Ivakkak dog teams start their 600-km sprint March 17

The ten teams competing in this 2015 Ivakkak pose for a group photo before departing from Kuujjuaraapik March 17. (PHOTO BY PIERRE DUNNIGAN/IVAKKAK)

Ten dog teams pulled away from Kuujjuaraapik March 17 as the 14th edition of Nunavik’s Ivakkak dog sled race got started one day late this year.

The race, originally scheduled to depart March 16, was delayed due to bad weather.

When dog teams finally left Kuujjuaraapik on the morning of March 17, race organizers said teams encountered winds and fog in the first stretch.

But conditions cleared and mushers finished the first leg of the race under an orange sunset.

Puvirnituq musher Peter Itukallak finished the first 83 kilometre-stretch of the 600-km journey first in seven hours and 19 minutes, followed by fellow Puvirnituq musher Novalinga Novalinga.

On the race’s second day, March 18, teams were expected to arrive in Umiujaq, on Nunavik’s Hudson Coast, in the late afternoon.

The 600-km trail will follow the same route along the shores of Hudson Bay that dog teams ran in 2013, which winning mushers Peter Ittukallak and Juani Nutaraaluk of Puvirnituq completed in about 56 hours.

As in 2013, this race is timed to coincide with Puvirnituq’s bi-annual snow festival, which runs from March 23 to March 28, under this year’s theme “Qulliq — the light of life.”

The first-ever Ivakkak was launched by Makivik in 2001, to help encourage Nunavimmiut to carry on with their dog sledding tradition, a practice that was nearly lost following the killing of Inuit dogs in the 1950s and 1960s.

You can follow this year’s race at http://ivakkak2015.com.