We heard about it in Tanana and when we got to the finish line in Galena the first boat had already arrived from Fairbanks. "Second place!" someone shouted as we passed the crowd. A man that I talked to on the bank said that Galena was on the map because it hosts three of the longest races in America. The Iditarod sled dog race, the Iron Dog snowmachine race, and the Yukon 800 power boat race. On the Yukon 800, three man teams leave Fairbanks down the Chena River to the Tanana River then into the Yukon down to the village of Galena where they spend the night and return upriver the same 400 miles back. The boats are 24 feet long and about 6 feet wide and only 1 foot off the water and reach speeds over 75 miles an hour. Navigating the multiple channels and shallow spots as well as all the floating logs in the river, the first place boat arrived 6 hours after it had left. It was a big deal in town and we watched the last 4 boats fly by after popping out from a small slough that is not even on my map, obviously a shallow water short cut. A crowd of about 100 was there cheering on the teams, I talked to a man who had come up from Anvik, 300 miles away in his boat just to see the racers come in. The race is an endurance test of crew and machine, 15 boats had entered and as of the halfway point only 6 were still in the running.
