DAREDEVIL adventurers Yorkie Lomas and Phil Langman have described how they were pushed to the limits on their latest expedition.

The Dartmouth pair have completed this year’s Yukon 1000 Canoe and Kayak Race, finishing in eight days, three hours and 41 minutes, sixth overall and fourth in the tandem canoe category.

They set out as Team Trail Events on July 18 from Rotary Park in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada, raising money for the Children’s Hospice South West.

The race is by far the longest canoe and kayak race in the world. It is described as an expedition race for which you need to be a strong paddler, and a strong-willed paddler, at that.

You also have to be a competent and experienced wilderness traveller, as the 1,000 mile course takes competitors through some of the most deserted land on the continent. 

On completion of the race, Phil sent the following message to base team member Hilary Bastone: ‘Mission accomplished! By no means easily!

‘I think Yorkie and I will both admit we probably underestimated how hard this challenge would be. This is not to say we were not fully prepared with all our equipment for the events that lay await for us but purely the physical and mental limits that the Yukon 1000 pushed us to were massive with some of the highs and biggest lows I have ever encountered.’

The Yukon is a big, fairly fast-moving river, but there is very little whitewater: there are two class two rapids, one of which you can completely avoid. The other is harmless if run correctly. But it is a big, exposed and wild river. 

When the wind blows, the river can get rough: waves can be over a metre high. It can rain, cold heavy continuous rain, for days. That is hard when you are in a hurry. Everything gets wet – your clothes, your tent, your sleeping bag. This race is not always fun. 

Phil said: ‘We did consider paddling for 18 hours non-stop before we left the UK but, the fact is, to just to stay in contention in the race was hard. Being confronted by a wolverine on the first night camping didn’t help our sleeping either.

‘We both hit some low points. At one point, at the end of day three, after paddling for 18 hours prior to only sleeping one hour the night before due to camping on a red ants nest, I could not stop physically shaking for about 30 minutes.

‘Although exhaustion pushed us both to being at our limits with each other at times, we came through it and there is no one I would have rather had alongside me and to watch my back than Yorkie. That, and with the thought that we were representing Dartmouth on a worldwide event, again gave us enough encouragement to finish as strong as we possibly could.’

Phil and Yorkie added their thanks again to everyone who had donated kit and equipment – without whom the challenge would not have been possible – and to those who have given to the children’s hospice charity.

So far around £800 had been pledged on their Justgiving page but the pair are hoping people will continue to make donations.

Pledges large or small would be gratefully received and can me made at www. justgiving.com/fundrais ing/Yukon1000.