Niftylifts John King Completes Yukon Dog Sled Race
Niftylift Australia’s John King has just completed a 300-mile gruelling dog sled race held in the -35ºC temperatures of Canada’s Yukon Territory.
John set off on the Yukon Quest 300 on February 2 and successfully completed his first ever dog sled race on February 5th. During the event, John cared for his team of 12 sled dogs and faced stretches up to 100 miles (160 km) between checkpoints.
This year is the 30th anniversary for the YQ, held in the wilderness of the Yukon Territory.
In March, John is also set for a second dog sled race, the Percy 200 in Dawson City, Yukon. The Percy is a 200 mile, nine-dog race to Eagle, Alaska, and back to Dawson City along a memorial mail run route. The mail between Dawson and Eagle was carried by dogsled until the 1940s by Percy DeWolfe, who ran this route with his team of nine sled dogs.
If John succeeds in both of these races he will be qualified to run the 1,000-mile Yukon Quest, which runs between Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada and Fairbanks, Alaska, USA each year, starting odd years in the Yukon, and even years in Alaska. If John completes a second 300-mile race, he will also be qualified for Alaska’s Iditarod.
John trained for the events with a 12 dog team at Hans Gatt’s ranch in Whitehorse Canada. Hans has won dog sled races from sprint through mid distance to stage, and long distance all over the world, including the Yukon Quest 1000 four times.
Before setting off for the YQ300, John King commented: “To be learning off someone as experienced as Hans is great and should prepare me well for the race. As you can imagine, it’s a great adventure but it’s all about the dogs, there are check points at four locations with vets on hand to make sure the dogs are in good shape and being looked after.
“The dogs are so well looked after and when you start to harness the dogs to go out for the day they are as excited as I am, they really do love it.”
John would like to thank Niftylift Ltd and Nifty Australia for their support and understanding during his Yukon Quest. Niftylift congratulates John on the YQ 300 and wishes him the very best of luck with his next endeavour.
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