Nunavik Adventure Challenge International brings out the best

Jobie Unatweenuk and his teammate David Unatweenuk celebrate at the finish line of the Nunavik Adventure Challenge International in Kangiqsualujjuaq March 27, a 150-kilometre multi-sport trek around the community and nearby Kuururjuaq park. (PHOTO COURTESY OF ENDURANCE AVENTURE)

Quebec team Spin Sports et Plein Air was the first of ten teams to cross the finish March 27 after completing a 150-kilometre multi-sport trek through the nearby Kuururjuaq provincial park. (PHOTO BY PASCAL POULIN)

Jobie Unatweenuk and his teammate David Unatweenuk were met by a throng of fans the finish line of the Nunavik Adventure Challenge International in Kangiqsualujjuaq March 27. (PHOTO COURTESY OF ENDURANCE AVENTURE)

When Jobie Unatweenuk arrived back in Kangiqsualujjuaq March 27 after a 150-kilometre trek, he said the feeling was “pretty good.”

As he and his teammate David Unatweenuk started passing houses as they made their way to the finish line, people came out of their homes to cheer the pair on.

The Unatweenuks, otherwise known as Team Nunavik-Kangiqsualujjuaq, were ones of several teams competing in the Nunavik Adventure Challenge International this week.

The March 25 to 27 event hosted athletes from as far away as South Africa, Italy and France to compete in a multi-sport trek around the community and its adjacent Kuururjuaq provincial park.

Team Nunavik, the only local competitors, finished the trek March 27 in seventh position, crossing the finish line to a line of 200 local residents cheering the duo on.

“It was pretty good to see all the people waiting for us there,” Unatweenuk said. “The community has been really great, they’re very proud.”

The event was put on my Endurance Aventure, a southern Quebec-based organization that has been working in the region since 2009 to encourage sport among Nunavimmiut youth.

Unatweenuk, who works for the local Torngat Mountains National Park, is no stranger to trekking, even snowboarding, and has participated in all of the previous Nunavik Adventure Challenge workshops and events held in Kangiqsualujjuaq.

But this is was Nunavik Adventure Challenge’s first international event, pitting Unatweenuk against experienced racers from around the world.

“I really wanted to get into the international adventure,” Unatweenuk said. “Some of the courses were pretty tough, like the cross-country skiing and going down the zipline, but it was pretty fun.”

Unatweenuk, at home in familiar surroundings, said the event also gave his community and region great exposure as an adventure tourism destination.

For some of the 50 visiting racers, this was their first time seeing snow, let alone an Arctic region.

The team from South Africa stepped off the plane in Kangiqsualujjuaq into an Arctic winter for the first time ever, said race organizer Jean-Thomas Boily.

“The team walked off the plane, took off their mittens and picked up a handful of snow for the first time,” he said. “It was fantastic, this was a childhood dream for them.”

And weather for the three-day event was “beautiful,” Boily said —-20 C and sunshine, although it still proved chilly for athletes from warmer climates.

That’s why race organizers went to the trouble of setting up a comfortable overnight camp for the athletes, including heated tent-like yurts and a warm, homemade meal.

Boily said the foreign racers were “charmed” by the experience, from the striking views over the George River to the warm reception by local people.

Boily said the success of the event is motivation to look ahead to hosting another international challenge in Nunavik, a region he says holds untapped potential for adventure.

The Kativik Regional Government, which has been working alongside Endurance Aventure to deliver its youth programming, called the event a perfect example of the kind of adventure tourism it hopes to promote to an international audience.

Although the KRG wasn’t directed involved in the Kangiqsualujjuaq event, the organization sent a program officer on site to field questions from visiting media.

“Adventure tourism is one of the axes along which we hope tourism in Nunavik will develop,” said Margaret Gauvin, who heads the KRG’s sustainable income department. “Something like this event opens a window on the region to the rest of the world, which is a good thing.”

The event also bodes well for cultural tourism, she said.

As an example, some of the trails used in the adventure challenge were long-travelled routes suggested by local elders.

“Tourism also lends itself to preserving traditional practices,” Gauvin said. “It’s already a value for Inuit, but it reinforces that.”

See race results, photos and video clips from the event here.