Let them lie down. Just don't expect two Anchorage athletes -- once both superb runners -- to be able to walk much come August.

Former Heart Run champion Greg Tibbetts and former Mayor's Marathon champion Larry Seethaler are among a select group of paddlers who this week set out to accomplish the unprecedented -- paddle 460 miles in the Yukon River Quest beginning Thursday in Whitehorse and then, beginning July 20, take on the world's longest paddle race, the new Yukon 1000 from Whitehorse to the trans-Alaska pipeline bridge on the Dalton Highway north of Fairbanks.

"My butt's hurting already," said Tibbetts, 61, who will race a tandem kayak with Anchorage's Jan Nyboer, 66, in the Quest. Seethaler, 66, will join Brenda Forsythe, 51, in the Quest before hooking up with Tibbetts in the longer race.

Nobody's shocked they named their team We Must Be Nuts.

"You'd think after that (both races)," joked Peter Coates, a 54-year-old computer programmer who is race director of the Yukon 1000, "you'd have enough marathon paddling to last through the winter."

"I think it's going to be different," Tibbetts said of the latter race. "It's more of an adventure. I like the idea of being totally self-sufficient."

Beyond an extra 540 miles, there are several key differences between the races.

• Timing: The Quest is a nonstop race with two mandatory stops totaling 10 hours. Yukon 1000 racers must stop for six hours each night.

• Length: The Quest race record is 39 hours, 32 minutes, 43 seconds. Yukon 1000 organizers don't expect to see the winner for at least a week.

• Prize Money: The Quest pays out $36,000 to its top finishers, while the Yukon 1000 does not offer a prize.

• Support: The Quest has up to 10 safety boat teams, nearly 100 volunteers of support workers and eight checkpoints. Yukon 100 racers are pretty much on their own, but they're required to carry SPOT devices enabling them to call for help in dire circumstances. The 7-ounce units, which cost about $150, have a built in GPS receiver and transmitter that allow the holder to send one-way text or e-mail messages in areas with no cell phone or Internet access. They also act as a satellite emergency locator.

• Participation: Some 179 paddlers in 79 teams will race the Quest. Just 22 teams have signed up for the Yukon 1000.

Both Anchorage paddlers are grizzled veterans of the Yukon River Quest -- this will be Tibbetts' 10th Quest while Seethaler has entered all 11 editions. Seeing a new portion of the Yukon River appeals to both men.

"After Dawson," Tibbetts said, "I'm not going to know what's going to be around the next bend. That's exciting. And I think you'll have a sense of how big the country is."

Coates agrees. He warns that reading the river is perhaps the most important skill.

"Past Circle," he warns, referring to the town near the Alaska-Canada border, "it's a very complicated river."

Meaning that the fastest paddler may not win.

"The race will be won and lost on dry land," he said. Really, it's all about how efficient are you in your camp? Can you keep yourself dry? How well do you do in a rainstorm and how well can you predict the rain?"

Win or lose, the anguish should be equally distributed.

"After a week, I don't see how anyone can spend 18 hours a day sitting in (a kayak)," Coates said. "What are these people are made of?

"You can't feel your feet, and it can take weeks or months to get back to normal."

Every Yukon 1000 racer must have at least 44 pounds of food at the start, and teams are required to carry such survival gear as sleeping bags, tents, stoves, fuel and a fire-starting kit.

"It's perfectly likely after the first 100 kilometers they may never see another competitor again, " Coates said. "It's going to be a rather lonely race."

That's one of the reasons Coates decided not to allow solo competitors.

"I didn't want a solo boat traveling by itself," he said. "If you're in a tandem boat and you flip, there are two of you; that makes a huge difference when you're in the middle of nowhere."

Alaskans Racing Yukon River Quest

Solo Kayak Men

1) Rick Hoegberg, 52, Fairbanks; raced last year.

2) David Peters, 49, Eagle River; Iditasport and Alaska Mountain Wilderness Classic veteran -- but Yukon River Quest rookie.

Solo Kayak Women

1) Susan Dunsmore, 44, Eagle River; her third Yukon River Quest.

2) Holly Kent, 48, Anchorage.

Voyager Canoe

1) Melanie Harrop, 30, Eagle River; Merlin Peterson, 34, Anchorage; Joseph Nash, 61, North Pole; Dan Mitchell, 40, Anchorage; Royal Harrop, 55, Eagle River; Karen Zelch, 39, Anchorage; Mark Holmquist, 46, Fort Richardson.

Tandem Canoe Mixed

1) Larry Seethaler, 66, and Brenda Forsythe, 51, both of Anchorage. Seethaler has competed in all 10 Yukon River Quest races and Forsythe has done six of them.

2) Molly Dischner, 19, Skagway, and Tran Smith, 25, Big Lake.

Tandem Canoe Men

1) Aaron Gomez, 30, and Peter McDonald, 32.

2) Joel Cusick, 48, Anchorage, and Lee Whitten, 53, Anchorage.

3) Eric Nelson, 48, Auke Bay, and Dave Sevdy, 46, Juneau.

Tandem Kayak Women

1) Melinda Miles, 46, Chugiak, and Zoe Oakley, 44, Anchorage. Miles started and scratched from the 2004 Iditarod.

Tandem Kayak Men

1) Jan Nyboer, 66, Anchorage, and Greg Tibbetts, 61, Anchorage. Both have raced at least four times and competed in several other northern ultra events.

Tandem Kayak Mixed

1) Carl Schoch, 53, Homer, and Lana Davis, 41, Anchorage.

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