Yukon Arctic Ultra

EVERY RACE these days, or so it seems, needs a grand title - the "toughest", "longest", "highest" or whatever.   As I ran down the hill to Scroggie Creek, the 337-mile point of the Yukon Arctic Ultra, in 2007, it became very clear that this was "the coldest".  At -61C, the YAU was eventually stopped on safety grounds, with a handful of us air-lifted out by ski-plane from a frozen river bed - disappointed, but vowing to return for a re-run of this 430-mile classic in 2009. 

Last February, a dozen racers made it to the finish line in the legendary Klondike Gold Rush town of Dawson, led home by cyclist Alan Sheldon in a little over eight days.  A couple of days behind, an Italian, an American, and then me, all of us a bit frostbitten and weary, ran down the main street for a welcome beer.  Along the way we'd seen some of the best scenery in Canada's Yukon Territory - frozen rivers and lakes, deep forests and rolling hills.  We'd seen the Northern Lights overhead, heard wolves howling at the moon, and been welcomed into local homes for moose stew and unlikely gossip.  

Like its more famous cousin, Alaska's Iditasport, this race is so much than an event, it's truly an adventure with a start and finish line...

To read an article I wrote for Geographical UK magazine about the race and kit required, click here.

For the race website, click here.