2020 EVENT CANCELED, offering virtual race option.
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Join us in Tr’ondek Hwech’in traditional territory for a summer solstice celebration. Mark the longest day in the land of the midnight sun with a run (or walk) along the Klondike River valley into historic Dawson City.
The Yukon Energy Dempster to Dawson City Solstice Race includes a marathon and 40 km team relay (2-5 people/team) for runners as well as a half marathon, 10 km and 5 km for runners and walkers. All of the events will be held in the morning allowing you to enjoy our midnight sun well into the evening.
All races will be held along the Klondike Highway with runners and walkers heading into Dawson City on a point to point course. All race distances will end at our Finish line located at the Gazebo in Dawson’s Waterfront Park. This means that the Start lines for the various distances will be located 5km, 10km, 21.1km, 40 km, and 42.2km from the Gazebo. The Marathon start will be located a couple of kms past the Dempster Highway junction. Transportation to the start lines will be provided as part of your registration package.
Relay Teams: We encourage your team to travel together in your own vehicle if possible. This will allow you to time your hand offs well and cheer on your team mates throughout the race. Please let us know if you require transportation. We will have vans running for those who need a lift.
Relay Legs: The Relay is 40 kms long and we are allowing teams of 2 to 5 people to divvy it up as they see fit. All transfers must take place at a water station. Water stations are all approximately 3-ish kms apart. Other than that it’s free game. You get to decide which of your runners covers each section between water stations. You can leap frog all the way into town with runners changing off at each water station or you might have one runner cover a longer distance and the rest of your gang take shorter segments. This year it’s all up to you and your team. We hope that this will make the relay as accessible as possible for runners with all levels of running experience.
The route is pretty much flat with slight rolling inclines and declines – barely visible to the naked eye – with a definite downward trend.
You’ll be running through boreal forest, ponds, swamps, dredge ponds and dredge piles, and June’s beautiful wildflowers; all against a backdrop of the Klondike area’s various mountain ranges.
Runners will use the left side of the highway and will need to be aware of traffic including locals, tourists, and possibly some wildlife. We’ll have plenty of signage alerting drivers to the runners on the road and will also have a course crew roaming around if any assistance is needed.
The event will wrap up with dinner and live entertainment in Dawson City’s Waterfront Park, located on the Yukon River. Make a weekend of it and take in all that Dawson City has to offer.
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