Yukon Quest 04

 
Emil Inauen from Switzerland is the only one that starts the Yukon Quest 2004 with his own dogs from Europe.
 
The toughest sled dog race in the world, the Yukon Quest, got established in 1984. From the start in Fairbanks, Alaska, it leads through the Gold rush town Dawson City to Whitehorse in the Canadian Yukon Territory.


During a distance of 1000 miles it challenges the musher against cold, snow and the power of nature, with the mercury sometimes dropping bellow the 50-degree mark it shows the teams the true Artic winter.


The trail leads over the frozen Yukon River, trough snow covered forests and bush-land and over rough and steep mountains. Together with the dogs, but otherwise all on its own, each year about 20 teams, mainly from North America, are facing the challenge at the mercy of the nasty moods of the Polar region.




DOGS

The main athletes are the sled dogs. Strong well-trained and friendly Alaskan Huskies.

They are born to run and to pull heavy loads, motivated to master hundreds of kilometres
the good-natured and easygoing athletes are specialized for surviving in the Polar region.

It is only for their modesty and their unrestrained willpower to run that they are able to master that unreal distance of more than 1000 miles, in the middle of winter, in less than 2 weeks.

More about the Swiss-Dog-Team you can read in the article "Dogs 1-3".
 
Link: official Yukon Quest homepage