For Andreck Carmon, the hardest thing before beginning is jet lag.
When I wake up in the morning, it’s already evening at home, and vice versa
captivates the participant who arrives directly from Estonia to fulfill his dream of descending the Yukon River.
The rivers in Estonia are narrow and full of bends, there are hardly any, you row almost straight all the time, but there is a lot of current. it’s different
, summarizes. Even if this is his first participation, he can count on a teammate who has already been in the action in 2018.
This year, given the level of the river, the organization advised that only the most experienced crews take part in the event.
A little further away, Jim Terrell is standing next to his canoe that he designed and built himself. It’s crazy what you can learn on YouTube
, Flirting. Well, the Californian knows what he’s doing since he even competed in regatta events during three Olympics in 1988, 1992 and 1996. In the Yukon, he’ll be far from the distances he’s competed for of just 2,500m.
I haven’t really spent 24 hours sitting in a canoe so it’s really going to be a real test of how I deal with it mentally. We are all good rowers, but this distance is something new for all of us.
” We’ll see if we can sit on our backside for that long and stay afloat, that’s the key. »
See the current go dangerously fast
While driving towards Whitehorse, he admitted that the circumstances had worried him a bit. If his team decided to start despite everything, the others felt they weren’t up to par or the stakes were too great.
Last week we had eight teams that decided to give up
Mia Lee, race director, explains. We are grateful to them, because we do not want people to put their lives at risk for no reason.
Faced with the dangers of this race in the midst of nature, the organization claims to have established a suitable system, with High level of communication
with volunteers at checkpoints in the middle of nature, and even by helicopter, but this will not interfere Only in case of extreme emergency.
Motorboats are ready at every checkpoint along the way, But they are parked there so if anyone has a problem they won’t be there in 5 minutes but maybe 3 hours so participants are reminded that they are on their own and need to know how to get to the beach if they capsize
she explained.
Race organizers work with a risk management consultant, and communicate with many people on the ground: locals and communities such as the Carmacks and Little Salmon/Carmacks First Nation to get as much information as possible about real-time conditions on the river, true to the last minute. And the It’s go!
The race director confirms.
With information from Anna Desmaris
