Only two of the five teams entered in the Yukon Adventure Challenge earlier this month managed to finish, but it should be a different story in the next one.
Organizers of the Adventure Challenge have decided to put on another, shorter adventure race this summer called the August Rush.
The inaugural event will be an eight- to 12-hour race, starting at 6 a.m. and capped at 6 p.m. on August 28, and will have a two-person teams format.
“There was so much interest in doing a short adventure race from the people involved in the last one, so I thought I’d put one on and see if I can draw some interest for adventure racing in the Yukon,” said organizer Mike Tribes. “It’s a lot less onerous to get two people together for a 12-hour race than try to do a 36-hour race.
“I did the trekking section yesterday and it’s quite beautiful and I’m quite happy with it.”
Tribes did not wish to provide too many details of the course, which will be revealed to participants shortly before the start of the race, but did say the race will keep teams in the Whitehorse area, “But you’ll still be out in the wilderness - there’s nothing urban about it.”
Like the Adventure Challenge - and other adventure races - the August Rush will require trekking, mountain biking and canoeing from participants.
“I’m hoping I can get parent-child, two-person teams - there’s a few father-son teams and a father-daughter team that are going to enter,” said Tribes. “I’d like to appeal to some (local students in) the experiential sciences - the ones who went through the outdoor program at school.”
At certain stages of the race participants may be required to perform tasks - as simple as taking a photo as proof of their presence in a location or as difficult as a Sudoku puzzle - that will remain secret until arriving at the checkpoint.
“It’s roughly equally divided between trekking, biking and canoeing, and there’ll be some mystery events as well,” said Tribes. “I was talking to the guys in Alaska and they have some pretty wacky events they have them do - they might have them do a Frisbee golf hole at one of the check-points, or do a Sudoku puzzle or write a haiku, or something like that.
“If you’re running through the woods for six hours and you come out and have to do a Sudoku puzzle, it might be quite hard to focus.”
If interested in registering or learning more, visit www.yukonadventurechallenge.ca or by calling Mike Tribes at 334-9009.
Contact Tom Patrick at tomp@yukon-news.com