After leaving Quaqtaq yesterday morning, the dog teams headed towards Diana Bay, along side which the starting community is settled. Not only did they have to face the bitter cold wind that was still blowing on the sea ice, but as soon as they reached the other shore of Diana Bay —known as Tuvaaluk to Inuit— another challenge presented itself, as a soaring mountain stood in front of them. The climb was a long and strenuous one, putting the dog teams to the test, but also their masters, who had to walk alongside most of the way up, to lighten their load. Up on the tundra, things didn’t get easier, as the wind kept on blowing, making for a very rough trail. After almost 8 long hours on the trail, elder Tamusi Sivuaraapik and his son Johnny, who were last to leave Quaqtaq, were the first ones to make it to the first checkpoint, at Ippigituit, no less than 65 kilometres from the starting line, just before nightfall. By the time the race officials decided to call it a day, only 9 out of the 17 participating dog teams had actually made it to camp (see results below for more details). And when they awoke this morning, nobody was in sight, yesterday’s blowing wind having turned into a snowstorm, forcing everybody to stay put.

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With the wind blowing non-stop on the tundra for the past few days, the terrain was made very rough. The distance of 65 kilometres traveled on this first day, which would, with better trail conditions, take only 5 hours or so for the best dog teams to cover, took a lot more time to cover.

65-year-old Tamusi Sivuaraapik and his son Johnny, who were the first to arrive at Ippigituit, only came in at 5:42 PM. Tamusi’s dog team, which was the very first Ivakkak champion, in 2001, and who came in second last year, took close to 8 hours to make it to Ippigituit. Same thing for three-time Ivakkak champion Peter Kiatainaq and his young partner, Peter Qisiiq Jr., who came in shortly after, at 5:46 PM. So this just goes to show that the race might take a lot longer than expected.
The next batch to arrive at Ippigituit were the teams of Junior May and Aqikki Kooktook, and of Willie Cain Jr. and Joseph Cain, who arrived one behind another at 6:10 PM.

Almost an hour later, it was the turn of Noah Annahatak, accompanied by his son Elijah, and of Willie Kulula Sr., accompanied by his nephew Gabriel Putulik St-Cyr Kulula, who also arrived a few seconds behind one another, at 7:05 PM.

45 minutes later, at 7:50 PM, Harry Okpik and his partner Billy Keleutak turned up.

Then it took another hour for the next dog team to arrive, as Adamie Inukpuk and his apprentice Simon Ningeok came in at 8:45 PM.

Half an hour later, at 9:16 PM, Zachariasie Elijassiapik and his nephew Arthur were the last ones to make it to camp.

The race officials waited at least another hour outside in the night, on the look out for more teams to arrive. But by 10:30 PM, no one else had shown up. However, some of the teams still missing called in to let the race officials know that they were stopping on the trail for the night, too tired to make it any further to reach the first checkpoint. Along with the group of dog teams who had made it, the race officials hence decided that they would wait for them before leaving for another day on the trail. Two of the safety patrol members that also stayed behind to make sure everybody was O.K. would make sure that those remaining dog teams would make it to camp in the morning, after a night’s rest.

The safety patrol members on snowmobile, who had spotted some caribou tracks nearby, and some of the mushers were planning to go hunting in the morning while waiting for the remaining dog teams to come in. This extra meat could certainly prove useful for the dog teams to have more provisions on hand, since it seems that it’s gonna take them a lot longer to make it to Kangiqsujuaq, where they’ll be able to stock up on supplies again.

Unfortunately, when they awoke this morning, yesterday’s blue sky had disappeared in a snowstorm, forcing everyone to stay put.

More news later, as the day goes by…