Just under 24 hours after the start of the 2025 Montane Yukon Arctic Ultra, most of the racers have reached the northern end of Teslin Lake and struck north on the Canol Road.
The race started on the shores of the frozen Teslin Lake at around 3 p.m. on Feb. 2.
Way in front and approaching the southern end of Quiet Lake is one of the cyclists, Harm Feringa. Live tracking posted to the race’s website shows another cyclist, Joaquin Candel, roughly 24 kilometres behind Feringa, with Yukon cyclist Jessie Gladish not far behind. Guillaume Grima travelling on foot is up in the pack of cyclists and Matt Weighman from England isn’t far behind it. Italian racer Laura Trentani is ahead of the next pack of racers
In an update published around 10:30 a.m., race director Robert Pollhammer noted that four racers, Dave Colley, Gareth Jones, Elise Zender and Russ Reinbolt, had withdrawn due to frostbite and been taken to hospital to get checked out and start treatment. He states that none of the frostbite cases are severe. The update states there are some more non-frostbite related withdrawals from the race who are resting at the Brooks Brook checkpoint but didn’t provide their names.
Pollhammer’s update retells a tale of serious grit taking place at the back of the pack of racers as cyclist Peter Felten has a flat tire on his bike and had been pushing it for “a long time” as of the 10:30 a.m. updated but remained determine to reach Brooks Brook to make repairs.
“Peter is a ‘beast.’ Of course he was suffering but he explained that he once pushed his bike for 400 km. So, looking at it that way, ‘it's not so bad’ he said,” Pollhammer writes.
Contact Jim Elliot at jim.elliot@yukon-news.com