Getting Nunavut kids pumped over BMX track in Cape Dorset

Picture if you will a BMX pump track complete with banks and hills in Cape Dorset… these youth, and future track users, are doing just that. Local volunteers, in collaboration with hamlet staff, are doing some preliminary grading there now in the hopes of having the track ready for use in late spring or summer 2017. (PHOTO BY CLAUDE CONSTANTINEAU)

If it’s true that an idle mind is the devil’s workshop, some local volunteers in Cape Dorset are trying to find ways to run the devil out of town, on bikes.

Claude Constantineau, with help from the municipality, recreation director Will Sandoval and some local sponsors, is hoping next summer that Cape Dorset youth will have a new BMX track in town.

“Our short term goal is to provide another sport in the community and we picked this one because, basically, there are a lot of youth, and adults, riding around on their bikes all summer along, and even in the winter,” said Constantineau, a Government of Nunavut staffer in Cape Dorset who came up with the idea and volunteered to organize it.

“We’re constantly seeing little hills and pieces of wood on the road where kids try to make themselves jumps.”

And riding down streets over homemade jumps is not always safe, Constantineau told Nunatsiaq News Sept. 29.

So why not build a track dedicated to BMX riding where kids can hang out, get some exercise and enjoy the adrenaline of racing?

“I thought it was a great idea especially for the youth when it came to the summer time,” said Will Sandoval, Sept. 30—Cape Dorset’s recreation director and a BMX enthusiast himself in his youth, growing up in Calgary.

“I basically told him whatever he needed from me, I’d totally support it.”

The hamlet council recently gave the idea a thumbs-up and then found some reserve land which they don’t plan to develop for at least 10 years so organizers can turn it into a BMX track.

This winter, Constantineau hopes to get some young people involved in planning the track’s design and learning more about BMX biking, conditioning and competing.

In spring, they plan to build something called a pump track—a course where, after the initial downhill launch, riders don’t actually pedal but instead, use the banks and angles along the way to propel themselves around the course.

In making the track, they plan to use the existing features of the land—its peaks and valleys—and build on them by moving soil and other materials around. But it has to be done right in order to maintain a rider’s momentum.

“The general idea is to provide some healthy activities, something to do for the youth, but also it lends itself to learning about math and engineering concepts, angles, that sort of thing,” said Constantineau.

Constantineau expects it will cost about $10,000—most of which they’ve already raised through government grants and other sources.

And if the kids like it and get into it, organizers can add more challenging features and jumps in future years, he said.

Cycling BMX made its Olympic debut at the Beijing games in 2008 and has since become a popular sport worldwide.

Constantineau said it’s a natural sport for the Arctic because there’s plenty of space to ride and young people are naturally drawn to the speed and adrenaline.

And many kids already have BMX bikes in Cape Dorset.

Sandoval said last year, the Northern Store gave organizers of the community clean-up some money the company had raised through the sale of plastic bags. Organizers then used that money to buy 10 BMX bikes to give away as prizes.

Sandoval and Constantineau are hoping to raise more money from businesses and the local community to buy more bikes and perhaps even bring a BMX pro north next summer to teach youth a few things about riding and competition.

With frequent and discouraging news coming out of Cape Dorset these days, Constantineau and Sandoval say it’s important to give kids something to do.

“Especially in the summer months, when kids are out of school and it’s light out 24/7. That’s why I jumped on board with the BMX track. I do feel it’s going to get a lot of use,” he said.

“It will basically put kids in one area to enjoy themselves in an outdoor area where they can go with their friends, hang out and challenge each other, get them off the road.

“Some youth don’t have it that easy at home. It’s great to see them come out to an event and be able to enjoy themselves.”

In addition to the BMX track, Sandoval and his colleagues at the hamlet have begun an after school drama club, a parents and tots program and an elder storytelling program for youth.

They are hoping to record those stories and turn them into a book with illustrations from youth.