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Women's Dog Sled Race to Celebrate Nunavut

The Rankin Inlet Women's Sled Dog Race to celebrate Canada's newest Territory - Nunavut - was held on the snow covered sea ice of Johnson Bay, on the east side of the community.

The Weather
The weather was not pleasant at race time. It was about -30 with a wind-chill of -55 and very poor visibility, less than 1/4 mile, because of the blowing snow. Five women braved the adverse conditions to participate in the race. Three of the women were from Rankin Inlet: Emma Tatty, Maria Qusuut and Margaret Nokkitok.One, Bertha Tukturdjuk, was from Repulse Bay a small community located 500 miles north of Rankin Inlet on the Arctic Circle. And one participant, Janet Gray,was a visitor from Manotick, Ontario (originally from Nova Scotia) who had never been in a dog race and only driven a dog team once before.

The Equipment
All teams employed a kamotiq with fan lines, traditionally used by the Inuit of Nunavut for travelling by dog sled. A kamotiq is a low sled that looks like a homemade ladder on the ground, with one end upturned forming the runners.

For racing, a very narrow and short kamotiq is used in Nunavut. It is 12-18 inches wide and 8-10 feet long.The musher sits or lies on the sled. The fan hitch allows each dog to be tied from his or her harness to the sled by a separate line, and frees the dogs to pick their own routes over the undulating snow pack.

The Dogs
Emma Tatty and Maria Qusuut team's were composed of Canadian Hounds and sleek Alaskan Huskies borrowed from the kennel of local musher, Eric Tatty. Maria's team was led by friendly "Taffy". Maria often joins in the races that are held in Rankin Inlet several times per year. Margaret Nokkitok's team was a mixed breed team of northern huskies borrowed from her father, local musher Remi Nokkitok, who helped Margaret practice and prepare for the race. Janet Gray entered the race with a team of 3 burley mixed Alaskan Malamutes led by 11 year old veteran "Bear", borrowed from Tumi Tours Dogsled Adventures owned by John Hicks. Bertha Tukturdjuk's team was led by 'Tumi' (that's toomee) a perky little mixed Siberian Husky and her two sons 'Blackie' and 'Nagano', with their father, a beautiful black Alaskan Husky named "Max" borrowed from Wolf Den Kennels, owned by local musher Dyan Gray. Bertha often participates in the ladies races held in her home community of Repulse Bay, and usually places very well in these races using her brother Jolie's dogs.

The youngest participant was 25 years old with the oldest being 62 years old.

The Race
The route for the Nunavut 99 Ladies Dogsled Race followed a well traveled skidoo trail out onto sea ice for about 2 1/2 miles, rounded a group of islands, looped back to the main trail after about 1 mile, and returned to the finish line, on the outgoing trail. In all, the race was about 4 miles.

Each musher had at least one handler, normts, Nike Canada, CAAWS, girls body image,where to play sports, girls self-esteem, girls soccer, girls cycling, girls and nutrition, nutrition for active girls, Canadian Association for women and sport, girls@play, snowboarding, skating, boarding, girl site, sports girl, extreme girl, mountain biking, skateboards, surfboards, X Games">

So in first place, covering the course at a blazing pace, with a smiling but frostbitten face, was Bertha Tukturdjuk. In 2nd place wasMargaret Nokkitok. Third was Maria Qusuut, fourth was Janet Gray, and bringing up the rear wasEmma Tattyin fifth place.

Each of the participants received a trophy with a shiny brass husky dog on the top, and a small cash prize.

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