Loonies on the Yukon

As you are reading this there is a monster race happening in Alaska, called the Yukon River Quest.

The 740-kilometer (460 mile) wilderness adventure paddling race is held on the Yukon river from Whitehorse to Dawson City in Canada's Yukon Territory. Held during the last week of June, the YRQ is known as the "Race to the Midnight Sun". Paddlers race round-the-clock, as the sky never gets dark. It is a true marathon with just two mandatory rest stops of 10 hours over the course of the entire event.




There are 71 teams from 10 countries (Austria, Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Great Britain, Japan, Latvia, Sweden and the USA) participating in tandem canoe, tandem kayak, solos and voyageur canoes.

One of these teams is an all female group from the USA called Loonies Les Femmes. This 8 women Alaskan/Texas blend is racing in a voyageur canoe. One of the team members is Nene's aunt Chris, a very enthausiastic first timer.



We are rooting for the fierce Loonies and hope they will finish in one piece and on time!
Aunt Christ is crazy about Alaska and Moose in particular, so I thought it very fitting to design a paddling moose in a YRQ canoe for the team.