When the dog teams finally got on their way this morning at 9 o’clock, there was absolutely no trace of yesterday’s blizzard in the bright blue sky shining over them. The only drawback to the previous day’s snowfall was a very soft snow cover, making for a very long day on the trail. Even though the dog teams only had 45 kilometres (30 miles) to cover to reach Akulivik, the first teams only started showing up at the point after 4 o’clock this afternoon, most of them exhausted from running in soft snow alongside their dogs. Willie Cain Jr.’s partner, his cousin Joseph, was particularly in pain, after he strained a leg muscle earlier in the day. But for some lighter-footed men, these new trail conditions, to which their dogs were perhaps also accustomed, turned out to be an advantage. It was certainly the case for Johnny Arnatuk of Quaqtaq, who is in eighth place but showed up shortly after Harry Okpik, who is in fourth place, as well as for Simeonie Elijassiapik, who had another good day, bringing him from the last to the ninth place, ahead of Adamie Inukpuk and Johnny Aakutaaq Angnatuk (see Results below for more details). After getting their dogs tangled for a good 15 minutes shortly after they got going this morning, Willie Cain Jr. and Novalinga Novalinga are now neck to neck in the lead of this 2009 edition of the Ivakkak dog team race, with only 5 minutes apart. It will be interesting to see what happens in the last leg of the race, as the dog teams will be leaving Akulivik in the morning tomorrow, to head towards Ivujivik, where they are expected to cross the finish line this weekend, weather permits.

More news to come tomorrow…