BLISTERS, all-over body ache and the odd hallucination - Cairns businessman Bodo Lenitschek experienced it all during a gruelling 742km paddling race over just 48 hours.

Some might call it crazy.

And at times during the event - when the Yukon River stretched endlessly before him and physical exhaustion combined seamlessly with sleep deprivation - Mr Lenitschek might even have agreed.

But completing the "Race to the Midnight Sun" in Canada's remote Yukon territory, and finishing second, has been a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the Cairns insurance manager who first picked up a paddle 30 years ago.

See more pictures of the epic journey.

The world's longest annual canoe and kayak race, the 742km Yukon River Quest includes long winding river sections, rapids and a 50km lake crossing.

With just one small town and no vehicular access along the way, contestants carry their own emergency and camping gear as well as food.

After years racing - both in Cairns Beaches Outrigger Canoe Club and in the Australian white-water slalom kayaking team for a stint - the athlete had the perfect base to build on when his casual Canadian holiday was turned on its head.

"A friend invited me to race with her instead of just going for a paddling-camping trip so a nice easy run down a river turned into something quite different," Mr Lenitschek said.

The pair finished second in the mixed racing category and eighth overall, breaking the mixed division's record in a time of 46 hours and 44 minutes, coming in ahead of all men's doubles combinations.

Of the 240 paddlers at the starting blocks, only 190 completed the race. Some suffered hypothermia after tipping in 2C water and others pulled out exhausted.

"A couple of times I hit the wall and caught myself hallucinating and struggling to keep my eyelids open... and I saw all kinds of weird and wonderful things from temples to bears where there were just tree stumps," he said of the effects of physical exhaustion combined with sleep deprivation.

The pair arrived at the finish line exhausted but elated, with aching muscles, hands full of blisters and particularly sore bums.

They had also endured a diet of energy bars and frozen coconut oil and almost 48 hours of never-ending daylight because of the Yukon's closeness to the Arctic Circle.

But two weeks after returning home, his only scars are traces of blisters and a weak ankle where he twisted his foot in the initial 1km foot race to the boats.

And he hasn't ruled out doing it all over again.

"When I first got off the river I thought that one's done," he said.

"But the more you reflect on it the more you think I could prepare a bit better and have another go at that."

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