Way to Yukon River Quest 2020: vol 1
First, happy New Year for all of you! 2020 has arrived, it is a big year as this is the Olympic Games year but for us our own biggest challenge ahead on the World´s Longest Annual Paddling Race in Canada.
Let´s give you an idea of how and when our journey to Yukon River Quest 2020 started.
It really started from the Gauja XXL 2019 river race (03-05.05.19, Latvia)….
Somewhere on the Gauja river
BUT….
I (Linda) remember myself hearing about the Yukon River Quest competition in Canada a few years ago (possibly in 2016, thanks to Ahti). Mentioning that it is the longest annual river competition in the world made it very attractive to me. From that moment I knew that one day I will go to this competition as being a big fan of long river-paddling competition. What I also knew at that time was: I need to find a kayaking partner with who I would dare to take part in this challenge.
Anette: “I got to know about Yukon River Quest in 2017 when our Estonian men started sharing their preparations for the upcoming event. Once I had heard about it, I started to think that this is the event I would like to take part in some time in the future. Thanks to Linda this future is coming far earlier than expected.”
2018 when it was the fifth year for me (Linda) to deal with marathon kayaking. Right before the marathon season started, I received a cool idea from Merike: to put the women team together for the Gauja XXL Team Relay competition in Latvia, which takes place at the beginning of May. Check this year´s info here: http://gaujaxxl.lv/en/ 2018 it was not realized yet but in 2019 we brought this topic up again. Not much time ahead before the competition but we managed to put the team together and did all the necessary preparations.
What can we say, good thoughts are brought up in a sauna! đ
13.04.2019 right after TĂŒri-Tori Downriver Race we met with Merike and Anette in the sauna. By the way, the best thing after long-distance paddling race and great effort is to get relaxed in a heated sauna. Going to Gauja XXL in three weeks came real. Anette was very enthusiastic about joining me (Linda) and Merike. So we started finding other girls to join the team. Eve joined us after short thought. As time was short and many of us focused on the upcoming VĂ”handu Marathon, we agreed to deal with needed preparations right after VĂ”handu. At the right time, Annabel and Piia (our youngest team members) showed up good interest and a positive attitude to join our team. Soon after VĂ”handu, our team was complete.
World of Kayaks came to help us with the main equipment (best kayaks for these river marathons). With this short time, there were many helpful people around us as this competition needed support members, equipment for the night, etc. The water level was extremely low but we took the decision to challenge the race and this distance with our ladies team. Being a first women team in Gauja XXL Team Relay distance in history. This idea itself was very motivational.
But coming back to the main point of how taking part in Gauja XXL lead us to Yukon River Quest, we can take a look at the 2nd of May 2019. This day we started the journey to Latvia to have a sleepover there before the race. Rauno (our MAIN and TOUGHEST support member through the whole Gauja race) went through PĂ€rnu, to pick up Merike, Annabel and Piia. I (Linda) drove through Viljandi to pick up Anette and Eve. And next to the Viljandi MĂ€nnimĂ€e Selver, getting back in the car after having bought some food for the trip to Latvia, Yukon came up. To my surprise, I got to know that Anette had also a big interest in this competition. Eve just mentioning “yeah, you crazy ones are most probably going to paddle on Yukon River Quest one day, you are not normal”. And this excitement of the idea of Yukon was together with us in the car on the way to Latvia.
From left: Eve, Anette, Merike, Rauno, Linda, Annabel
One week before Gauja we tested kayaks and we tried to paddle one by one in different pairs. Till we arrived in Latvia, it was still very open who was going to paddle with who. And the last decision in which order we were going to paddle was also made during the last night. As Yukon was an idea in our heads we decided to paddle at least one section together with Anette.
The whole race, 380 km (instead of 420 km due to the low water level) on the Gauja river was a true challenge. We faced problems but overcoming those our team (World of Kayaks / Anette, Merike, Eve, Annabel, Tiina, Piia, Rauno and me) managed to reach the finish with a time 58 hr 33 min and 49 sec. And big thanks to our Estonian guys’ team whose help was crucial for us as without having got the kayak fixed we would not have been able to continue the race.
Team "World of Kayaks", right after finishing 380 km race (Eve, Anette, Rauno, Linda, Merike, Annabel; Tiina and Piia are not on the picture)
Times, when we paddled together with Anette on the Gauja river, forced us to: fix a kayak with a tape, walk in the bottom of the river, leaving from the kayak and entering again (we managed to master our balance with this đ), but also keeping up a good rhythm and tempo when water level really allowed us to paddle. Somehow we noticed with this race that we actually could really think about going to Yukon River Quest together.
After arriving back from Gauja XXL, I (Linda) had a talk about an idea and dream to go to Yukon River Quest with Matti from World of Kayaks. We settled this topic for some time to think truly through if we want to go and are we going to be ready for Yukon, 715 km paddling race.
In autumn (September) we (together with Anette) took part in some other competitions, like EmajĂ”e Marathon (56 km, time: 4:45, winning K2 class), Pirita Small Marathon (9 km) and Estonian Championships in Marathon (18 km, both in K1WOM class) and KiilujĂ€lg River Race (30 km). Competitions went well. And the 22nd of September we said our “Yes” words for Yukon River Quest to Matti. The evening before KiilujĂ€lg (30 km, 28.09.19) we watched back to Yukon River Quest through our Estonian guys’ experience, tv-series which were made by TV3. When we headed for sleep I wished Anette sweet sleep and in the morning I just asked how did she sleep. Weird was that none of us did sleep well this night as pictures of paddling on Yukon River rolled in our heads throughout the whole night. In the morning we had a feeling that we were going to paddle 715 km instead of 30 km đ. Without almost no sleep KiilujĂ€lg went well. We took 1st place overall (30 km/15 km upstream & 15 km downstream, time 2:54).
"KiilujÀlg 2019", paddling upstream on Pirita river
Next, you will get to know how “real” steps (registration, other preparations, etc.) towards the Yukon race have gone till the beginning of this year. Stay tuned #lindanettechallenges
Let´s give you an idea of how and when our journey to Yukon River Quest 2020 started.
It really started from the Gauja XXL 2019 river race (03-05.05.19, Latvia)….
Somewhere on the Gauja river
BUT….
I (Linda) remember myself hearing about the Yukon River Quest competition in Canada a few years ago (possibly in 2016, thanks to Ahti). Mentioning that it is the longest annual river competition in the world made it very attractive to me. From that moment I knew that one day I will go to this competition as being a big fan of long river-paddling competition. What I also knew at that time was: I need to find a kayaking partner with who I would dare to take part in this challenge.
Anette: “I got to know about Yukon River Quest in 2017 when our Estonian men started sharing their preparations for the upcoming event. Once I had heard about it, I started to think that this is the event I would like to take part in some time in the future. Thanks to Linda this future is coming far earlier than expected.”
2018 when it was the fifth year for me (Linda) to deal with marathon kayaking. Right before the marathon season started, I received a cool idea from Merike: to put the women team together for the Gauja XXL Team Relay competition in Latvia, which takes place at the beginning of May. Check this year´s info here: http://gaujaxxl.lv/en/ 2018 it was not realized yet but in 2019 we brought this topic up again. Not much time ahead before the competition but we managed to put the team together and did all the necessary preparations.
What can we say, good thoughts are brought up in a sauna! đ
13.04.2019 right after TĂŒri-Tori Downriver Race we met with Merike and Anette in the sauna. By the way, the best thing after long-distance paddling race and great effort is to get relaxed in a heated sauna. Going to Gauja XXL in three weeks came real. Anette was very enthusiastic about joining me (Linda) and Merike. So we started finding other girls to join the team. Eve joined us after short thought. As time was short and many of us focused on the upcoming VĂ”handu Marathon, we agreed to deal with needed preparations right after VĂ”handu. At the right time, Annabel and Piia (our youngest team members) showed up good interest and a positive attitude to join our team. Soon after VĂ”handu, our team was complete.
World of Kayaks came to help us with the main equipment (best kayaks for these river marathons). With this short time, there were many helpful people around us as this competition needed support members, equipment for the night, etc. The water level was extremely low but we took the decision to challenge the race and this distance with our ladies team. Being a first women team in Gauja XXL Team Relay distance in history. This idea itself was very motivational.
But coming back to the main point of how taking part in Gauja XXL lead us to Yukon River Quest, we can take a look at the 2nd of May 2019. This day we started the journey to Latvia to have a sleepover there before the race. Rauno (our MAIN and TOUGHEST support member through the whole Gauja race) went through PĂ€rnu, to pick up Merike, Annabel and Piia. I (Linda) drove through Viljandi to pick up Anette and Eve. And next to the Viljandi MĂ€nnimĂ€e Selver, getting back in the car after having bought some food for the trip to Latvia, Yukon came up. To my surprise, I got to know that Anette had also a big interest in this competition. Eve just mentioning “yeah, you crazy ones are most probably going to paddle on Yukon River Quest one day, you are not normal”. And this excitement of the idea of Yukon was together with us in the car on the way to Latvia.
From left: Eve, Anette, Merike, Rauno, Linda, Annabel
One week before Gauja we tested kayaks and we tried to paddle one by one in different pairs. Till we arrived in Latvia, it was still very open who was going to paddle with who. And the last decision in which order we were going to paddle was also made during the last night. As Yukon was an idea in our heads we decided to paddle at least one section together with Anette.
The whole race, 380 km (instead of 420 km due to the low water level) on the Gauja river was a true challenge. We faced problems but overcoming those our team (World of Kayaks / Anette, Merike, Eve, Annabel, Tiina, Piia, Rauno and me) managed to reach the finish with a time 58 hr 33 min and 49 sec. And big thanks to our Estonian guys’ team whose help was crucial for us as without having got the kayak fixed we would not have been able to continue the race.
Team "World of Kayaks", right after finishing 380 km race (Eve, Anette, Rauno, Linda, Merike, Annabel; Tiina and Piia are not on the picture)
Times, when we paddled together with Anette on the Gauja river, forced us to: fix a kayak with a tape, walk in the bottom of the river, leaving from the kayak and entering again (we managed to master our balance with this đ), but also keeping up a good rhythm and tempo when water level really allowed us to paddle. Somehow we noticed with this race that we actually could really think about going to Yukon River Quest together.
After arriving back from Gauja XXL, I (Linda) had a talk about an idea and dream to go to Yukon River Quest with Matti from World of Kayaks. We settled this topic for some time to think truly through if we want to go and are we going to be ready for Yukon, 715 km paddling race.
In autumn (September) we (together with Anette) took part in some other competitions, like EmajĂ”e Marathon (56 km, time: 4:45, winning K2 class), Pirita Small Marathon (9 km) and Estonian Championships in Marathon (18 km, both in K1WOM class) and KiilujĂ€lg River Race (30 km). Competitions went well. And the 22nd of September we said our “Yes” words for Yukon River Quest to Matti. The evening before KiilujĂ€lg (30 km, 28.09.19) we watched back to Yukon River Quest through our Estonian guys’ experience, tv-series which were made by TV3. When we headed for sleep I wished Anette sweet sleep and in the morning I just asked how did she sleep. Weird was that none of us did sleep well this night as pictures of paddling on Yukon River rolled in our heads throughout the whole night. In the morning we had a feeling that we were going to paddle 715 km instead of 30 km đ. Without almost no sleep KiilujĂ€lg went well. We took 1st place overall (30 km/15 km upstream & 15 km downstream, time 2:54).
"KiilujÀlg 2019", paddling upstream on Pirita river
Next, you will get to know how “real” steps (registration, other preparations, etc.) towards the Yukon race have gone till the beginning of this year. Stay tuned #lindanettechallenges
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