The Long Good Friday

The Ivakkak crossed the finish line yesterday, and it would seem that I spoke too soon about Noah Annahatak's chances of victory. As I was writing Wednesday's post poor Noah and his team tumbled down a hill and off the trail in whiteout conditions; everyone was okay, but the time lost as a result put Noah behind Willie Cain from Tasiujaq, and he was unable to bridge the gap before the race finished in Kuujjuaq. You can see the final results here.

On the home front I'm now officially on holiday, and I'm looking forward to a week of doing absolutely nothing. Some of the teachers are staying in town but most have left for the week, and I now have ten days to relax before what is likely to be my final four weeks in the North. James and Sophie, my erstwhile neighbours, will be returning after the Easter break as they have now finished their paternity/maternity leaves, and as a result Jacob, my current neighbour (who has been working as a replacement teacher but is now staying on until the end of the year), will be moving in with me when he gets back from holiday next weekend.

I enjoy my own space and I'm basically a private person at heart, so I'm not sure how I feel about house sharing, but Jacob is a good guy - I have to say that in case he's reading - and it's only for four weeks so I'm sure we'll both cope. Good job that whole thing with the igloos isn't going to happen after all; something about the date, apparently.

When the dogs have hit their stride

Whilst I was on my Easter break, the Ivakkak finished in Ivujivik, the northernmost community in Nunavik. My pre-race pick, the team of Willie Cain Jr. & Joseph Cain, came home a creditable second, whilst the crown of Ivakkak champions went to the mononamic Novalinga Novalinga and his partner, Aibilie Moses.



Depending on your source, the word Ivakkak can mean either 'running at a comfortable speed' or 'when the dogs are at their best pace', but the definition I prefer is 'when the dogs have hit their stride.' As I have said before, it was a privilege to have been able to witness the start of the race, especially when one considers its historical and cultural significance, and seeing the dogs hit their stride that day is one of the fondest memories of my time in the North.

So, hats (or tuques) off to all those who competed, and given that the Ivakkak is now a biennial event, here's to 2011.

Sunday service

Finally, after three days, my sewage tank has been emptied. Saturday morning was a harrowing time as I watched the yellow 'poop trucks' circle around outside, and they seemingly visited every other house until one eventually broke ranks and delivered me from my sewage-induced nightmare. The house opposite actually received two visits in the space of half an hour before my tank was emptied, leaving me thinking that either this was now all getting somewhat vindictive or that poor family had a serious case of the runs. Either way, I don't really think I want to know the answer.

The Ivakkak is on a rest day today, and there was sad news yesterday as one of the competitors, Harry Okpik (remember him, the man with one leg?), awoke to find two of his dogs dead; apparently, many of the male dogs have been fighting over the few females in heat that are taking part in the race. On a more positive note my pre-race pick, Willie Cain Jr, currently leads the field, but with the race not quite at the halfway stage yet it's a bit early to be heading down to Ladbrokes to collect my winnings.

Only one full week until the Easter break now, and with our school year ending in May, the tunnel where there is apparently light to be found should you travel to its end, is almost in sight!

Mush!

The Ivakkak finally got going today, and many of us spent an enjoyable, if cold, couple of hours soaking up the atmosphere before we finally got to see the teams leave on their journey north. The Ivakkak has only been through Inukjuak once before, so to have the race actually start in the town was a prestigious honour, and there must have been a good couple of hundred people (a sizeable crowd in these parts) on site to see the teams off.

The build-up to the start of the race included a number of speeches which were then followed by one of the more joyful traditions at these type of events, whereby stacks of goodies are literally hurled into the waiting crowd who then battle to catch said goodies in the manner of fans at a baseball game trying to get their hands on a foul ball or home run. Much to my delight and surprise, I managed to pluck an Ivakkak toque (that's a woolly hat to our British readers) out of the air, and it was then off to the start line to see the teams finally begin their journey.

The Ivakkak very much combines the old with the new - each wooden sled is equipped with a GPS tracker and the whole race is shadowed by a helicopter - but it is the dog teams that remain at the heart of the event, and there were certainly some fine animals on display this morning. It surprised me that the number of dogs on each team was not even - most teams had ten, but the numbers ranged from eight up to twelve - and it is for this reason that I am going to install team #9 (Willie Cain Jr. & Joseph Cain) as my early favourites, simply because they had the most dogs. Team #12 (Johnny Aakutaaq Angnatuk & his son, Sammy) also had a dozen huskies to pull the sled, but two of them looked somewhat reticent to run and were virtually being dragged along by the others, a bit like the kids in your class at school who never wanted to take part in the P.E. lessons and consequently took forever to get changed into their kit before finally being ushered out onto the muddy field by an increasingly frustrated games teacher before he locked the changing room door.

And it wasn't just the number of dogs on each team that was uneven either, as head musher of team #1, Harry Okpik, is - to quote Peter Cook and Dudley Moore - deficient in the leg division, to the tune of one. Nonetheless, Harry has served as an inspiration for many years now, and you can read a nice little article about him from 2003 here. Harry's team was the first to leave, and one by one the other teams followed, accompanied by the cheers of the crowd as they rode away into the distance, becoming mere dots on the horizon before they finally disappeared out of sight. The helicopter that I mentioned earlier made a brief flight to check on the competitors' progress, but it then came back to town and for the rest of the afternoon a huge queue was formed as the villagers were given free sight-seeing flights over Inukjuak, a really nice touch. Whilst they were in the air, they may have been able to see the polar bear that was rumoured to have wandered into town, but much like sightings of Elvis the presence of said bear has yet to be confirmed; I shall keep you posted!

Don't forget to follow the progress of the race on the Ivakkak website, and along with news of polar bears I shall also try to keep you up to date with the race on the blog.