Cain's Quest rerouted day before race, avoiding poor conditions in southern Labrador

The organizers of Cain's Quest have rerouted the Labrador snowmobile en‐ durance race to avoid poor racing conditions on the south coast of the Big

Land.

The change comes nearly 18 hours before the race is set to begin. The original route spanned over 3,500 kilometres, but Cain's Quest Chair Chris Lacey said the new route is around 3,150 kilometres.

"We got all our intel back, and it was obvious that the south coast could not be pos‐ sible. It was impassible, there's too much water, the little bit of snow that we did have there melted," Lacey told CBC News Saturday. "It was clear to us that we had to change it."

Racers have expressed concerns this week about conditions on the south coast of Labrador, where warmer temperatures and rain were reported. Tempera‐ tures in the Happy ValleyGoose Bay region are also ex‐ pected to be at or above freezing for multiple days next week.

Lacey said that while the route is still being finalized, it will put racers in places like Happy Valley-Goose Bay and Nain sooner. It also adds a rest stop at the Cain's Quest headquarters in Labrador City, which he said marks the first time ever a rest stop has been placed in Labrador West.

"Is it perfect? By no means. But we think we managed to get the best of what we could to have a race happen in 2024," he said.

Lacey said racers have re‐ sponded positively to the change, and is "100 per cent optimistic" the multi-day race can be finished after weather conditions cancelled last year's race.

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