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robert
In NEWS ENGLISH

Looking forward to Teslin, Ross River and Faro

Copyright: MarkKellyPhotography.ca

The last few months have been busy with analyzing some options for our 2025 Montane Yukon Arctic Ultra. One of the challenges has been to verify if we can find some “extra” trails that would lead us to Teslin. After collecting a lot of feedback and expertise from locals, we decided to play it safe. Some of the interesting trails involve rivers and lakes. Without having tested these routes ourselves, we feel it is not fair towards our athletes to announce something that we can only test a couple of weeks before the race – with there being a good chance that it would be deemed unsafe.

So, we will stick to the initial plan of starting the MYAU 2025 on February 2nd in Teslin. We are still looking into ways to make a marathon distance possible. Hopefully, we can have a final verdict on that soon. What we do know is that our 340 km distance athletes will head to Johnson’s Crossing, go on the South Canol Road to Ross River and from there head on the Dena Cho trail to Faro. Our athletes in the 640 km race will do the same but when they get to Ross River they will add an out-and-back on the North Canol Road.

One of the results of us having our race in this beautiful part of the Yukon is that it will be more remote. The distance to the nearest highway in some areas is significant. We also have more remote checkpoints than ever before. The area will feel more alpine and there is usually more snow. Crews need to travel longer distances on snowmobile and athlete transports – if they quit in a remote location – will take longer. However, it’s exciting country and we are all looking forward to seeing it and working with the communities of Teslin, Ross River and Faro.

The Race Info page has now been update to reflect the above. Also, there was an update to the Rules – mainly regarding drop bags and meals at the remote checkpoints on the North Canol Road.

Anyone intersted in signing up, please not that the entry fees will go up after the end of July!

robert
In NEWS ENGLISH

Pelly Farm: Oasis of humanity

Copyright: MarkKellyPhotography.ca

Our sponsor Pertex just released a great story about Pelly Farm!

From the first year, Sue and Dale Bradley, who own Pelly Farm, have supported the Montane Yukon Arctic Ultra. It is such a special place in many ways! So, it’s really nice to see this story.

If you check it out, you will also see many photos by our super talented race photographer Mark Kelly that had not previously been shown. A click on the below photo will take you rigth to the story on the Pertex website.

Enjoy!

Copyright: MarkKellyPhotography.ca

robert
In NEWS ENGLISH

Sternwheeler Hotel – confirmed for 2025

The Sternwheeler Hotel, our home away from home, will be the official Montane Yukon Arctic Ultra hotel again in 2025. The details on the room rates for athletes and how to book were updated in our travel section.

For those of you who don’t know, the days before the race we use the Sternwheeler Hotel as our base. It is downtown and all shops athletes may need are within walking distance. It is very convenient for our participants to just have to come downstairs for anything race related – be it picking up rental gear, handing in paperwork, attending the briefing and dinner and to give us drop bags. Last but not least, the hotel management is very patient with us and does not mind having the lobby occupied by seemingly countless pulk sleds … In short, it’s the perfect place to be before the race and we are all looking forward to our next visit.

robert
In NEWS ENGLISH

Details for MYAU 2025 training course

Copyright: MarkKellyPhotography.ca

The details for the MYAU 2025 training course have now been confirmed by course organiser Jessie Gladish. As always, the course takes place just before the race. That way, any athletes who have to or want to participate in the course, can do the MYAU right afterwards – all in one trip. The training course is also open to anyone wanting to do the MYAU another year or for people who want to do other races or no race at all. You will find all information on the training course page.

Impressions from the MYAU 2024 training course:

Copyright: MarkKellyPhotography.ca

robert
In NEWS ENGLISH

MYAU 2025 starts February 2nd

Copyright: MarkKellyPhotography.ca

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.

robert
In NEWS ENGLISH

Alan Purdue reaches Pelly Crossing finish line

Copyright: MarkKellyPhotography.ca

As our fourth and last finisher, Alan Purdue, from Scotland reached the Pelly Crossing 300 mile finish line at 17:06 today. After a shower and two dinners he is now getting some rest.

Most of our volunteer crew are still in Pelly Crossing and tomorrow we will all go for a visit to Pelly Farm to celebrate 20 years of our race and to enjoy the great company of Sue and Dale at their farm.

In the meantime, the results table will be updated and we will post more photos in our gallery. If you want some impression right away, please check out our social media channels.

I will also write my final race report and, of course, as soon as possible announce the details for next year.

robert
In NEWS ENGLISH

Jovica Spajic from Serbia wins 300 mile race

Copyright: MarkKellyPhotography.ca

Jovica Spajic from Serbia wins the Montane Yukon Arctic Ultra 2024 300 mile race from Whitehorse to Pelly Crossing. Avoiding the dangerous trail just before McCabe meant shortening the distance by 38 miles. So, we can’t compare Jovica’s time to previous winners. However, it’s fair to say that Jovica would have been a strong contender to set a new record time. His speed was very impressive and he clearly learned some lessons from his previous two attempts during which he could not reach the finish line.

After a good night’s sleep and a much deserved shower, Jovica got a ride back to Whitehorse where has a few days left to relax before he flies home.

Copyright: MarkKellyPhotography.ca

The next 300 mile athletes to finish were Daniel Benhammou and John Nakel. Both US and both MYAU veterans. They finished together but due to the fact that Daniel had arrived in Carmacks before John, in the official ranking, Daniel ranks 2nd and John 3rd. Although I am pretty sure they do not care. They are not so much here for the “ranking” and more for the adventure and to enjoy Yukon’s nature and the atmosphere created by the crew – both out on the trails and at the checkpoints. Like Jovica, they got a ride back to Whitehorse and I am almost certain we will see them again.

Alan Purdue is now the last athletes we are waiting for. He arrived at Pelly Farm this evening. Now he has to make his way back to Whitehorse and we hope to welcome him in tomorrow night. We are all very impressed with him. Alan is always in a good mood and super relaxed.

Alan Purdue is now the last athletes we are waiting for. He arrived at Pelly Farm this evening. Now he has to make his way back to Whitehorse and we hope to welcome him in tomorrow night. We are all very impressed with him. Alan is always in a good mood and super relaxed.

Copyright: Callum Jolliffe

robert
In NEWS ENGLISH

MYAU 2024 – Days 1 to 4

Copyright: MarkKellyPhotography.ca

It has been an extremely busy few days. Normally, I get to do one or two updates on our website before we get to Carmacks. This time, I did not have this opportunity. To all of you who are on social media, please check out facebook group or instagram page, as I have the support of Callum Jolliffe who posts short updates, great reels and photos there.

Day 1 was as we expected it. Shipyards Park was extremely icy and there was a lot of ice without snow cover on the Yukon River, too. It meant that our fatbikers were able to fly, since they had studded tires. For those running and hiking it was a fast race, too. Just our skiers had to suffer.

All marathon runners who started also did reach the finish line at Muktuk Adventures. I hope to update the results table tonight for you all to be able to see the times and rankings.

It was a cold first night. As a consequence, some athletes did run into problems with frostbite. Not to a degree where they will lose toes or fingers but bad enough to have to withdraw. As a matter of fact, even “mild” frostbite for our athletes means that they have to stop.
That night more athletes had to scratch for other reasons.

For a long time, both our fatbikers were close together. However, Scott Herron decided not to rest long at our remote Dog Grave Lake checkpoint, while Ric Horobin stopped for a good night’s sleep. Hence, 100 miler Scott came first and Ric second. The third athlete to reach Braeburn Lodge was Elise Zender from Germany. She had already finished our 300 mile race in 2023, along with Josh Tebeau who also finished the 100 miles not long after her. This year both of them came “just” to train, to then return for our 430 mile race to Dawson City in 2025! In total 11 athletes finished the 100 mile race and 4 had to scratch.

Just before or after Braeburn, more athletes had to call it a day – for various reasons, like issues with the knees, ankles, heart, hip or stomach. We received a total of 3 SOS messages in a relatively short period of time. All of them we were able to attend quickly. In two cases things turned out to be not as severe as expected. However, for one of the athlete, Alex de Sain from the Netherland, it was important to get him to a hospital quickly. Alex got surgery and is now recovering from it. The entire MYAU team wishes him a quick and full recovery!

By noon today a total of twelve 300 milers have had to quit.

From the beginning our race to Pelly Crossing has been dominated by Jovica Spajic from Serbia. It’s his third attempt at the MYAU and under normal circumstances, this time he will finish and win. As I write this he is 19 miles from Pelly Crossing and our team is waiting for him.

All our 300 miler are affected by an issue with trail safety just before McCabe. Here the Yukon River has not frozen as it normally does and there is a lot of open water. Initially we were going to use an improvised trail but after checking and re-checking we decided it is not 100% safe. Therefore, Jovica and this morning Daniel Benhammou and John Nakel, all MYAU veterans, were brought from Carmacks to McCabe by car. They continued from the other side of the river and are on their way to Pelly now.

Alan Purdue from Wales is close to Carmacks now and crew just came back from checking on him. He is fine and says that “he’s loving it”.
Further south, Todd Robertson reached Mandanna Lake checkpoint. There he decided to withdraw because he saw no chance to reach Carmacks within the 4 day and 12 hours deadline. Last on the trail was Alla Bova from the USA. Our snowmobile crew is going out to pick her up as Mandanna checkpoint is closing, and, like Todd, she has no way of arriving in Carmacks in time.

robert
In NEWS ENGLISH

The countdown is on!

The last few days have been “interesting”. After a much needed first cold spell the temperatures in Whitehorse warmed right up again. Instead of snow, we have been faced with rain, a lot of rain … Consequently, significant sections with overflow have formed on the Yukon and Takhini River. Now, with temperatures getting colder again, there is a lot of ice, also in Shipyard’s Park, which is were we normally start the race. Earlier today, the Yukon Quest decided to move away from Shipyard’s Park for their start. In a statement that was released, it says:

“The [Yukon Quest] Race Officials unanimously agreed that the icy conditions would put mushers and teams, volunteers, officials, and the public in danger if we continued to hold the start there. The transitions to the river were deemed unsafe as well, which added to the decision … “

That decision is totally understandable as dog teams right after taking off, have enormous power and speed. Ice would make this a very dangerous undertaking. For the Montane Yukon Arctic Ultra things are different. Our athletes can move over solid ice in a safe way by putting traction products on their shoes – like Kahtoola MICROspikes or EXOspikes. Skiers may have to take off their skis and have traction for their boots. Bikers either have tires with spikes or need they need to push and use traction for their footwear, too.

Obviously, any visitors who want to see us start February 4th, 10:30am at Shipyard’s Park face the same problem. We really look forward to have people join us for the start of the 20th edition of our race but if you do join us, use traction on your footwear! Otherwise you risk falling and seriously injuring yourself!

For all those of you who can’t be with us but want to follow us, we will frequently update our Facebook group, Instagram page and website. There will be a results table that will show “in and out” times of checkpoints and an embedded tracking map (link not active, yet) that shows our athlete’s progress almost in real time.