The 2007 Yukon Quest purse has been set at $150,000 US, an increase of $25,000, or 20 per cent from the past several years.
“We are very pleased to be making this announcement,” stated Yukon Quest International Council chair Phil Streeter, in a release on Friday.
“Our mushers and race fans have been waiting for this news for some time, and we hope they will share our excitement about this increase.”
The Yukon Quest’s purse has been pegged at $125,000 since 1997.
“Everyone within the organization knew that we needed to move ahead on the issue of prize money,” continued Streeter, “we are confident that, by making this commitment early in the pre-race planning season, we will be able to engage our sponsors and the community partners along the entire 1,000-mile trail more effectively over the coming months and secure the new purse amount.”
The 2007 Yukon Quest Champion will take home $38,000. Second gets $30,000 and third $22,000.
The rest will be distributed between the top 15 finishing positions.
“By focusing on the top five finishers we hope to encourage more competitive kennels to enter the 2007 Yukon Quest,” said Streeter.
The Canadian Yukon Quest Board’s AGM is set for later this month on May 25th in Whitehorse.
Soccer
Under-16 (Thursday)
Audette Construction 6
Quarton & Sutherland 3
The “Quest and Stealth” team led at the half with a strong wind at its back, but Audette Construction came from behind to overtake Q&S.
Cory Birckel scored four goals and Sean Charbonneau added another pair for Audette.
Rhiannon Jones, Kayla Wilks and Michael Abbott each found the net for Quarton & Sutherland. MVPs were Audette’s Andrew Walchuk and Q&S’s Alden Smith.
Kopper King 10
Dave’s Cleaning 1
Sam Kumar was on a tear for Kopper King, racking up eight goals. Cody Fraser and Dylan (no last name) also scored for the KK.
Markus Liebeau got the lone marker for Dave’s Cleaning. MVPs were Raissa Anderson for Kopper King and David Ratcliff for Dave’s.
Medicine Chest 6
Pepsi 2
Medicine Chest kept its pressure up until the end, scoring three goals in the last five minutes. Aaron Holway had a hat trick for Medicine Chest, while Dillon Vickerman, Jordan Holway and Joaquin McWatters each had one.
Dayna Thompson and Cody Reynolds replied for Pepsi.
Alex Bouchard was named Medicine Chest’s top player and Dimitri Pulido was Pepsi’s MVP.
Colad Lasers Esthetics 5
Pine Plumbing 5
In this well-matched game, Sarah Allison, Will Stevely, Wheaton Symington, Erin Eady and Zach Young all found the net for Pine Plumbing. Pine’s MVP was Alex Lindsay.
Colad Lasers’ scorers included MVP Kyle Levia with three, Madison Pearson and Lee Hawkings.
Under-13 (Wednesday)
Irving Collision 3
Intersport 2
Kyle Bowers, Robin Smith and Jeena Blanchette scored for Irving, and Ian Wintemute was named player of the game.
Intersport’s goals came from MVP Christine Brewster and Theoren Richards.
Versatile Rentals 4
Whitehorse Motors 2
Adrian Hawkings led Versatile with a pair, and Tayo and Ale Ademak added singles to round out the scoring. Taylor Barr was Versatile’s MVP.
Madeline Berezowski and Helen Hedstrom-Langford scored for Whitehorse Motors, and Jack Lanigan was named top player.
Under-10 (Wednesday)
M & A Yukon 4
Arctic Respiratory 2
Mike Bennett scored the hat trick for M&A, with Ty Nordahl adding a single taking MVP honours.
Arctic’s scorers were Wyatt Gale and Dylan Reed, with Eryn Thornton being named MVP.
Clearview Autoglass 9
Boston Pizza 0
Lindsay Edy led Clearview to a lopsided victory with four goals, while Josh Harlow had the hat trick and Adam Waddington scored a pair.
April Schultz was Clearview’s top player, while Boston Pizza’s Lane Davignon took MVP honours for his team.
Under-nine (Thursday)
Coates Services Yukon Ltd. 4
Prime Meridian Physiotherapy 3
Scoring for Coates in this close match were Alex Tuberfield, Brett Nichols, Chris Torgerson and Kyle Jacobs. Odessa Beatty took MVP honours for Coates.
Prime Meridian’s Brendan Irish scored a pair and River Trangeau added one.
MVP for Prime was Mac Prawdzik.
Tim Hortons 4
Fitzsimmons Driving School 3
Samantha Wintemute had the hat trick for Tim Hortons, and Tia Dickson added a single.
Scorers for Fitzsimmons were Benjamin Grundmanis, Jacob Fitzsimmons, Joshua Larouche.
Gartner Lee 2
Surgical Precision 2
Anna Janowicz and Alexander Hanson scored for Gartner Lee, and Amy Kemshead was named MVP.
Gavon Aimoe and Alex Hansen kept the score even for Surgical Precision. Steven Etienne was the MVP.
Physio Plus 3
Norcope 2
Zachary Heynen scored all three goals for Physio Plus, as it edged past Norcope.
Marcus Deuling and Max Clarke scored the Norcope goals, and Deuling took MVP honours.
Under-seven (Thursday)
This week’s top kickers were:
High Country Inn, Bradley Balmforth
Underhill Geomatics, Anthony Steele
Dairy Queen, Gabriele Nadon
DHL Express, Daniel Sennett
Kilrich Industries, Hannah Deuling
Murraya Dental, Justin Wishart-MacDougal and Katrina Specht
Orienteering
The first meet of the 2006 season was held at Yukon College in the beautiful, open boreal forest. Fifty-two participants showed up to challenge the four courses. There was a good mix of newcomers and familiar faces for this early in the year.
The novice course was hotly contested by many of the Junior O Squad members and their parents. Austin Turner-Davis made quick work of his very first O meet.
The Intermediate course presented a challenge; it was discovered the first control had been stolen in the brief interval between when it was hung and the meet’s start.
So, if you see an orange and white control in the forest, please return it to the Sport Yukon building!
The top three finishers on this course are all members of the Junior Squad.
The next meet will be on the Chadburn Lake map on May 17th. For more info call Charlie at 633-6231
Top finishers:
Novice 2.2 kilometres
1st Austin Turner-Davis, Tim Turner-Davis, 22:44
2nd Joizen Keyzer, 25:50
3rd Sara Burke-Forsyth, Brian Forsyth, 26:31
Intermediate 3.4 kilometres
1st Michael Abbott, 35:07
2nd Lee Hawkings, 35:23
3rd Dahria Beatty, 37:54
Short Advanced 4.2 kilometres
1st Karen McKenna, 83:45
2nd Nesta Leduc, 108:46
Long Advanced 5.5 kilometres
1st Ross Burnett, 48:25
2nd Afan Jones, 52:37
3rd Juri Peepre, 60:46
Cycling
For the second time this year, the weather was the big story of the race as 27 riders cycled the North Klondike Highway from the Hot Springs Road to Deep Creek and back.
Novices rode 20 kilometres and Sport and Expert divisions rode 57.7 kilometres.
At race time, riders were greeted with four-degree Celsius temperatures and one heck of a tail wind on the out leg. The wind was so strong that the lead riders covered the first 25.75 kilometres in a scant 37 minutes.
After the turnaround, winds were gusting over 50 kilometres an hour and everyone faced the agonizing grind back to the start.
In the Women’s Expert class it seems Heather Enders was barely affected as she completed the course in 1:44:44 seconds to claim first place.
Monica Melnychuk captured first in the Sport Women division.
In the Men’s Sport Division Dale Ristan managed to edge out Darren Holcombe and Bob Bowerman in a very close finish.
Glen Iceton displayed fine tactical skills out sprinting Ian Parker for first place in the Expert Men’s race.
In the Men’s Novice category there was a spirited tie for first place between Torsten Eder and Ed Hopkins.