FIND YOUR LOCAL VENUE
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Earlier this year, British Military Fitness Instructor Ian Finch travelled 2,000 miles down the Yukon river in just a small canoe.
BMF instructor Ian Finch has been with the company for 9 years. He's split his time between Park Manager of BMF Hampstead Heath and BMF Hemel Hempstead, whilst also regularly instructing at Watford, St Albans and Finsbury Park. When he's not taking BMF classes, Ian has found time to explore some of the most challenging locations across the globe and is well known by members for pushing limits on his adventures - so it came as no surprise to the BMF members who know him that he had found a new way to challenge his boundaries.
Here, we find out more about his latest adventure:
BMF: How did BMF members react to you announcing this challenge?
The BMF Hampstead Heath members know me really well so weren't at all surprised, just excited to see my journey come to life! The BMF Hemel Hempstead group were more intrigued as haven't known me as long. They prepared a hilarious leaving card and cake which went down well!
BMF: How did BMF help you prepare for the challenge?
Physical preparation for the journey started months before the trip. I regularly trained in local parks using numerous bodyweight exercises, just like what we do during BMF classes, to prepare my muscles for the punishing 3 month paddling schedule we had planned. I mainly focused on upper body, shoulders and my back in particular. Due to the dynamic action of paddling I had to train and prepare my core muscles daily. There was a lot of rotation exercises using med balls and in some cases logs found in the parks during BMF sessions. My knowledge gained from countless hours training and helping people get fit meant I felt well-prepared for the trip and on the river.
BMF: So, tell us more about this trip.
The Yukon River descent was a 2000-mile canoe journey from the source of the river in the mountains of British Columbia, to its mouth at Emmonak, Alaska, some 82 miles from Russia.
This 3-month journey was not only a test of my physical and mental resilience but more so driven by a desire for cultural learning and discovery. Along the rivers extensive, winding course, numbers of 1st nation and indigenous groups are going through changes in their ancient culture along with a resurgence and revitalisation in their traditions and ways of life. This journey and subsequent story became less about us and more about the people of the land and their living, dynamic relationship to the river and the animals that inhabit it.
BMF: What inspired this trip?
I grew up with a father passionately interested in human history, archeology and indigenous people and I would forever read his books about native American’s in the back room of my childhood house. Fast-forward 20 years and that fascination and interest in 1st nations groups still smoulders within me, especially those that inhabit remote regions.
The entire length of the Yukon River is home to various indigenous groups, languages and ways of living. This journey felt like a calling, a chance to meet these people and find out what life is like on the river in a modern world. It was especially important for me to learn about those tribal groups still connected to fishing and the Yukon’s most precious resource, the King Salmon.
BMF: Was the trip as challenging as you'd expected it to be?
For the most part, daily challenges came and went and the ever-changing weather was manageable for most of the time. The mountains channeled certain elements and also kept certain weather systems at bay. Yet as we moved deeper into Alaska, the topography changed giving way to flat coastal tundra.
This meant the ocean winds swept across the river, without obstacle, turning the river into a boiling cauldron of hazards, day after day. Paddling into waves and headwinds for nearly a month escalated those small niggling joint pains into fully-fledged shoulder and wrist injuries. Yet, without challenge there is no growth, we just got used to it and embraced it.
BMF: What were the highlights of the trip for you?
I was captivated by the lives of the indigenous people and the vast wilderness of the region. Wherever I choose to go on my adventures, I first ask the question what 1st nation groups inhabit the landscape and are they still connected to ancient beliefs and traditional means of living. I then weave the adventure and journey around that core desire to explore.
In the Yukon, the open canoe was a nod to the traditional craft of the region and tied the story together beautifully. I had planned to build a birch bark canoe but time and financial constraints meant this wasn’t feasible. The Yukon is bathed in so much human history and had so many tribal communities thriving along its course. Looking back the learning became much more than I could have ever imagined.
One of the most memorable characters on the river was a Koyukon fisherman called Walter from Nulato, Alaska. He showed us a friendship and generosity beyond words. Letting us into his world, we experienced life after a harvest of King Salmon. Wet and cold we walked and weaved between his grandmother and grandchildren slicing and filleting the recent catch and preparing them for smoking. I will never forget the scene, damp smoke from the smouldering cottonwood and the vibrant pinks and reds of the Salmon strips hanging in the smokehouse. This is what we'd paddled over 1,000 miles to see.
BMF: Looking back, would you have changed anything about your trip, or done anything differently?
To be honest, I wouldn’t have changed a single thing. There are small details in hindsight that were down to communication and misunderstandings between the group, but other than that, what happened out there happened as it was meant to.
It’s all a learning experience that ultimately made us all better adventurers and people.
I wouldn’t change that for the world.
If you'd like to ask Ian any questions about his trip, head to our Facebook page on Wednesday 28th September where he'll be running a Q&A session on the page.
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