Biathlon Competition – Part 1

I only taught for a half a day on February 8 because I had a plane to catch in the afternoon.  My superiors in Pond Inlet granted me leave to escort 8 cadets to the Stage III Biathlon Competition in Whitehorse.  This would be my first time attending the competition in the capacities of escort officer and coach.  I was quite excited because I hadn’t been to Whitehorse since 1997.

            

The cadets were allowed to wear their civilian clothing while travelling.  I had to wear my military CADPAT uniform.  The cadets were instructed to wear their 3045 hoodies to make it easier for them to be identified.  They also had to wear their white issued mukluks.  We were all at the airport by 12:45pm.  I was glad I packed several days in advance.

            

Me & the Biathlon Team.  Inuk Slender Man stayed behind.

We took a group photo for Facebook before the plane arrived.  We posed in front of an Arctic Bay banner and a mannequin dressed in sealskin.  We call him “Inuk Slender Man.”

            

The Perimeter charter plane landed at 1:20pm.  The plane began its journey from Winnipeg, stopping in Naujaat to pick up cadets.  Arctic Bay was the second stop.  The military was able to book a charter because there were a lot of cadets from Naujaat 3055 corps attending the competition.  Everyone watched the plane come to a stop and turn off its engines.  The back door opened and cadets began disembarking from the plane.  The plane needed to be refueled and passengers need to be inside the terminal while this is being done.  Safety first.  The Naujaat cadets were being supervised by two civilian instructors and a CIC officer.

            

The CIC officer in charge of the Naujaat cadet corps is one of my bosses on the military side.  She’s looking after the corps until someone in the community is available to take over.  We exchanged greetings.  She came to Arctic Bay bearing gifts from Naujaat.  She set down a large box containing bags of raw caribou meat.  She was given instructions to hand out the meat for free.  The meat quickly disappeared when she announced, “Free caribou meat!”  Everyone waited until the announcement was made to board the plane.

            

My cadets & I were last to board the plane.  The charter plane is large enough to accommodate around 46 passengers.  The propellers began to spin once everyone was onboard and the doors were sealed shut.  Several minutes later, we were flying high in the sky.

            

The pilot came over the intercom and announced that he was going to fly all the way to Whitehorse without having to stop in Kugluktuk as originally intended.  He assured everyone that he had checked his calculations and concluded that the plane could make it to the city.  Regardless, he was going to fly to Kugluktuk just in case.  The flight crew served everyone a snack consisting of fruit, muffin, and croissant. 

            

The flight to Whitehorse took about five hours.  I was surprised that the plane had enough fuel to go the entire distance.  The landscape slowly changed beneath us.  At first, all we saw were ice, snow, and mountains.  Then we saw snow, mountains, and trees.  It’s been too long, I thought when the plane entered Yukon airspace.

            

We drove by the Yukon Transportation
Museum.

The plane touched down at 7:30pm.  Looking at Whitehorse Airport Terminal, I concluded that several changes were made to the structure since my last visit.  In 1997, the airport had one jet bridge.  Twenty-two years later, the terminal now boasts two jet bridges.  I also think the exterior has been refurbished.  Our plane parked on the right side of the terminal where a school bus was waiting for us.  We disembarked and boarded the school bus.  Our luggage and skiis would be loaded onto another school bus and delivered to the cadet camp.  We would get there first.

            

I had never been to the Whitehorse cadet camp before this trip.  The camp is called Boyle Barracks, named after Canadian adventurer, miner, and businessman Joseph Whiteside Boyle (1867 – 1923).  I have heard of this camp before because many northern cadets are sent here for summer training.

            

Everyone got out of the bus and assembled around a captain.  She welcomed everyone to Boyle Barracks and instructed the cadets to go into the mess hall and wait with the other cadets.  Adult coaches were instructed to go to the officers’ mess, register their teams, and receive their instructions packages.  Everyone was dismissed.

            

A different captain handed me a large folder containing documents & schedules related to the competition.  She also told me the cabins where my cadets would be sleeping for the weekend.  I was lucky enough to be assigned a room all to myself.  When the second bus arrived, I found my cadets and told them to unload all our stuff and move into their assigned cabins.  Our skiing equipment would go into the playroom next to the mess hall.

            

An officers briefing was held about an hour before lights out.  We went over the schedules, rules of the competition, selected judges, and the layout of the course.  Once all questions & concerns were answered, we were dismissed for the night.  Morning reveille was at 0600 hours (6am). 

            

The last thing I did before drifting off to sleep was plug my camera into an outlet so that the battery would be fully charged the following morning.

To Be Continued . . .