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The Yukon Voyageurs, a team of seven paddlers that includes Lake Clear resident and Adirondack Canoe Classic Race Director Brian McDonnell, are in day two in the first-ever Yukon 1,000.

A 1,000-mile race, the Yukon 1,000 starts at Whitehorse, in Canada's Yukon Territory, and continues down the Yukon River to the Alaska Pipeline Bridge on the Dalton Highway. It is the longest canoe and kayak race in the world.

McDonnell had planned to paddle the race in a tandem canoe with Andrew Jillings, an outdoor recreation instructor from Hamilton College in Clinton, but had to switch teams just days before the race after Jillings came down with a medical condition that prevented him from competing. The pair had been training together since early spring.

After learning of Jillings' condition, the Yukon Voyageurs invited McDonnell to join their group, which meant the new crew had to find a larger canoe.

The Voyageurs consist of a number of North Country paddlers and Adirondack Canoe Classic veterans, including Heuvelton resident Kerry Newell, who has completed the "90-Miler" 18 times, and Vermont resident Holly Crouch, who has competed in the 90-Miler all 26 years of the event. Other teammates include Boonville resident Paul Repak, Pennsylvania residents and brothers Matt and Mike Trump, and Teresa Stout, also of Pennsylvania. Mike Trump is a graduate of Paul Smith's College.

Adirondack Canoe Classic veterans Mary Houck, of Clinton, and John Ders, of South Otselic, are also in the race in a tandem canoe. There are 17 boats entered in the competition.

"This race is held in the same spirit of the 20th century explorer prizes: the first to fly the English Channel, the first to fly the Atlantic. No one expected the Daily Mail or Raymond Orteig (who offered the prizes) to provide any safety cover," states the Yukon 1,000 Web site. "Teams should enter the race with that in mind. We provide the frame work of the race, we provide monitoring and presentation of the progress of teams, and that is where our responsibilities end. Each team should think of itself as being on a self sufficient expedition."

Leaders are expected to take seven or eight days to complete the course, paddling about 18 hours per day. Each boat is required to check in each evening at 11:15 p.m. and then again six hours later from the same place. This rule is in place to force paddlers to sleep and not paddle through the night.

The race is open to tandem canoes and kayaks and voyageur (war) canoes. Solo boats are required to travel together and camp together.

"The river is too big and the race too lonely to allow solo competitors," states the Yukon 1,000 Web site.

Organizers keep track of paddlers using Spot devices, which are boxes the size of GPS units that have no display and four buttons. Inside these devices are a GPS receiver and a satellite phone messenger. Pushing a button sends a message to those on the other end that you are OK. They also come with a panic button.

"Rob and Russ are dodging bears," stated the Spot device of Rob Colliver and Russ Dawkins, a tandem canoe that had taken the lead Monday at 8 p.m. Pacific Standard Time.

To follow the race, visit on the Web at www.yukon1000.com.