Kate and I made it (barely) to the start of the Yukon Quest this year. We arrived at the start later than I had intended after breakfast, when I came to the realization that I left my camera sitting on the deck. We raced home so I could grab it and made it back just after the first few racers had left the gate. Luckily the racers trickle out the start one-by-one every couple of minutes. We got to see plenty of the action.
The crowd cheers on Brent Sass and team
The race runs about 1000 miles between Fairbanks, Alaska and Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. The start/finish locations alternate every year so we also had the opportunity to watch the 2012 start. It usually starts on the Chena River, but it’s been so warm this winter, with so little snow, the event coordinators and city decided it wasn’t wise to have a few thousand people standing out on the ice. So this year it started on 2nd Ave. in Downtown, running down to the Steese Highway before dropping onto the river. We just walked along the road until we arrived at the river.
Mike Ellis
Enthusiastic pups of Brian Wilmhurst
Tony Angelo
Synchronized tongue wagging
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Hugh Neff of Tok, AK carrying the state flag
Jean-Denis Britten
Moments before dropping onto the Chena River
Hank DeBruin on the drop to the Chena River
The next Yukon Quest is set to start on February 7, 2015 in Whitehorse. I’d love to be able to get some shots of them on the trail or coming in, but it’s a lot harder to plan for.
