KETCHIKAN — The boat race that challenged contestants to sail, paddle or pedal their vessels from Washington to Alaska will return next year.

This summer’s Race to Alaska was a simple concept: teams raced the 750 miles from Port Townsend, Wash., to Ketchikan for a $10,000 first-place prize, reported the Ketchikan Daily News.

The Northwest Maritime Center sponsored the first race and has announced that it will hold another one on June 23, 2016. 

The event’s official website says more details will be announced on Sept. 11 at the 39th Annual Wooden Boat Festival.

“There will be changes and some fun additions to the 2016 challenge,” wrote Daniel Evans, who was this year’s race boss, in a news release from the Northwest Maritime Center.

Fifty-three teams left Port Townsend on June 4, bound for Victoria, British Columbia, on the first leg of the trip. 

On June 7, 40 teams left Victoria for the second half of the race.

The three crew members of Team Elsie Piddock claimed the first-place prize after reaching Ketchikan in their trimaran sailboat on June 12.