The Montane Yukon Arctic Ultra 2025 will start February 2nd.
Announcing our start date was the easy part. The rest is a bit more challenging. After 20 editions on pretty much the same trails, there will likely be a significant change next year. Quite a few details still need to be confirmed. One thing that is impacted, is the distances we can offer. At this point, we can say that we will have distances of approximately 340 and 650 km. Yes, you heard right, no more “miles”. We will use this change to switch from “miles” to “km” … something we have been asked to do for quite a few years now.
We should know soon if we can offer a marathon or 50 km distance. At this point it does not look like we will have a “replacement” for our traditional 100 mile and 300 mile distances.
So, we can almost keep our max. distance of 430 miles but there will likely not be a new equivalent of our 100 mile (=160 km) and 300 mile (= 482 km) races. We plan to have our race start in Teslin, come through Ross River, then Faro and make it to Pelly Crossing and Pelly Farm.
The 650 km may still change a bit, i.e. it could be closer to 600 km or also closer to 700 km. We hope to have a better idea by end of April. The reason why we decided to make a first announcement anyway is because we get emails on a daily basis asking about MYAU 2025, from athletes eager to start planning. Now that the start date and approximate distances are out there, those of you wanting to sign up, can start planning. In case you were keen on the 100 or 300 miles, you can now decide if you want to increase your goal. If you are keen on a distance of roughly 100 or 300 miles and do not want to change, please note that we have our Montane Lapland Arctic Ultra with distance that are not far off, i.e. 185 and 500 km.
The MYAU training course, which is mandatory for athletes without prior experience in extreme cold, will be held from January 26th to 29th. The recommended arrival time in the Yukon for those who do not do the training course is January 29th. The cut-off for the 340 km will be 6 days and for the 650 km it will be 12 days.
The checkpoints, as before, will be a mixture of remote locations (wall tent setup and or cabins) and places in communities where sleeping is inside. The new trails will be going through some very wild and remote areas of the Yukon! Parts of the trail will feel more “Alpine” and there will be more positive elevation.
Our Race Info and Application pages will soon be updated to reflect these changes. By the end of this week it will also be possible to sign up. If you are interested, please email us at info[a]thegreatoutdoors.de.
We will keep updating you on details re. distances between checkpoints, checkpoint types, etc. as we get confirmations. Those of you interested in a marathon or 50 km race, please be patient with us. Once we can make an announcement on it, we will do so immediately.
