On Feb. 2, 2013, John King from Niftylift Australia will attempt to complete the "Yukon Quest 300," a 300-mile dog sled race through the wilderness in Canada's Yukon Territory. This year is the 30th anniversary for the Yukon Quest, but it will be King's first dog sled race. He will face stretches up to 100 miles (160 km) between checkpoints, caring for his team of 12 sled dogs in temperatures that often drop below -35ºC.
In March, King will also take part in the Percy 200 in Dawson City, Yukon. The Percy is a 200-mile, nine dog race to Eagle, Alaska, and back to Dawson City along a memorial mail run route. The mail between Dawson and Eagle was carried by dogsled until the 1940s by Percy DeWolfe, who ran this route with his team of 9 sled dogs. If King succeeds in both of these races, he will be qualified to run the thousand mile Yukon Quest, which runs between Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada, and Fairbanks, Alaska, each year, starting odd years in the Yukon, and even years in Alaska. If King completes a second 300-mile race, he will also be qualified for Alaska's Iditarod.
At present King is training with a 12 dog team at Hans Gatt’s ranch in Whitehorse. Hans has won dog sled races from sprint through mid-distance to stage, and long distance all over the world, including the "Yukon Quest 1000" four times.
King will be using Hans Gatt’s dogs and his Gattsled racing sled for the training and race. Gatts has been training the dogs for the last four months.
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