As this paper hits the newstands on Tuesday afternoon of this week, Merritt’s Nicki Beverley and her driving partner Max Vaysburd of Redmond, WA should be somewhere above the Arctic Circle, heading south from Tuktoyaktuk on the shores of the Beaufort Sea to the relatively warmer climes of Dawson City, YT.

Beverley and Vays-burd are competing in the nine-day, 4,490 mile Alcan 5000 car rally. The competition began on Feb. 23 from Kirkland, Wash. (outside Seattle) and winds up in Anchorage, Alaska on March 2, just in time for the weary participants to kick back and enjoy the start of the famous Iditarod sled dog race.

A total of 25 teams are taking part in the 2012 Alcan 5000 winter rally, with drivers and their navigators coming from as far away as South Africa, Florida, Texas and New Hampshire.

Beverley, in just her second year of rally sport competition, is one of the youngest participants in the rigorous Alcan event, and one of only eight Canadians.

The Alcan 5000 rally involves very long, rigorous days of transit driving (essentially touring sections during which competitors may proceed at their own pace) interspersed with some highly-challenging TSD (time/speed/distance) sections in which drivers and their cars must maintain very precise average speeds, and arrive at specified checkpoints exactly on time. Any deviations in time – early or late – result in penalties.

The Alcan 5000 also features several ‘ice races’ on the famous ice roads of northern B.C. and the Yukon.

Beverley and Vays-burd warmed up (figuratively speaking) for the frigid Alcan event by taking part in the Thunderbird rally two weekends ago. The 60-car race began and ended in Merritt, with competitors covering almost 800 km of gazetted and forestry roads in and around the Nicola Valley in a span of just two days.

Beverley and Vays-burd finished eight in their class. Meanwhile, Nicki’s father, Graeme, and local RCMP officer Dan Lachapelle, placed fifth in the novice division.