Yukon Arctic Ultra endurance race back on track this year

One of the world's coldest and toughest ultra endurance races is back on this year after being cancelled in 2021 because of COVID-19.

Forty athletes from Canada, the U.S., Ireland, the Netherlands, Germany, the U.K. and Singapore, will compete in either the 100-mile or the 300-mile race on bikes, skis or by foot at the Yukon Arctic Ultra, which gets underway Thursday morning.

Robert Pollhammer, the long-time organizer of the event, couldn't be more pleased.

"I'm feeling good about it," he said. "It's been active quite early compared to normal, and it's been a bit stressful at the beginning because of the changes we had to make. But now we caught up and yeah, it's going to be great."

Among the athletes who at the starting line will be Jim Ryall, who flew to Whitehorse from his village in Hampshire, England, to compete in the 100-mile race.

He said he's been thinking about it for four or five years and was going to compete last year until the race was cancelled. 

Ryall said he's been training to increase his endurance, but not for the cold conditions.

"You cannot train for what's outside there now at -30 C. You just can't," he said. "I don't live in that kind of climate and short of spending a winter in Sweden, or Norway, that's impractical."

His goal, he said, is to finish the race.

"It's a personal challenge to finish it," he said. "I hope to get to the end in one piece having achieved what I came here to do. "

Pollhammer said the conditions of the trails have been "all over the place" in the last three or four weeks.

"It's been really bad and then really good and it's now going to snow again. So we'll see what the trail does," he said.

He said the forecast also changed often — it could get as low as -25 C.

The people who have the necessary equipment with them to stay warm will be OK, Pollhammer said.