The Ivakkak 2009 participants awoke to a cold, but beautiful day this morning. A little on the chilly side at first, with temperatures as low as -40ºC with the wind factor, it got better as the day went by and the wind died off. But the wind had already taken its toll on the trail, leaving its thin snow cover ruffled and even exposed in some parts, with barely enough snow to shield the dog sleds from the Arctic bare land of rock and moss. In spite of this, the day went by smoothly for the dog teams, at least for most of them… It wasn’t the case for Aakutaaq, who’s female in heat got him tangled up with Johnny Arnatuq’s and Adamie Inukpuk’s dogs. Harry Okpik also went off trail for a little while, as his dogs decided to chase after caribou, bringing him passed the shore, on the sea ice of the Hudson Bay. But no matter how rough the trail was, or how much trouble they got in, the dog teams managed to cover over 80 kilometres (50 miles) today, bringing them closer to Puvirnituq than expected, only a little over 55 kilometres (35 miles) away from this hub community of the the Hudson Bay coast of Nunavik. And when the racers made it to today’s checkpoint, at Kuugaluk, after a long day out and about, they were all happy campers. Sheduled to leave their campsite at 9 o’clock tomorrow morning, the dog teams should start arriving in Puvirnituq early in the afternoon tomorrow.

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More news to come tomorrow…