WHITEHORSE ( Canada Yukon Territories ), Wednesday 20th Feb. 2008

Tonight at 1:23 the great Lance Mackey has arrived with his extraordinary 11 dogs. His total time of travel on the approximate 1000 miles ( 1600 Km ) is 10 days, 12 hours, 14 minutes. He left the other 3 of his team with which he left Fairbanks in Alaska the 9th of February, to the organization and to his wife to rest at various checkpoints of the race, because tired. It has been a triumphant arrival but at the same time also quiet and humble, as for great dogs and a champion like him who after winning his fierce battle against the cancer 8 years ago, tells that racing with his his sleddogs is like " brething fresh air " !

Waiting for his arrival, we have been invited to a party in honor of the race and the gold seekers of the Klondike. I, Armen and Marco have been invited to go on the stage and dance a funny and embarassing " can can " ... with the snow shoes at our feet !!!! After us a fantastic group of 12 girls real dancers from Whitehorse have performed an amazing real " can can " dance in their original dressings of the saloons era. Fabolous indeed.

Yesterday afternoon I met also my friend Mario, very charming elder of 77 years, originally from the provence of Pordenone, who moved up here at the age of 18 to work as a miner and gold seeker. I met him at the Braeburn checkpoint during my Yukon Quest 2000 and ever since then every time that I am in these Terriotires we meet. We hugged each other and told the our last years of life ! Today we will shoot some spectacular aerial immages of other teams included Marco and Armen, from a helicopter. Tomorrow I will leave towards Vancouver, Seattle, Atlanta to reach after a total of 29 hours of flights and layovers, Milano where I will perform some official presentations as a testimonial for my region Friuli Venezia Giulia at the International Tourism Trade Fair BIT, in their mega stand. I' ll be finally back to my Home, beloved Family and Dogs Sunday the 24th of Feb. ready for the students of our International Mushing / Sleddog School !!

It has been a privilege telling you with this simple travel diary, our Yukon Passage 2008 adventure which will be presented as a big documentary in two parts of 1 hour each, on RAI DUE Tv, most likely the 9th and 16th of April. To double check the exact dates please read my website at the end of March. Following the last photos ....

To our next challenge with a ..... big hug from Your
Ararad Khatchikian