After a good night’s rest in the warmth of their heated tents, the dog teams were finally able to hit the road again this morning. This time, there was no wind to stop them and with the nice weather prevailing, it’s under a sunny sky that they left Ippigituit this morning at 9 o’clock, one minute after another. The trail being downhill most of the way, three-time champion Peter Kiatainaq was the first one to make it to the next checkpoint, in the Iqalurjuaq mountain valley, 60 kilometres or so down the trail, only four and a half hours. Less than half an hour later, he was followed by his closest contenders, Junior May and Tamusi Sivuaraapik, who were once also Ivakkak champions, in 2002 and 2001, before Kiatainaq joined the race and took the Ivakkak Cup home to Kangiqsujuaq, where it has been ever since. Towards the end of the day, it started snowing a bit, but most dog teams were already settled at Iqalurjuaq and this little bit of snow didn’t prevent the last three teams from making it to this second checkpoint after dark, guided by the race officials’ snowmobiles headlight shining in the night. Even George Nunga, who’s sled broke on the way, probably worn out from the previous days’ rough riding, was able to make it after repairing it on the spot, with the help of the safety patrol. The nice weather expected to prevail again tomorrow, everybody should therefore be on their way for Kangiqsujuaq in the morning, where the community will be expecting them sometime after lunch.

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On behalf of the Ivakkak organization and of all the participating dog teams, but especially of the young musher Etua Lucassie and his partner Stanley Tukkiapik, Makivik Corporation would like to thank Juusipi Qisiiq and his young partner Tuniq Koneak for their act of humanity. When Juusipi and Tuniq were getting close to the Ippigtuit camp, they heard from another team that Etua and Stanley’s stove was not working well and that they were having trouble warming up in the camp that they had set a few kilometres further back on the trail. Without any further thought, Juusipi decided to turn back and go find Etua and his partner on the trail. The safety patrol had tried to get to them, but because of the storm starting, were not able to find them, although they came close. But with his dogs, Juusipi braved the storm and was able to find them. When he got to them, they were already in hypothermia. So Juusipi, using his own stove, warmed up the tent they were using as shelter and made sure Etua and Stanley stayed awake until they could get warm enough. If it wasn’t for Juusipi deciding to turn back, who knows what may have happened to Etua and Stanley. This is truly a humanitarian act that deserves mention.

The Ivakkak organization would also like take this opportunity to thank the Pingualuit National Park for their support in sending a crew from Kangiqsujuaq to bring much needed supplies to the dog teams yesterday morning, using the park’s snowmobiles.

Nakurmiik!