Navan paddler taking second run at gruelling race

The duo will once again race toward the midnight sun during the annual 742-kilometre Yukon River Quest.

In 2008 the pair, who named their team On a Paddle and a Prayer, paddled for 26 hours straight before having to drop from the race.

Near the half-way point in the race and relatively well-positioned – Covey estimated at the time they were in the middle of the pack – the duo ran into trouble when their kayak spun and capsized.

Some of their supplies drifted down river, including their paddles, so the two had to wave down a rescue boat and drop from the race.

After returning home from the mishap, Covey said the pair learned that every piece of gear needs to be tied down, adding it was the loss of mandatory equipment that forced them from the race.

This summer the two will paddle under a different name: Non Compos Mentis (Not of Sound Mind). Covey said Geoffrion came up with the idea. “I guess he’s the team joker,” he wrote in an e-mail to the Orléans Star.

The race, which winds its way from Whitehorse to Dawson City, takes place June 30-July 4. For more on Covey and Geoffrion’s 2008 adventure, including video of their spill, please go to http://www.orleansstar.ca/article-234541-Wild-ride-brings-early-end-to-Yukon-quest.html