It's one thing to spend a pleasant summer afternoon on a stand up paddleboard (SUP), toodling around a quiet lake, and quite another to spend three mostly sleepless days on one, racing hundreds of kilometres down a remote Northern river.

Eleven avid paddleboarders eagerly volunteered to be the guinea pigs for a new, experimental category in the grueling, 715-kilometre Yukon River Quest race this year. It wasn't certain that any of them would go the distance, but in the end, all but two of them did.

"They far exceeded the expectations of many," said Harry Kern, president of the Yukon River Quest board. "I know before the race there were many naysayers."

11 stand up paddleboarders started the race in Whitehorse last Wednesday. Nine of them finished the race on Saturday, while the other two withdrew on the second day. (Claudiane Samson/RCI)

The fastest SUP in the race, which wrapped up on the weekend, was paddled by Bart de Zwart — a Hawaiian who's won several long-distance SUP races. He's also done record-breaking expeditions on the open ocean, between Hawaiian islands.

He reached the finish in Dawson City early Saturday morning, before many of the race's canoeists and kayakers.

An official category in 2017

Kern says the SUP competitors proved they could take care of themselves in sometimes dangerous conditions. One paddleboarder, he said, tried to go through the Five Finger Rapids on his feet but was thrown from his board.

"Before we could react to save him, he was on his board again, he was down the river."

Kern says the feeling among race officials now is to make SUP an official category in next year's race, meaning competitors will be eligible for prizes.

"They obviously did quite well, and I'd be surprised if we didn't include them next year," he said.

Paddle boarders join a column of racers on Lake Laberge, one of the most challenging sections of the race. (Elise Giordano/YRQ)

'I really enjoyed it'

Michelle Eshpeter of Whitehorse was expecting a tough race on her SUP, but it wasn't so bad, she says.​

"Honestly, I was surprised how good I felt," she said. "I really enjoyed it."

There were challenges, however — such as getting across the notoriously windy Lake Laberge.

"Before the event, lots of people asked what was the worst case scenario. And it was a headwind or a little bit of a head- and crosswind on Lake Laberge," Eshpeter said.

Eshpeter said the race was difficult, but she was surprised how good she felt at the end. (Yukon River Quest)

"And that's exactly what it was!"

She powered through, though, and ultimately managed to reach Dawson City within hours of the cutoff time to finish the race. Her race assistant was waiting with a bottle of champagne.

Eshpeter even arrived relatively well-rested, and fully appreciative of what makes a SUP so different from a cramped canoe or kayak in a long-distance endurance race.

"If I needed to sleep, I just laid on the board and did it as I floated down the river. It was great!"