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.
