News Updates

March 5th, 2010

Fisse approaching Carmacks

Whilst the weather could probably not be better, Jessica sent me an update that at the beginning of Fisse's journey the trail conditions were tough. Continuous overflow, blown in trails and strong winds did not make it easy. By the looks of it he did not let it bother him.

He stayed at Pelly Farm for a short visit with Sue, Dale and family and now he is on his way to Carmacks. I have not heard about him having any kind of problems that we mortals normally would suffer by now, e.g. knee problems or blisters. So, I think he must be alien. The only thing that seems to make Fisse feel uncomfortable from time to time is his damp down sleeping bag ...

Fisse you can do it!!!

Fisse keeping friends and family up to date via sat phone

February 25th, 2010

Fisse already past Dawson City

Fisse is making really good progress. February 23rd he had reached Dawson and stayed there for a a little while. Both Jessica Simon and Josee Bonhomme have sent me short updates. Thanks for that!

According to them Joachim is in great spirits. And does he ever have luck with the weather. In Dawson he was interviewed by the local newspaper and "quite the celebrity for a few days" I am told. His friends made sure he got lots to eat and a good rest.

Now he is out on the trail again and on his way to Scroggie Creek. There's no shortage of wood for him and Mike Simon added "Fisse 1000" and "Go Fisse" to the YAU checkpoint sign. That should make him almost feel at home. There is still a clear track because there hasn't really been any snow to speak of in the last two weeks. He only has got a 2 metre frozen waterfall to hurdle between Dawson and Scroggie and then it's "easy going" to Whitehorse. In the meantime, the local Ultra racers have pledged $200 to Fisse's campaign to raise funds to research into bone marrow disease in children.

Scroggie Creek awaiting Fisse

Once past Scroggie Creek Joachim will head towards Pelly Farm. I am sure this will be the most dangerous part of his adventure because Dale, Sue and everybody else there will make him feel so comfortable that he may not want to leave again :-)

Apart from his shared SPOT page you can follow Joachim's progress also on www.trackleaders.com.

February 9th, 2010

News from Fisse

Jessica just sent me an email with some news about Fisse (see also update from Feb. 5th below). It almost feels as if I am reporting about an athlete competing in the YAU :-)

Here is what Jessica wrote:

We've been tracking Fisse on SPOT got a quick message from him yesterday. At noon he was at Mile 101. Mike overlapped his SPOT with the Quest's trackfinder and he spent last night with veteran mushers Brent Sass, Ken Anderson, Dave Dalton and many others. Mike was sure the first mushers who passed him and pulled into Central exclaimed, "There's a guy out there with no dog team!" No doubt he'll have lots of stories; I mean, lots more stories!
We're taking a YAU CP shingle with us to Pelly Farm on Wednesday so he'll feel at home when he gets there.


Joachim Rintsch at Scroggie Creek checkpoint during the YAU 09 - Photography: Greg Petersen

February 5th, 2010

Scroggie Creek with an all new checkpoint building

Thanks to the effort of William Kleedehn and his crew there is now a new checkpoint building at Scroggie Creek. They went out there in the middle of winter and got everything done within a week.

By the looks of it William is not only an excellent musher and builder. He is also an awesome photographer. Jessica Simon forwarded me some photos of the construction and the finished site - all taken by William. I have put these impressions into our gallery and named it after the photographer. You should check it out. It also gives you an impression of what it's like in the area of our most remote checkpoint.


The new cabin at Scroggie Creek - Photography: William Kleedehn

On behalf of all future YAU 430 mile athletes, checkpoint crew and myself: Thank you William for the great new checkpoint cabin and the wonderful photos!

News from the Quest and Jessica and Mike Simon

Yukon Arctic Ultra veterans and fans know Mike and Jessica Simon from their trail work every February hosting runners, skiers, and mountainbikers from Whitehorse to Dawson. This year there's no Ultra so they're helping out the Yukon Quest as hosts at Scroggie Creek for a week. "The Quest asked us, which is quite an honour," says Jessica.  

This year's race starts from Fairbanks on February 6 at 11 a.m. Alaska time. The roster is filled with an all-star cast of mushers, from the winner of the first Yukon Quest, Sonny Lindner, to repeat winners Hans Gatt and Lance Mackey, and last year's second (by seconds) finisher Hugh Neff. "This is probably the closest I will ever be to the teams on the trail," Jessica says.

Mike kept the fire burning at Scroggie for the six 400-milers who challenged the Black Hills last winter. "The runners are stretched out on the Ultra," he says. "I expect more mushers at a time in Scroggie and staying longer than the racers did."  

The main task will be to keep water liquid for all the teams. William Kleedehn and friends built a new insulated cabin, "so we should be quite comfortable," says Mike. YAU veterans will tell you, the old cabin was a bit of a "fixer-upper."  

There won't be any trail sweeps either, Mike notes. "In fact, we'll have to stay off the trail and have our wood and water in before the first musher arrives. I don't want mushers throwing their mandatory equipment at me – like an ax – because I dragged up their trail."

This year some mushers will be carrying SPOT devices, so YAU fans can follow the teams through the Quest's website, www.yukonquest.com. Watch this site for updates from our volunteers!

Joachim Rintsch (aka Fisse) goes all the way

Joachim Rintsch is THE YAU veteran. Nobody has finished more YAU races than this German athlete. The most amazing thing about Fisse has always been the way he does things. His attitude out on the trail, always happy, always doing just fine.

After so many times participating in the YAU and also finishing our ultimate distance of 430 miles I was not surprised to hear that Joachim is now trying to go all the way from Fairbanks to Whitehorse. He plans on taking 5 weeks and if the weather does not go from worse to bad I am sure he can make it.

Fisse has got his SPOT with him and if you follow this link you can check out his progress.

News on Jessica's book From Ice to Ashes

Poe's Deadly Daughters did a very nice interview with Jessica Simon which also features some YAU photos. If you wan to read it, follow this link.

And this link will take you to an interview which ckua radion network did with Jessica recently.

November 13th, 2009

Download CKRW radio interview with Jessica Simon and YAU athletes

Jessica sent me this mp3 file to make it available for download. It's about her new book "From Ice to Ashes" and the Yukon Arctic Ultra. Local CKRW radio interviewed her and athletes Shelley Gellatly, Keith Thaxter and Tammy Reis. You will hear interesting information about the book and the race. Check it out!

For interview download klick here (mp3 file 6 MB).

November 7th, 2009

Hi everyone,

winter is definitely close now. I have already had my first trail run snow adventure … running from Garmisch-Partenkirchen to Ehrwald (Austria) I unexpectedly ended up wading through knee deep snow for about 10 km. I can't wait until everything is covered in white! Especially now that I am training myself in order to be in good shape for my trip to Scandinavia. 

I hope you all have a great winter!  

Some news for you:  

"From Ice to Ashes" in book stores now!  

Jessica Simon did it! "From Ice to Ashes", her first book is now in book stores everywhere. Congratulations!!! If you participated in the YAU already you will know Jessica. She is always there at Dog Grave Lake to take care of the athletes. Many times she has also been our race headquarter once back from the checkpoint. So, she knows the YAU perfectly. At the same time she is a writer and journalist. The result was the idea for an unusual book. At least I don’t think there is another ultra that became the background for a thriller.

Here is what it's all about:  

"When a terrorist infiltration overtakes the Yukon Arctic Ultra - the most challenging human-powered race in the world - Auxiliary RCMP Markus Fanger leads a manhunt for North America's most imminent threat. With the help of Donjek Stoneman, a young offender attempting to clean up his life by serving as a race official, Fanger traces the menace to Arctic civilisation through the frozen northland of Dawson City, Yukon to Fort Greely, Alaska, where a desperate man seeks vengeance against the United States government. This is a fast-paced thriller that transports the mystery genre into an area seldom explored in North American literature."  

Jessica did change the race course but if you read it you will get an interesting point of view on a lot of things to do with the race. So, it's definitely one of the books you should read – either to prepare or to remember!    

More athletes to sign up  

It's incredible but we now have 7 Spanish athletes on the 300 mile race roster! The latest ones to sign up are Eduardo Linares, Alejandro Izquierdo, Carlos Garcia, Rafael Garcia and Juan Jofré. It must be the quest to become the first Spanish athlete to finish this distance that motivates them all.

Just today I received the first 300 mile entry from England. It is from Mike Thomas who already finished the 100 miles in 2009 and now wants to take his sled out for a longer trip.   With Peter Jansen from Germany and Matthew Welbourn from England we now have also the first participants for the 430 miles.

Paul Boyle and Robert Murray, both from Scotland, have entered the 100 miles.   

Welcome to you all!    

Good news from Yukon  

If you followed the updates during our last race you heard about a dog that caused all kind of excitement. Some athletes thought they will surely be eaten by a wolf now. However, the wild creature turned out to be a dog we later called "Yukon".

Yukon clearly enjoyed following athletes on the trail and teamed up with a few of them. In Carmacks we decided to bring Yukon back to Whitehorse as we thought the owners may be really worried. Unfortunately, nobody picked him up at the animal shelter and there was the threat of Yukon being killed due to lack of space. Therefore, we started looking for a new place for our friend on four legs. We did not have to look long as Bruce Thompson, finisher of the 430 miles, decided to take Yukon with him to the States.  

Bruce emailed me a short while ago saying that Yukon is doing great and continues to amaze everyone. That's what I call Happy Ending.    

Fly over the Yukon Quest trail  

By coincidence I just found something interesting on the Yukon Quest website – a website, by the way, which you should all visit every now and then. For athletes there is always cool stuff and as we will share the trail again in 2011 it's great to know what happens with the mushers and their dog teams.  

What I found is a map that takes you on a virtual flight over the Yukon Quest Trail. This link will get you there: http://www.yukonquest.com/yq-flyover.html.

Try it, it's fun and it gives you an idea of what the terrain is like.    

Gear for winter running needed?  

If you live in Europe and need gear for winter running or already in preparation for the next YAU please check out www.racelite.com. We have increased the range of products a lot and are proud to offer the best gear out there. Also, feel free to send us emails with questions or of course call any time you want.  

We do also deliver to North America but needless to say that due to shipment cost and currency it makes more sense to buy gear there if available. If in doubt ask us for an offer. I guess it all depends on the product and your adventure.

And if your next trip will take you to a desert or jungle check out the shop, too. Racelite.com features gear lists with a lot of interesting information.  

Best regards,

Robert

August 20th, 2009

Hi everyone,  

it's been a while since my last news update. I hope you are all having a great summer! For me the last months have been extremely busy as Racelite.com our shop for innovative and light gear is becoming more and more popular. Keeping up with the growing demand, always looking for new and exciting products and answering the many enquiries regarding gear for all kinds of adventures have taken up a lot of my time. That's also the reason why I decided not to start a race in Scandinavia for the coming winter. It would have been too difficult to fit it into my schedule. Instead I will use the 2010 break from the YAU to travel to the trails I have in mind and hopefully convince everyone up north that this kind of a race is a great project to support. I will keep you up to date!    

Thank you for the donations for the Kruse family  

I would like to thank you all for the donations you made for the Kruse family at McCabe Creek. CAD 1,067.50 in total were gathered and have by now been forwarded to Kathy and Jerry Kruse. For those of you who don’t know, their workship burnt down as we were using it as a check point this winter. The generator caught fire and luckily no one was harmed. However, everything in the workshop was destroyed and a lot of damage was caused. Your money will help the Kruses to re-construct.   

First athletes to sign up for YAU 2011  

It is of course still some time to go. But interest in the 2011 edition is increasing and we have already the first athletes on the race roster. Ian Archer was the first to sign up. He will have another go at the 100 mile distance. New to the race are Germans Mario Oehme and Gregor Guggemos. We train together here in the area around Garmisch-Partenkirchen and it did not take me a lot of effort to convince that the YAU is an adventure they can’t miss. The last ones to sign up for now are Toni Contesti and Bartolome Calafat. Both are from Palma de Mallorca, Spain. And they may be the first Spaniards to finish the 300 miles race.   Welcome to you all!  

Lestra's Yukon Arctic Ultra special edition sleeping bag wins Outdoor Industry Award  

The Outdoor Industry Award is one of the world's most prestigious awards of its kind. Lestra won it due to the many innovative features of the sleeping bag developed for the Yukon Arctic Ultra. This sleeping bag is now Lestra's top of the range down sleeping bag and company to many adventurers all over the world. Congratulations!  

Film project YAU 2011 

We have had a couple of editions where in the end we could offer competitors a DVD of their YAU adventure. This is not always possible as it's challenging to get the funds. For 2011 it is on the top of my list again. It offers also the chance to those of you who can get access to TV exposure to use this footage. If you are interested, let me know as soon as you can. Then it's easier to plan accordingly.    

The first Adventure Trophy races are over 

As most of you will know we also organise summer races. However, these race have a different format from the YAU. The races of our Adventure Trophy are Adventure Races where teams of two have to master a number of disciplines in one day. Our competitions in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Bayerwald went really well. The last race will be in Jena from Sept. 18th to 20th. If you have not participated in an Adventure Race you should try it! It's great endurance training and helps you test/improve your navigational skills.

Best regards,

Robert

March 29th, 2009

The next YAU will take place in 2011

In other words, there will not be a YAU in 2010. The main reason for this decision is the Olympic Winter Games 2010 in Vancouver. These would make it difficult for athletes who want to sign up "late" to get flights as the Game's dates would overlap with ours.

There are other reasons, too. Traditionally, we always have more athletes when we start from the same end as the Yukon Quest. That way our participants can catch the excitement of the dog teams heading out onto the trail. Trail quality and marking usually are better in those years, too.

Last but not least, it is my intention to start a new winter ultra race in Scandinavia. I am currently aiming at having the first edition in 2010. If I am not able to get it done in time for 2010, the break with the YAU will give me the time I need to host the race at the next possible opportunity.

There has not been a decision made if the YAU will become a bi-annual race in general, i.e. both is possible. We may go back to annual after 2011 or keep the two year rhythm.

YAU 2011 entry limits

We will limit the number of entries for the YAU 2011 to 60 athletes for the distances 100, 300 and 430 miles. In order for athletes to make sure they get a spot, we suggest early registration which will soon be possible. 

Scandinavia 2010

I have already established contact with a number of people in order to find the right place for the race. At this point I can only say that there are a few interesting options and it will be another great adventure.

It will also be different from the YAU. In some ways it will be easier, e.g. I don't expect the temperatures to be quite as extreme. In other ways it will be more challenging. For one, there is more chance of heavy snowfall. Snowshoes will thus become mandatory. The trails may be softer even without fresh snow. Thus it may mean that it will make no sense to have a category for Mountain Bikers. Skiers on the other hand may find it easier as there will be less hills - well, depending on where we will be in the end.

If the race goes ahead already for 2010 it will be in March. So, keep that month marked red on your calendar and keep checking the News Updates or sign up for our newsletter. That's where I will inform as soon as I have got news.