World Record Attempt: the longest distance SUPed in 24hrs
The Yukon River, Looks like nice place to paddle!
According to these guys, the Yukon river is the perfect place to attempt such a record,
"450 miles between Whitehorse and Dawson lie the perfect platform for athletes wanting to run without limits. No dams, high volume (200,000cfs), with the right amount of gradient."
It's been proven as a record setting ground too, with all kinds of paddle craft flocking here to set both distance and time based records over the years.
The river itself is over 3100 kilometres long, and is well known as one of the most important waterways of northern America. The long days around the middle of the year, and calm conditions have attracted the American paddlers, who plan to set off between the 29th of June and 1st of July. In a team of 5 paddlers, they'll only be stopping for short breaks to refuel, but otherwise paddling non-stop for 24 hours. The goal is 200 miles (320km) which they are extremely confident of achieving, completing the task will grant them the world record for the longest distance stand up paddled in 24 hours.
To map their journey, the team will be carrying little devices called SPOT trackers. These little gizmos are taking over the world with GoPro like proportions right now. All they are is a simple little GPS tracker, which can also be used to send Search and Rescue operations directly to you in an emergency. It also connects to their website, so you can keep logs of where you've been, how fast you went and all kinds of things like your elevation and distance from 'home'. You can follow the boys as they make the journey through the SPOT website here.
Until the big day, the team is training hard and keeping an eye on the weather. The snowpack covering most of north America right now could mean they have to start from the other end of the river, but either way the goal is still 200 miles. Can they make it?
We'll follow the boys until their journey in June. And we'll keep you posted when we find out if the made their goal of 200miles. Check out their website for more into here.
sunshine Coast, QLD
