Nunavik’s young athletes look to AWG 2016

Athletes from across the Hudson coast gather to watch hand games during coastal trails in Inukjuak last month. (PHOTO COURTESY OF TNQ)

INUKJUAK —About 100 young Nunavimmiut athletes made it through coastal trials this spring in an effort to represent the region at next year’s Arctic Winter Games.

The 2016 edition of the games takes place in Nuuk, Greenland.

“We are in the making of Team Nunavik-Quebec as we speak,” Nancianne Grey, head of the Kativik Regional Government’s recreation department, told regional council meetings in Inukjuak May 27.

Those young athletes will head to Kangiqsulaujjuaq in November to compete in regional trials, Grey said. The top 60 or so athletes from that event will be selected to represent the region in Nuuk in 2016.

Team Nunavik Quebec participate in six events: Arctic Sports, Badminton, Cross-Country Skiing, Dene Games, Snowshoeing and Table Tennis.

Grey and other KRG recreation staff visited Nuuk earlier this year to look at venues, accommodations and other logistics for the March 2016 event in Greenland’s capital city, which has a population of about 17,000.

Nunavik athletes will be staying at local schools in the city while they compete in the games, Grey said.

Team Nunavik-Quebec will compete against athletes from across the country and the globe: Russia — its Yamal peninsula region — Norway, Alaska, and in Canada, the Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Alberta North.

Grey, who will serve as the team’s chef de mission, says her department is looking for mature adults to coach and chaperone the athletes next March.

Team Nunavik-Quebec is still looking for cultural ambassadors to take part in the 2016 AWG. Interested groups can request an application form by writing kkettler@krg.ca.

The recreation department is also asking athletes who plan to participate in the 216 AWG to start the process of securing their passport, which is required for international travel.

Team Nunavik-Quebec celebrated one of its largest medal hauls at last year’s AWG, hosted in Fairbanks, Alaska, with over 20 ulus, or medals.