Yukon Quest

Monika Rohlmann is an environmental consultant in Yellowknife, Northwest
Territories.

Originally published in 1990 under the title Yukon Challenge, this book
includes updates on the intervening years. The 1000-mile dogsled race
known as the Yukon Quest started in 1984 when a small group of dog
mushers developed a race that put the spotlight on the dogs rather than
speed while at the same time commemorating old mail routes and gold rush
trails. The author, a lifelong resident of the Yukon and a past board
member of the Yukon Quest, documents in detail the 1988 race from
Anchorage, Alaska to Whitehorse, Yukon. Interwoven are highlights from
later years.

Chapter by chapter the reader follows the front mushers whose race
becomes a tight competition within the larger group of 35 competitors.
When the lead mushers are resting, we catch up with the progress of
those who are in the middle and further behind. We learn not only about
the mushers, but also about historic travels and unimaginable journeys
taken to deliver mail or search for gold. Above all, we learn about the
dogs. The four-legged athletes are the subject of an entire chapter as
well as numerous wonderful black-and-white photographs.

Firth portrays the dog mushers as passionate, lively people, rather
than curiosities of the hinterland. There is nothing romantic about
running a sled with a team of 14 dogs through the wilderness: the musher
faces such threats as frostbite and hypothermia, falling through river
ice, losing the trail, or encountering an aggressive moose. Dogsledding
is an athletic sport and running the Yukon Quest is the ultimate
marathon. This book lets you experience the marathon with plenty of
interesting side trips and rest stops.