Latest news with #YukonQuest
CBC
13-02-2025
- Climate
- CBC
6 racers reach finish line in this year's Yukon Arctic Ultra, 40 others dropped out
A difficult new trail, along with extreme cold conditions, made for an especially gruelling Yukon Arctic Ultra this year, with only a fraction of the competitors managing to complete the 600-kilometre race. Of the 46 competitors who set out from Teslin, Yukon, on Feb. 2 on foot, skis or bike, six crossed the finish line in Faro while the rest dropped out at various points along the way, sometimes because of frostbite. Harm Feringa of the U.S. was the overall winner, crossing the line on Saturday on a fat bike. Mathieu Blanchard from Montreal was the first to finish on foot, on Monday. Jessie Gladish of the Yukon was the first female finisher, the second on a bike and fourth overall when she reached Faro on Tuesday. The last finisher crossed the line in Faro in the early hours of Wednesday morning. This year's race followed a new route, the same as this year's Yukon Quest sled dog race. Ultra athletes made their way to Faro by way of Ross River. Racers had the choice of either a 350-kilometre distance or a 600-kilometre distance. Only those racing the 600-kilometre distance managed to finish the race. Gladish says this year's route was "very challenging." She has previously raced in the Yukon Arctic Ultra on a bike, on cross-country skis and on foot, but finishing this year felt different. "It feels a little wild to be one of six [finishers]," Galdish said. "It feels like an accomplishment, especially this year." This year's route had continuous elevation gain and loss, very different from the former route along the Yukon River, says Gladish. "We just didn't really get a break from the cold and we didn't get a break from the strenuous climbs and descents. It was very hard," Gladish said. "It can be a little soul-crushing, in a way." Despite the challenges on this year's route, Gladish says it was "beautiful." "The mountain surroundings are amazing," she said. "We had a moon that was growing over the course of the nine days I was out there and sunny, clear days every day." Now, Gladish will only have 10 days of rest before her next ultra-marathon race, the 563-kilometre (350-mile) Iditarod Trail Invitational in Alaska, which she will be completing on cross country skis. 40 athletes forced to drop out Most Yukon Arctic Ultra athletes were forced to end their races early, due to extreme cold and tough course conditions, said race organizer Robert Polhammer. "People have to go through the South Canol Road and the Dena Cho trail, that's more than what we are used to and that was very hard," Polhammer said. "Add to that temperatures of –30, –35 and sometimes –40 every night, that's a difficult mix for people." Ten racers dropped out due to frostbite, others ended their races early due to trench foot, back problems or pure exhaustion, says Polhammer. Trench foot is foot damage that results from prolonged exposure to cold and wet environments. "We were able to catch all the frostbite cases early enough so that everybody will keep their fingers and toes," Polhammer said. Some past competitors have lost digits to frostbite, and in 2018 an Italian competitor lost both his hands and his feet. Three of this year's competitors also had to be medevaced by helicopter, because of the remoteness of the race. "It's less risky to bring them out on a helicopter, because if we bring them out on a snowmobile, their frostbite would re-freeze, so that's not a risk worth taking," Polhammer said. He said the race's insurance covers the cost of helicopter rescues. Polhammer says despite the arduous conditions, he hopes that the event can return to the same route next year.
CBC
08-02-2025
- Health
- CBC
Researchers studying cold weather endurance at Yukon Arctic Ultra vexed by extreme cold weather
Extreme temperatures in this year's race causing many research subjects to drop out A wave of scratches from the Yukon Arctic Ultra this past week might be frustrating for racers and organizers, but it's also turning into a headache for one German researcher. Mathias Steinach is with the Center for Space Medicine and Extreme Environments in Berlin. His work focuses on the physical effects of extreme cold on high-performance athletes. Yukon Arctic Ultra racers travel as much as 600 kilometres by foot, bicycle or on skis. This year, temperatures at the race start in Teslin were around -40 C, and they've stayed in the –30s for most of the race. The event, where 34 of 61 competitors have dropped out thanks largely to frostbite caused by extreme cold, would seem to be the perfect laboratory. But Steinach said 10 of the 14 runners participating in this latest study have dropped out of the race. "Two by three by one by two, they are dropping out," Steinach said. "Unfortunately, there's nothing we can do about it. And so of course this is negatively impacting our research." Participants in the study wear fitness monitors that collect reams of physiological data including heart rate, calories burned, number of steps taken and so on. Athletes started wearing the monitors in Whitehorse even before the race started, to give researchers some baseline data to compare with what's happening to the athletes' bodies during the race. This year's Ultra course is following the Yukon Quest's new route between Teslin and Faro. Much of the route runs along the Canol Road, which features numerous undulating hills. Ultra organizers suspect the exertion needed to crest those hills is contributing to the high dropout rate. "This is a huge impact on the physiology on energy transfer, energy expenditure," Steinach said. "People cannot remotely eat as much as they [exert themselves]. The energy has to come from somewhere. So that's coming from the bodily energy stores. So fat mass, for example. And so I'm interested in how the body adapts to these changes, how huge the impact is." Race organizer Robert Polhammer said participation in the study also offers something to competitors. "It's interesting for the athletes because they do get a lot of data and information about themselves if they want to, which would help them with their performances in the future or maybe finding out how they can improve, what they maybe did wrong." Steinach has been a co-author on numerous papers about athletic performance in extreme cold, including previous iterations of the Yukon Arctic Ultra. He said even if there isn't enough data from this year's race for a proper peer-reviewed paper, researchers could still publish a case study, similar to one the Centre for Space Medicine and Extreme Environments did on another punishing trek: the first woman to walk across Antarctica unsupported.
CBC
06-02-2025
- Sport
- CBC
Veteran Yukon musher wins 2nd Yukon Quest in a row
Michelle Phillips and her dog team crossed the finish line in Teslin, Yukon, at 9 p.m. Wednesday, marking her second Yukon Quest 450 victory in a row. As soon as her sled stopped, the veteran musher walked down her line of dogs — giving each a cuddle. She said she's grateful for them. "It was challenging for sure, but it was good. They did really good," she said. Her husband and business partner, Ed Hopkins, was the first to greet her at the finish line. Together, they own Tagish Lake Kennels just outside Carcross. Veteran musher Michelle Phillips wins Yukon Quest He said he's proud of his wife for her work ethic. "She's trained really hard this year," said Hopkins. Hopkins said Phillips and Ben Simard, another musher, spent six weeks on the Canol Road training for the event. Annie Johnston, a member of the Teslin Tlingit Council, is another one of the winner's cheerleaders. "She's almost like a champion of ours. It makes me proud it's someone from the Yukon." Johnston said she's glad to see the race happening in her backyard. "It's just amazing that it happened here, there's quite a few people here from Teslin." Thinking of a hot meal Phillips held on to the lead for a good chunk of the race, at times leap-frogging with other competitors. Jessie Royer from Seeley Lake, Montana, came in second place and Jesse Terry from Sioux Lookout, Ontario, arrived shortly after midnight, claiming third. The route started and ended in Teslin for the first time this year. Race organizer Sarah Tomlin said she's happy the way everything turned out. "There were some times that I was like, I didn't see how it was going to come together, but the team of volunteers, when everybody starts showing up, it just flows." After three and a half days on the trail and covering more than 659 kilometres, Phillips said all she was thinking about at the end of the race was eating a hot meal. Her next race, the Iditarod, will take place in less than a month and cover twice the distance. It kicks off March 2.
CBC
06-02-2025
- Climate
- CBC
Racers dropping out of gruelling Yukon Arctic Ultra, many with frostbite
Social Sharing It's billed as the "world's coldest and toughest ultra" — and the annual Yukon Montane Arctic Ultra is again living up to its reputation this year. Of the 37 walkers, skiers and bikers who started the 600-kilometre back-country race last weekend, more than half have now dropped out — many of them because of frostbite injuries. On Tuesday, two competitors had to be flown out from a checkpoint by helicopter. "It's a cold year, but we've had colder — so it's not like this is new to us," said race organizer Robert Pollhammer on Tuesday. "The interesting part, I would say, this time was that we had a lot of veterans getting frostbite. So this wasn't newbies who, like, didn't know what they [got] themselves into." Temperatures in the region have been hovering around –30 C this week. Pollhammer says the race rules mean when somebody is suffering any sort of frostbite or frostnip, they're automatically pulled from the race and taken for medical treatment. Speaking on Tuesday, Pollhammer said some of the people with frostbite this year had already been released from hospital and one person was undergoing further treatment. He wasn't sure how serious that case was, but said he didn't believe it was as severe as some cases in past years. Some past competitors have lost digits to frostbite, and in 2018 an Italian competitor lost both his hands and his feet. Pollhammer credits the race's medical team for noticing the signs of frostbite early, during mandatory checks. "Every checkpoint, we do a medical check, which is not easy because people are keen to keep on going — and we make them stop, take their shoes off and take the gloves off," he said. "We do it and it showed that that was helpful." 'Very challenging' route This year's race is following a different route than in years past. The event always follows the same trail used for the Yukon Quest sled dog race, so when that race moved its starting line to Teslin this year, the ultra race did too. That means the ultra racers will finish in Faro, by way of Ross River. As of Wednesday afternoon, Harm Feringa of the U.S. had passed the halfway mark on his fat bike, but most other racers had not yet reached halfway. Speaking at a checkpoint on Tuesday, Feringa was in good spirits but acknowledged it was "really cold." "Very challenging, but very nice. Beautiful," he said. Samantha Perry, the lead medic for the race, agreed that the trail was proving to be "a bit more challenging" than the traditional Yukon Quest route of years past. "I think the elevation has not helped, because people are exhausted," Perry said on Tuesday.
CBC
06-02-2025
- Sport
- CBC
Ultra-athletes compete at -35 C in Montane Yukon Arctic Ultra
Montane Yukon Arctic Ultra participants are now arriving in Ross River. Like the Yukon Quest, the Ultra participants are on a new route this year, following the dog trail. For the two-legged racers, it's always an extreme event.
