Episode 2

The race to St John’s continues as the five pairs leave the indigenous island of Haida Gwaii and head into the wild, navigating their way into the heart of the Yukon to the second checkpoint, Dawson City, a former boom town established during the Klondike gold rush of 1898.

Getting to Dawson means completing a journey of over 2,000km north up one of the most isolated highways in the world, the vast wilderness only occasionally broken by the odd small settlement or truck stop. The racers have to negotiate dense forests and vast ice fields, all with next to no public transport.

Claudia and her dad Kevin are the first to leave. After a budget-busting taxi ride in the previous leg, they opt for a no-frills strategy of camping and car-sharing. Best friends Tricia and Cathie set off again with self-confessed control freak Cathie anxious about venturing into the unknown and being reliant on others. To get them to Dawson City, married couple Zainib and Mobeen continue to rely on the kindness of strangers and hope to save money by ride-sharing their way to the checkpoint.

Having never owned a backpack prior to setting off from Vancouver, Monique’s education continues, and the leg gets off to a difficult start when she has to camp for the first time. Estranged brothers Marc and Michael leave the checkpoint in last place, and things go from bad to worse when Marc’s fear of bears causes a spat between the pair. After a slow start, they try out an alternative approach to the race and focus on getting to know each other as brothers.