Believe it, it’s not an April fool’s practical joke… Once again, for the third year in a row, Peter Kiatainaq and his unrivalled team of Inuit huskies were the first ones to cross the Ivakkak dog team race finish line, as the sun set on Kangirsuk, making him and his partner, young Peter Qisiiq, the champions of this 2006 challenging edition. Farther behind, the eldest of all the mushers, 64-year-old Tamusi Sivuaraapik and his son Johnny were next to arrive in town, just after midnight, followed an hour later by the Séguin brothers and some very tired dogs. All the other dog teams, who have left the halfway checkpoint in Payne Lake camp this morning, are expected to reach Kangirsuk, some late tomorrow (Sunday) or early Monday morning, and others by Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning at the latest.
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It was yet another long day for the dog teams that were trying to make it to Kangirsuk today. Even though Peter Kiatainaq only had over 100 kilometres (65 miles) to make it to Kangirsuk, which should have been a breeze for his dogs, compared to the distance they had covered the day before, it wasn’t all that easy. The trail got a little rough, and in some places, the now three-time Ivakkak champion had to go through water, almost up to his knees, because of the high tides brought by the new moon on the whopping Payne River. But Peter, his partner and his dogs made it safely to the finish line, where a crowd of many was awaiting them, cooking hot dogs, playing accordion and throatsinging out on the ice. Even the Igloolik, Nunavut actor Natar Ungalaaq, famous for his role playing Atanarjuat, the fast runner, was here (wearing clothes this time) to greet the winning team, as they were in town to present Isuma’s newest feature film, The Journals of Knud Rasmussen, as part of a tour of remote Inuit and First Nations communities.

For Tamusi Sivuaraapik and the John Jack Séguin’s teams, it was an even longer day, has they still had to cover over 130 kilometres (80 miles) to make it to Payne Bay, by which the village of Kangirsuk is settled. Up at the crack of dawn again, Tamusi and his son Johnny, who had camped with the Séguin brothers, left them behind, leaving while they were still sleeping, at 5:20 this morning. They made it to town just after midnight, an hour before the two young mushers, who hadn’t been able to catch up to the early birds. Up on their feet, walking with their dogs the whole day, for close to 20 hours staright, the two brothers from Kangiqsualujjuaq and their dogs were exhausted when they finally made it to town at one o’clock in the morning. Needless to say they were very happy to see familiar faces, as their family had made the trip to Kangirsuk to welcome their arrival. Both Tamusi and John Jack’s dogs were so tired that they didn’t even get up when their masters took off their harnesses, kind of like little kids who keep sleeping while their parents take off their clothes to put them to bed.

But before they go home, those dogs will be well taken care of and get a good rest in beautiful Kangirsuk, as they will await the arrival of the remaining 12 dog teams before they start celebrating. In fact, it should take another two days or so before all the teams are reunited in this Ungava Bay community.

While Peter, Tamusi, John Jack, their partners and their dogs were on their way to cross the finish line, the others were just leaving the halfway checkpoint at the Payne Lake hunting and fishing outfitting camp. By eight o’clock, even Johnny Arnatuk and Adamie Qumak had left the camp, where they didn’t get to spend as much time as prescribed by the race’s rules. As a matter of fact, since they were far behind the main pack of dogs, the race official let them leave before their 36-hour mandatory rest was over, so that they could travel with the rest of the group and arrive in time for the end of the race celebrations in Kangirsuk, and chartered planes back to their home communities. By mid-day, Adamie Qumak, who lightened his sled load, had already passed the last bunch of teams. However, he is still in last place, as the 20 remaining hours of rest that he didn’t take will be added to his time of arrival. Same thing goes for Johnny Arnatuk, who only rested 24 hours out of the 36 that he was supposed to take.

The dog teams were travelling on the Payne River most of the day, sitting on their sled, enjoying the warm sunrays and the beauty of the river valley where some saw wolves and foxes up on top. Except for Jusipi Lucassie and his younger brother Etua, who had a very hard time navigating in the bright sunlight. On the way to Payne Lake, Etua’s eyes had started to sting due to the intense light reflection on the big white space he and his dogs were travelling on. Although he was given ointment by the nurse present at the camp, it seems as though his eyes are still impaired. The race official are going to check up on him again tomorrow, and if he is not doing better, they will shuttle him back to Kangirsuk, his home community, where he’ll have to be seen by the nurse again.

Later in the day, as the tide came up on the river, even this far up, the few teams that were a little further ahead came across some obstacles. Due to the rather unusually mild weather that Nunavik has had this past winter as well as the high tides recently brought by the new moon, some small rivers that flow into the Payne River were already starting to break, flooding the trail onto which the leading teams had passed the previous day. They hence had to manage around it, making their journey a little longer.

Nevertheless, a few more teams should be able to make it to Kangirsuk sometime late tomorrow (Sunday), or early Monday. The community will be on the look out for them, making tea and cooking some country food, waiting for them at the finish line on the ice.

NOTE: All the dog teams’ start times from Puvirnituq were adjusted back to 10:50 AM during their mandatory rest at the Payne Lake camp. For example, if they had left one minute after 10:50 AM, they were allowed to leave the halfway checkpoint one minute earlier. If they had left two minutes after 10:50 AM, they were allowed to leave two minutes earlier, and so on. This was done so that the teams would arrive in the order of their actual rank at the finish line in Kangirsuk.

IMPORTANT: Please also note that the race official are still using Eastern Standard Time (EST), as adjusting their clock one hour later to Daylight Saving Time (DST) would have made the total times of the dog teams during this race one hour too long. Instead, using the standard time, it is really reflecting the actual time that they took to make it to from Puvirnituq to Kangirsuk.

Rank		Racer		Start		Arrival		Arrival date		Total Time
1.		Peter Kiatainaq (#2)		10:50:00 AM		6:11:48 PM		April 1		5 days 7hrs 2min 48sec
2.		Tamusi Sivuaraapik (#15)		10:50:00 AM		0:07:40 AM		April 2		5 days 13hrs 17min 40sec
3.		John Jack Séguin (#8)		10:50:00 AM		1:03:00 AM		April 2		5 days 14hrs 13min
4.		Novalinga Novalinga (#3)		10:50:00 AM
5.		Harry Okpik (#5)		10:50:00 AM
6.		Willie Cain Jr. (#6)		10:50:00 AM
7.		Matthew Nassak (#16)		10:50:00 AM
8.		Adamie Inukpuk (#4)		10:50:00 AM
9.		Peter Ittukallak (#1)		10:50:00 AM
10.		Simeonie Elijasiapik (#9)		10:50:00 AM
11.		Jani-Marik Beaulne (#12)		10:50:00 AM
12.		Poasi Kenuajuak (#10)		10:50:00 AM
13.		Jusipi Lucassie (#11)		10:50:00 AM
14.		Johnny Arnatuk (#14)		10:50:00 AM
15.		Adamie Qumak (#7)		10:50:00 AM