Endurance kayakers finish world-class race
Courtesy photo Josh Friedman and Julie Kirk participated in the Yukon River Quests Race to the Midnight Sun, a 444-mile endurance paddling quest in northwest Canada.
Courtesy Photo Even though the race takes place during the warm months of the year, the weather kept participants on their toes.
Courtesy Photo The team paddled through the water and into the ‘Midnight Sun’ during the race.
Courtesy Photo The Race to the Midnight Sun is aptly named for the lengthy amount of daylight during the arctic summer.
Courtesy Photo Friedman and Kirk’s team name is Spirit of America, and this year they finished thirty-third out of the 103 starting teams with the final time of 55:39:02.
Courtesy Photo The team battled through many different kinds of weather to reach the finish line.
Courtesy Photo There were mandatory breaks for racers, where everyone had to stop.
Courtesy Photo Josh Friedman snd Julie Kirk pushed through exaustion to accomplish their goal of finishing.
Courtesy Photo One hundred and three teams pushed off onto the Yukon River on twentieth annual Race to the Midnight Sun, and 76 teams finished.
Courtesy Photo Josh Friedman standing with race coordinator, Peter Coates.
Courtesy Photo Team Spirit of America consists of Ian Kirk, his mother, Julie Kirk, and Josh Friedman.
BONNERS FERRY — Many people may have taken to the water in a canoe, kayak, or paddleboard during a recreational excursion, but not so many people have tested their limits with these vessels in an endurance race.
The Race to the Midnight Sun is a 444-mile endurance race on the Yukon River, with the classes of single and tandem kayaks and canoes, as well as paddleboards. This race is the world’s second longest annual endurance paddling race and contestants from all over the world travel to Canada to participate. The race starts at Whitehorse and ends at Dawson City, Yukon, which is north of British Columbia and adjacent to the Alaskan border. The race ran from June 27 to July 1.
The race is named after the midnight sun phenomena, which takes place north of the Arctic Circle, and south of the Antarctic Circle during the summer months, where the sun is visible at the local time of midnight.
Local residents Josh Friedman, a retired U.S. Navy Seal, and Julie Kirk, owner of Mountain Mike’s Health Food store, participated in the race for the fifth year.
The duo trains on the Kootenai River among other places, in all weather conditions. Even though the race takes place during the warmer months, the nights can get cold, with changing weather conditions. This year, there were thunderstorms, and they finished the race wet and very cold from the weather.
“We really don’t care what place we come in, we just want to make it to the end,” said Kirk.
There is a seven-hour mandatory layover in Carmacks, where contestants may have a team of helpers to dry out the boat, restock food, water, and other supplies, and make sure the contestants are equipped for the next grueling leg of the race, while the racers rest up. In addition to team Spirit of America is Julie Kirk’s son, Ian Kirk, who helped with the layover necessities while the others rested. There is then another mandatory three-hour layover further along the river at Coffee Creek. During the layovers, everyone has to stop and get out of the water, and everyone is timed.
“The soup at Coffee Creek was amazing this year, it helped warm us up,” said Friedman. “We left after the three-hour mandatory stop and headed toward the Stewart confluence, always happy to get past the sweepers and debris that clutter this area.”
One of their goals for this race is to finish in under 50 hours, the other is to make it into the 5,000 Mile Club, which has about 25 members.
“We try to better our time every year, but the main goal is to just finish,” said Friedman. ”Every year is different, things can change. For example, one year I hurt my back, this years weather was pretty bad, so it made things very difficult. You just never know what is going to happen out there, and that is part of the challenge.”
One hundred and three teams pushed off onto the Yukon River on 20th annual Race to the Midnight Sun, and 76 teams finished. This years event brought contestants from 14 countries together to push their limits, including Australia, Belgium, Canada, Estonia, France, Germany, Latvia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, South Africa, United Kingdom, and the United States of America.
Friedman and Kirk’s team name is Spirit of America, and this year they finished 33rd out of the 103 starting teams with the final time of 55:39:02.
“We want to do this a couple more times and then move on to the 1K mile run, that’s what we are building up to,” said Friedman.
With another year of conditioning, training, and preparations for next year’s race, the team is gearing up already to accomplish their goals.
“Even though we had a slower time than last year, we’re happier with the result, because of what we had to overcome to finish. Great teamwork and planning was the difference in finishing this year’s race,” said Friedman. “Sometimes you go into battle and you don’t always win. Sometimes you lose, sometimes its a draw. This can be the case when you challenge the Yukon river. You always have to be at your absolute best, even then, sometimes it’s not enough.”
“I really appreciate the community support,” said Kirk. “All of my customers that come in, they make it possible for us to do this.”
For more information on the Yukon River Quest and the endurance races, visit www.yukonriverquest.com or Spirit of America, Yukon River Quest 2018 on Facebook, where viewers can read a more detailed description about this year’s adventure.