Nunavik athlete rallies from loss ahead of Arctic Winter Games

Deseray Cumberbatch, right, gets a hug from her brother and fellow athlete Jamesie Cumberbatch March 20, 2014, after she kicked her personal best in the One Foot High Kick event in Fairbanks, Alaska. (TEAM NUNAVIK PHOTO)

When veteran Team Nunavik-Québec athlete Deseray Cumberbatch steps off the airplane in Nuuk, Greenland for the 2016 Arctic Winter Games, the first thing she wants to do is climb a mountain and take in the scenery.

And it won’t end there.

Not stopping will be the Inukjuak resident’s mantra during her sixth Arctic Winter Games appearance.

“I want to go up that mountain. I want to go to that house. I want to go shop. I want to experience the real Greenlandic environment,” Cumberbatch said from her home in Montreal, where she is a student in Community, Recreation and Leadership Training at Dawson College.

With 25 medals, earned over a decade of competition in Inuit Games, Cumberbatch stands confident on a mountain of her own making.

Inuit Games are an umbrella category encompassing several traditional Inuit feats, such as the one and two-foot high kick, kneel and sledge jumps, and the arm pull, among several others.

Cumberbatch says she will be competing in every category that she’s eligible to enter

And, at 24 years old, she is likely to add to her medal-haul by the end of the games.

But, beyond exploring Greenland, Nuuk’s Arctic Winter Games will provide the stage for Cumberbatch to conquer another obstacle.

It’s one that’s dogged her for more than two years and that cast a dark shadow over her performance at the 2014 games in Fairbanks, Alaska.

“First [I lost] my aunt, she passed away from a stroke,” Cumberbatch said, reflecting on the months before her arrival in Fairbanks two years ago.

Less than a day later, her grandmother died of cancer. Her grandfather’s death followed shortly afterwards.

Two weeks after that, a friend of the family died by suicide in Cumberbatch’s home.

“I was having a bad year. Mentally I wasn’t ready and physically I was practicing but I didn’t really have the dedication to keep on track,” she said.

The shock of loss sent her Inukjuak family into a downward spiral.

“All that grieving led to alcoholism. My family was drinking a lot. And, since I don’t drink, it was really hard to take care of them,” she said.

Despite the distractions, Cumberbatch earned three bronze medals — or ulus — in Alaska while also delivering a personal best in the women’s one-foot high kick at 2.24 metres.

But, like any good competitor, Cumberbatch isn’t satisfied with past accomplishments.

The 2016 games will be her redemption, she promised — and she won’t be alone in Nuuk when it’s realized.

Her father and cousin will both accompany Cumberbatch to Greenland this March.

“It will be my father’s very first time attending the Arctic Winter Games as a guest and I’m really excited,” she said.

And her 13-year-old cousin represents the newest generation of her family participating in the games.

It’s a symbolic revival for a family mired in its loss, and Cumberbatch is drawing from her new-found responsibilities.

“I’m excited for her. I know she looks up to me,” she said.

Team Nunavik-Québec will also look to Cumberbatch’s leadership during the games.

As a veteran on her team, she knows other athletes count on her for support.

“I feel the pressure but it’s encouraging.”

Her message to her teammates is a simple one.

“You meet a lot of people. You see old friends and make new ones. You get the best experience ever because we go there for games but we also go to have fun and to just experience and learn different cultures,” said Cumberbatch, about what she’ll tell the team.

“It’s just going to be fun.”

For her father, who was born and raised on the Caribbean island nation of St. Vincent, Cumberbatch’s advice is even simpler.

“Just wear extra layers. I don’t know how he’s going to do in Greenland, but as long as he’s with me it’s good,” she said.

The 2016 Arctic Winter Games take place March 6 to March 11 in Nuuk, Greenland, with a satellite hockey tournament scheduled for Iqaluit.

Stay tuned for more Team Nunavik-Québec and Team Nunavut athlete profiles in Nunatsiaq News ahead of the games.