Amy Peters admits she was a little concerned before she embarked on an essentially non-stop 715-kilometre canoe race through the lakes of the Yukon earlier this summer, but the idea of confronting that challenge and raising some money for a good cause was too much for her to pass up.
“It is very much in line with the mission of Outward Bound and one of the mottos that we use is that there is more in you than you think,” said Peters, a former outdoor leadership trainer with the organization. “A lot of times as we’re working with students, whether they’re hiking or canoeing, they are very challenged physically and we always see them do amazing things and push past the limit they think they have.
“A piece of (this) is just exploring that for myself.”
Peters, 31, tested her limits by competing in the June 26 to 29 Yukon River Quest “Race to the Midnight Sun” along with nine other former staff and alumni of Outward Bound Canada in a mixed voyageur canoe of the same name. The team finished third in their class and 12th overall in the 62-team race completing the trek with a time of 50 hours and 20 minutes and also managed to raise around $16,000 for abused women in the process.
“One of our goals was to raise money for a program that we run called Women of Courage and it is typically about eight days of an expedition that is offered to woman survivors of abuse,” she said, adding at last count they had raised around $16,000. “We found that (the program) is part challenge for them, which helps them. It helps people to realize how strong they are and it’s just also part of the healing journey as they recover from abusive relationships.”
As far as she knows, Peters was the only Saskatchewan resident to compete in the race that brings together around 180 of the top paddlers from around the world. All of these outdoor enthusiasts complete the course in one of the different classes of tandem canoe, tandem kayak, solos and voyageur canoes, but have the same goal in mind of crossing the finish line first.
“The first stretch we did was 22 hours in the boat without getting out and then we had our first rest stop which was seven hours,” she said, noting the race began in Whitehorse and the first stop was at Carmacks. “Then again you get in the boat and you go again until your second rest stop. You get a quick three-hour nap in and then you finish it off.”
Peters said the second time in the boat was around 20 hours before the last three-hour rest at Kirkman Creek, but she can’t be sure because things were getting “a little fuzzier” during that time. She said the team then hit the water again completing the last 100 miles in about eight to 10 hours before finally crossing the finish line at Dawson City.
To read more please see the Aug. 12 print edition of The Davidson Leader.