YUKON RIVER QUEST
The race to the Midnight Sun.
World’s Longest Annual Paddling Race – 715 km / 444 miles from Whitehorse to Dawson City, Yukon
444 miles of paddling. Let’s do it?
The Yukon River Quest is an annual marathon paddling race. Paddlers come from around the world to test their endurance, racing day and night to the Klondike on one of North America’s great rivers.
Set your expectations: Going too fast early on can be a mistake, but this is a harder race taken slowly than fast. Know yourself. Stay even (keeled?) and remain positive. Don't get elated or discouraged, just keep going. Things will go wrong. Don't give up. Think it through. Solve the problem and then carry on.
A truly unique race: Known as “The Race to the Midnight Sun,” it is run at a time of year when the northern sky does not get dark, allowing paddlers the unique experience of being on the river 24 hours a day. The journey takes paddlers through the traditional territories of five Yukon First Nations, who used the river for thousands of years before the gold rush stampeders came into the country and changed the land forever.
A wilderness paddling race: The Yukon River Quest is not your typical adventure trip down the river. Paddlers should anticipate that they may spend many hours at a time out of sight of any other boat or living person. Teams should be aware that however good they are at paddling, things can and do go wrong: damaged shoulders, overused wrists, blistered hands, exhaustion, cooler temperatures and rain-induced hypothermia, heat-promoted hyperthermia, or just getting tired.
Self-sufficient for a couple of days: Paddlers should be capable of immediate self-preservation. Anticipate the worst. Hypothermia is by far the main reason that teams scratch and have to be rescued off the river. You can get shivery cold and can’t paddle through it. You will get wind and rain. If you are alone on the river with no boats an hour either way, it will be up to you and no one else to recover the situation.
Cyril participated 3 times in the Yukon River Quest.
2012: 6-man voyager canoe
Leif Calvin, Matt Glerum, Roman Kristl, Dan Camp, Tony Van Buren, Cyril Derreumaux
2nd place overall in 42 hours 45 minutes
2018: 4-man canoe (aka C4)
Loic Behin, Dave Loustalot, Red Pedrick, Cyril Derreumaux
1st place in the C4 canoe category in 52 hours
2019: two-man canoe (C2)
Galen Licht & Cyril Derreumaux
5th place in the C2 canoe category in 56 hours
Yukon River Quest 2019 in a C2.
This is the video of our race with my buddy Galen Licht. This race is such a cool adventure!
WARNINGS: #1: I just put the segments one after each other. No music added, no special cut. Just raw footage. / #2: this is a long video (22+ minutes) so unless you want to take on the Yukon River Quest, you might find this boring! ahah.