The prize, for many, is just finishing the event in world-famous Dawson City, site of the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897-1898.

In 2006, the race limit was met and 74 teams started the event, while 57 finished.

It was the second straight high-water year, and six category records were broken, including the new course record of 40:37:05 set by the tandem kayak team of David Kelly and Brandon Nelson.

For more information about results, how to enter, and preparation for the event, visit the race website.

Whitehorse Recreational Hockey League

Sports North 7

Alkan Air 2

Stan Connolly led the Sports North squad to a solid victory over Alkan, scoring three goals. Linus Fraser, Terry and Dustin Slonski and Mitch Malchow added goals as well.

Alkan’s scorers were Al Hansen and Alfred Feldman.

Kluane Drillers 2

Narrow Gauge Contracting 2

Tyler Murray and Edwin Vanderkley scored for the Drillers, and James Maltby and Alex Vatour kept things even for Narrow Gauge.

Oldtimers league

Indoor soccer

Under-15 (Tuesday)

 Klondike Copier 7

The Electrical Shop 1

Goal scorers for Klondike were Stephen Dynes, with four, and Ally Fraser, Courtney MacPhail, and Kaiden Mcintyre added singles.

Bronwyn Bearistow scored for The Electrical Shop. The players of the game were Kathleen Hare for Klondike Copier and Nick Gillen for the shop.

Under-15 (Tuesday)

EBA 7

Audette Construction 5

Robin Smith and Travis Olynk both scored three goals for EBA, and Kellie Brown added a single. MVP was Ryan Lane.

Tony Nguyen scored three for Audette, and Alex Lindsay added a pair. Kyla Skookum was named MVP.

Under-13 (Monday)

Alpine Bakery 10

Coldwell Banker 4

Kim Brown and Rob Borud both scored hat tricks for Alpine Bakery, and Avery Enzenauer and Jesse Cebuliak added two each. Brittany Banks was named top player for the bakery.

Coldwell’s Ella Parker and Lindsey Webster scored and Kurtis Hills added two. Robyn Uiterwaal took MVP honours.

 

Mackay LLP     9

Bumper to Bumper    8

No scorers info at press time.

Under-nine (Wednesday)

Brouwer Claims Canada 11

Northern Denture Clinic 2

Chris Torgerson led Brouwer Claims with five goals, while Jordan Fred added two. Amy Kemshead, Jarvis Scheffen, Brett Nichol and Austin Bourque added singles. Abby Howse was named top player.

Denture Clinic scorers were Amy Parker and Alex Soin. Caleb Charlie was named player of the game.

Mobile Maintenance Services 3

Elks 3

Mobile Maintenance Services’ goals were scored by Alex Hansen, Jacob Fitzsimmons and Graydon McDonnell. The MVP was Malcolm Moir.

Elks’ goals were scored by Emily Ross, Ross McBee and Dakota Thompson. Alexander Bouvier took MVP honours.

Coates Services 6

Better Bodies 0

Scoring for Coates Service were Kole Smeeton, Hannah Milner, Riley Smoler and Brayden Klassen, with the MVP nod going to Kelcy Armstrong. 

The MVP for Better Bodies was Tia Oster.

Under-11 (Monday)

Intersport 11

Mic Mac Toyota 2

Intersport’s full team faced a reduced Mic Mac squad, which caused a lopsided score in this match. Intersport scoring came from Andrew Scoffin, with three, MVP Mike Amirault, Meghan Lanigan and Nolan Mountain with two each, and Jorey Bauer and Roan Evans-Ehricht with singles.

Mic Mac’s Youjie Blackburn netted two goals and Nicola Lazeo-Fairman was Mic Mac’s MVP for her very strong play.

Budget Rent-a-Car 9

Alkan Air 2

Lots of scoring in this matchup, with Budget doing most of it. Matthew Smith, Justin Ens and Stacey Macklon scored two each. Owen Hedstrom-Langford, Elijah Ens and Nicholas Dobush scored as well. Trey Charlie was named Budget’s player of the game.

Dylan Reed scored both Alkan goals, and Noah Kitchen took MVP.

Remax 7

Rafter A Ranch 3

All the scoring from the Rafter squad came from Ryley Andrew, who had a great game as left forward.  MVP was Kirsten Smith who stopped many of Remax’s scoring drives.

  Scoring for Remax were Michael Bennett with three goals, Brendyn Gendron with two, and Graham Mainer-Pearson with one.  The other goal was put in by Own Goal, who scores for all the teams from time to time. MVP for Remax was Julianna Campbell, who set up many of the Remax goals with her excellent passing.

Sale Salvage 8

Whitehorse Star 4

Scorers for Sale Salvage was Peter Joe Jensen with three, Logan Frasher and Aidan Uiterwaal had doubles and Trygg Jensen added one. Jonathan Koltun contributed a pair for the Star, and Tristan Walsh and Dharia Jordan netted singles.

MVP for Sale was Emily Dorosz and Martin for the Whitehorse Star.

Territorial Auto Parts 5

Assante Financial 3

Dominic Korn led the Auto Parts with three goals, while Travis Banks scored two. Christina Anderson was the MVP.

For Assante, Mike Wintemute scored two and Ryan Chippett added one. Carolyne Miller was the MVP.

Over-35 Whitehorse Rapids league

Pepsi 4

Klondike Copier 4

Renzo Ordonez and Bill Whitty scored two each for Pepsi. Geoff Woodhouse scored twice for Klondike, and Mehrdad Tirgar and Gord deBruyn each scored once. 

Assante 5

Quest 3

Augusto Nunez, Simon Pulido, Darren Stadel and Terry Markley each scored once for Assante. Dan Poelman and David Black scored each scored one for Quest.

The Grizzlies 5

Yukon Brewing 4

No scorers info available.