An Eastern Bay man’s personal bucket list has taken a big hit with the Yukon 1000 — a 1000-mile (1600-kilometre) kayak race — now officially crossed off.
Whakatāne’s Gordon Townsend teamed up with Wānaka’s Bob McLachlan to not only take on the world’s longest kayak race, but win it by 160km over their nearest rivals last month.
The race begins in Whitehorse, in Canada’s Yukon Territory, and finishes at a remote location just beyond the Dalton Highway Bridge in Alaska, made famous by the Ice Road Truckers series.
It’s a well-known fact that more people have climbed Mount Everest than have ventured that far north into Alaska.
With age catching up, Townsend launched himself into the seemingly impossible task.
“It’s been a bucket list event for a few years, and I’m not getting any younger, so I thought I might as well put in an application,” he said
The Yukon 1000 isn’t just a race you can show up to — there are limited spots and a rigorous vetting process.
“There were 5500 applicants, so that’s 2500 teams. That gets whittled down to 150, and those teams have a video interview. From there, 30 teams are selected to compete.”
Undertaking such a challenge is not for the faint of heart, but with his experience in events such as Godzone and Coast to Coast, Townsend is quick to point out how preparation is key.
“An adventure race and multi-sport background sets you up well for an event such as the Yukon 1000.
“We knew it was going to be hard — and it was. Past experience teaches you discipline, how to sort out systems, as well as food and nutrition.
“There are so many similarities between adventure racing and the Yukon 1000, so straight away it gives you an advantage.”
Townsend quickly realised he needed a teammate, so he called up McLachlan to gauge his interest.
“I knew of Bob but hadn’t met him. We chatted on the phone for a while, and in the end, he agreed to do it with me.
“I could hear his wife in the background, with a shocked voice, say, ‘You didn’t just agree to do that, did you?’.”
The pair met and trained together only twice before the event, paddling the Clutha River and Queen Charlotte Sound, although they spent many hours training individually.
Things didn’t start well for the pair in the Yukon, with a broken rudder shortly after the race began. With a strict no-support rule in place throughout the event, they had to be ready to deal with every situation themselves.
“We pulled over and realised it wasn’t a quick fix — it would take about an hour to repair — so we carried on.”
“After I removed my makeshift footrest, I did what I could, controlling the kayak with only hard right or straight-ahead controls.”
The pair continued with a broken rudder for 160km until they made camp, where they repaired the kayak.
“We just knew what to do. We didn’t want to lose an hour on the water. It was raining when we made camp, and we had to set up for the following day, filter water, repair the boat — so we only got three hours of sleep that first night.”
With 18 hours of paddling a day, the duo had to spend a minimum of six hours off the water within each 24-hour period, as per the race rules. Setting up camp and preparing for the next day, they managed only about four hours of sleep each night.
Setting time and distance goals helped Townsend and McLachlan stay focused, and when paired with their adventure racing experience, they had the tools to handle the mental challenges they faced.
“The hardest part of the race was on the last day, with winds throwing sand off the beaches like a sandstorm and one-metre swells breaking over the top of Bob.
“Our speed dropped from approximately nine to three kilometres per hour — and if we stopped paddling, we would have been blown backwards.”
Despite spending five days, 14 hours, and 46 minutes enduring Yukon’s remote hospitality, Townsend and McLachlan felt stronger with each passing day.
“We couldn’t wait to get away from everyone else and get on with it, so from the start, we just kept a steady pace and settled into it.
“We went 200 metres and saw no one. Then we got to the other side of the lake — still no one.”
By the time they crossed the finish line, the next team was still 160km behind.
The pair set the second-fastest time in the event’s history and made New Zealand the first country to achieve back-to-back wins, with Kiwi duo Sophie Hart and Nathan Fa’avae having won in 2024.
Townsend reflected on what could have been.
“We were only three hours off the record, which was set in 2022 when the river was in flood.”
The race director described this year’s conditions as the worst in the past 10 years.
Despite coming so close, Townsend has no plans to return to the Yukon any time soon.
“I would love to go back, but it’s not cheap — and it’s also a time hogger, especially with long training sessions. You can’t just rock up.”
With no plans to return and no events on the horizon, he now has time to recover — and then turn his attention to whatever happens to be next on that bucket list.