As part of preparing for the Montane Yukon Arctic Ultra it makes sense to read books about cold weather races and adventures. There are some books that actually deal with the MYAU itself. In our facebook group I asked what books people found useful in their preparations. The suggestions that were made are now featured in our FAQ section.
As you may already have noticed I have stared to update the website with details for the Montane Yukon Arctic Ultra 2019. The race will start February 3rd in Whitehorse. That is one day after the Yukon Quest dog teams leave the capital of the Yukon to head north.
Next year we will have our 430 mile distance again. It has a time limit of 13 days. So, the total time for the race and its maximum distance is until February 16th. The other distances offered will be marathon, 100 and 300 miles.
Some things on the website still need updating. That will all be done over the next week. Parallel I am working on the Application & Waiver. For those of you who already contacted me, I will send it out once it is ready.
Anybody interested in participating, please email or phone me. As always the entry fees will go up in two steps. Therefore, if you know for sure you want to participate, it makes sense to sign up before the end of May as the cost will go up afterwards and then again after the end of August.
The MYAU marathon participants ran approximately 780 km this year. As promised, per km 1 CAD goes to Little Footprints, Big Steps. I have rounded up the total and just made a donation of CAD 1,000. I am sure Morgan and her team can do many useful things with this money. Thank you to all marathoners for contributing with your great effort on February 1st!
Jethro De Decker arrived at Pelly Farm 03:45 this morning. He is perfectly fine and could have easily gone back to Pelly Crossing. However, we decided to make the farm our finish line. This means Jethro is our one and only finisher for the longest distance.
Ilona had also reached Pelly Crossing later last night. She had impressed us with her incredible skills on xc-skis and I will be honest, I never thought it was possible to move this fast with xc-skis on the trail we have (this is not a xc-ski track!) and in these kind of temperatures. I guess it did help that Ilona is from the Northwest Territories. So, she knew exactly what to expect. However, even to her the frostbite caught up on this last stretch and she had to stop. She herself was very surprised that it was actually her fingertips and not her toes where she was expecting it more to happen.
In the meantime, Roberto Zanda had to be brought to hospital. His frostbite is more severe and he will get treatment for several days. So far I have no further news. I am not sure if I can talk to him today. If it is possible and he want to let everyone know how he is doing I will share it with all of you.
It was a tough year. For the athletes and the crew. Later on today I will write a longer statement/summary. An important part of my summary will be my thoughts on the many cases of frostbite we have had this year. I would like to invite all this year’s participants to share their thoughts with me and everybody else following us here or on facebook. I will likely get a lot of questions in the next few days as to why we do what we do, what we thing about this extreme cold and so on? And I can of course only guess what you, the athletes, think. Some feedback I already got and it was very positive. But I have not spoken to everyone. If you want you can email me or send a private message on facebook.
At 16:05 Jethro de Decker reached our McCabe checkpoint. Temperatures are still around – 40 degrees Celsius. He has got no frostbite and looked good when coming into the CP. He is now resting and was planning on heading out again soon.
The crew checked on Ilona in the afternoon and they said she was really enjoying it. She should be in McCabe soon. Roberto Zanda in the meantime is closing the gap a bit and will be in McCabe in the early morning hours if he continues at his current speed.
Further back Frode and Asbjorn had to stop their race as they could not make the cut-off time. I admire their decision to rest, dry gear and hydrate. It meant they lost valuable time but they do not have a single problem. They made the conscious decision to be slow but safe. Rather than pushing and possibly getting in trouble. That probably was not easy. They got a ride with Bernard and Hector back to Whitehorse.
Ania, Martine and James are waiting for the athletes in McCabe and the rest of the crew will be in Pelly Crossing over night.
Like on all the other days we have seen temperatures down to – 40 degrees Celsius during the day. In all 14 previous races we have not had anything like that. For the athletes it meant still no chance to “relax” but a continuous worry about always doing everything right.
When Jovica reached Ken Lake we received the news shortly after that he can’t continue. As was the case with so many others, frostbite finally got him. He is now back in Whitehorse where he will start treatment and recovery.
In the meantime Jethro de Decker reached Carmacks and Ilona Gyapay is only a short distance away. Roberto Zanda is 17 miles out and should make the Carmacks cut-off (as he is getting time credit for Dog Grave Lake). Frode Lein and Asbjorn Bruun reached Ken Lake. They get a time credit, too. However, they may not get to Carmacks in time.
If you want to see some more new photos, please have a look at our gallery which was just updated.