The dog mushers, support teams, and race officials had previously made arrangements to stay with family & friends in Arctic Bay. There really was no other alternative because the local inn didn't have enough rooms to accommodate everyone. That and it was cheaper. The bay area resembled a large parking lot, filled with skidoos and qamutiks.
The Nunavut Quest Awards Ceremony was scheduled for 6pm at the community hall. I did my attendance and as much work as I could do before heading over. I left my skidoo at my residence and walked down to the hall with my camera.
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| Teeman, a competitor from Arctic Bay, holds his son. |
The hall was already beginning to fill with people when I walked into the building. Rows of grey metallic foldout chairs occupied the centre of the large room. There were also chairs on stage and a podium. A large banner of an Inuk dog musher was pasted on the wall behind the stage. There were also posters of the Inuit organizations that sponsored the dog race: Baffinland, NTI, QIA, and the Arctic Bay Hamlet Office, just to name a few. There was also a local 5-piece band that would provide music for the ceremony. They occupied the space just in front of the stage. I took a seat at the back of the hall.
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| Noah Qaqqasiq on bass guitar. |
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| Peter Shooyook on keyboard. |
The band began the ceremony by playing & singing several songs in Inuktitut. Some songs were gospel while others were folk. However, all were lively and got the audience clapping & singing along. I'm not exactly sure what the band was singing about but from what the people around me told me, the songs related to dog sledding and living out on the land.
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| Irene Willie addresses the audience. |
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| Moses Oyukuluk |
Irene Willie, the emcee of the ceremony, took over after the band played their last song. She welcomed everyone and spoke briefly about the history of Nunavut Quest and dog sledding. Moses Oyukuluk, longtime Arctic Bay resident and one of the competitors, followed suit with a speech of his own. Unfortunately, I can't say what it was about because it was all in Inuktitut. (I am doing my best to learn the language on my spare time. My goal is to be able to carry out a basic conversation next year.)
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| Harry Iyerak |
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| Harry Iyerak successfully hits a high note. |
The program continued with Harry Iyerak, one of the managers of the Co-op, singing a humourous musical number with the band. One of my students explained that the song was about an Inuk dog sledder finding himself in several funny situations. Harry had the audience clapping and singing along for the whole song. He received a standing ovation at the end.
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| Competitor John Qaunaq is called to the stage. |
Each competitor was called up to the stage individually to take their seat. The audience greeted each racer with an applause as they walked down the centre aisle of the hall. There were twelve competitors this year. Each racer wore a red bib with their assigned number. All the competitors had "raccoon faces" - windburn all around except for the eyes because they were protected by sunglasses.
When all the competitors were seated, the emcee began reading out the final results, starting from last place. She stressed that this was her first time seeing and reading the final results. She first read out a final time, followed by the competitor's name. The audience congratulated each racer with an applause. Speculation as to who would be in top 3, as well as the winner, began to mount after each result was read. By the time the emcee reached the top five, the audience was cheering louder & louder. Naturally, the first place winner, Amosie Sivugat of Clyde River, received the loudest praise from everyone with a standing ovation. He completed the race in 34 hours, 39 minutes, and 39 seconds. He was awarded $15,000. The second place winner received $10,000 and the third place winner received $5,000.
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| Philip Kalluk - Mayor of Arctic Bay |
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| Isaac Shooyook - Nunavut MLA |
Philip Kalluk, the mayor of Arctic Bay, took to the podium to congratulate all the dog mushers and to say a few words. He was followed by Isaac Shooyook, Member of the (Nunavut) Legislative Assembly, who also congratulated the competitors and spoke about the importance of sled dogs in Inuit culture.
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| Support Teams |
The twelve dog mushers who competed this year wouldn't have been able to complete the 500km course if they didn't have their trusted support teams. The teams were called up to the front to be recognized for their hard work and dedication to keeping the dog teams running.
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| Andrew Taqtu |
The ceremony ended with two speeches from Andrew Taqtu and Rhoda Natanine. Both reside in Arctic Bay. They spoke in Inuktitut preventing me from exactly understanding what they were talking about. I did pick up a few words here and there but not enough to get the whole picture. The speeches most likely were about Nunavut Quest and the sponsors of the race.
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| Rhoda Natanine |
Overall, Nunavut Quest 2015 was a success. The races brought family & friends together from across the arctic and demonstrated how vital sled dogs were to the Inuit way of life before the introduction of modern skidoos, atvs, and vehicles. Yes, there are still some who use sled dogs to hunt and camp but not as many as before. It is difficult not to prefer a skidoo because the machine can cover more terrain than a dog team and you don't have to feed it seal meat.
Over the next few days, the out-of-town dog mushers and support teams left Arctic Bay and returned to their respective communities (ie. Pond Inlet, Igloolik, Clyde River). As I watched some of them leave on their skidoos & qamutiks, I promised myself to make at least one of those cross country trips before I leave the arctic for good.
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| Manasie Shooyook captured plenty of high quality images using his expensive Canon camera and equally expensive 300mm lens. What's shocking is that there are lenses that are larger than 300mm. |
End of Nunavut Quest 2015 Mini-Series
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