Endurance tested at Kivalliq Summer Games

The second day of the Kivalliq Summer Games in Chesterfield Inlet tested athletes’ stamina with several endurance sports on Saturday.

Hometown athlete James Tautu collapses in exhaustion after winning gold in the caribou-skin skipping event on Day 2 of the Kivalliq Summer Games in Chesterfield Inlet on Saturday. (Photo by Daron Letts)

“I’ve got sore legs and sore arms,” said Chesterfield Inlet athlete James Tautu, following the medal ceremony at the end of the athlete’s nine-hour day of competitions.

”I’m going home to relax and get ready for tomorrow.”

The Games feature more than two dozen adult and teen athletes from Arviat, Baker Lake, Rankin Inlet, Whale Cove and Chesterfield Inlet, competing in 14 Arctic sports over three days.

Tautu won the gold medal in the caribou-skin skipping competition late in the day.

The sport involves athletes skipping a rope, held on either side by recreation co-ordinator Russell Mullins and his brother James Mullins. A caribou hide is wrapped in the centre of the rope, giving it a kilogram or so of heft that tripped up a couple of the jumpers.

Kevin Kritterdlik of Whale Cove leaps over a caribou hide in the caribou-skin skipping event during the Kivalliq Summer Games in Chesterfield Inlet on Saturday. (Photo by Daron Letts)

“It was tricky,” said Kevin Kritterdlik, a senior men’s athlete from Whale Cove.

Kritterdlik was among several competitors to finish his round flat on the ground.

Athletes didn’t simply jump. They were required to change direction after each leap. The men holding the rope swung it back and forth three times, then swung it all the way overtop of the athlete only every four swings, making the experience unpredictable before the athlete got the hang of the pattern.

Miranda Tulurialik had a winning strategy. The Chesterfield Inlet athlete raised her knees above her waist, clearing the rope and the skin with inches to spare. Her approach worked, earning her the women’s gold medal.

Hometown athletes Ciara Tanuyak and Brian Mullins won the gold medals for the juniors.

Ivalu Leishman-Brocklebank of Chesterfield Inlet competes in the girls’ one-arm reach event as official Larry Tautu observes during the Kivalliq Summer Games on Saturday. Leishman-Brocklebank helped coach other athletes that came after her. (Photo by Daron Letts)

Mullins also won the boys’ Alaskan high kick. He reached the six-foot, nine-inch mark before failing an attempt of six-foot, 11 inches, which would have beaten his personal record by one inch.

The crowd watching the event in the community hall erupted in cheers after his effort.

Tautu won the men’s Alaskan high kick with a height of six-feet, two inches.

Ivalu Leishman-Brocklebank demonstrated her resolve by winning gold in the girl’s one-arm reach. That sport requires the athlete to balance on one hand, palm to the floor, while reaching up to touch a sealskin ball suspended on a string with the free hand. Few succeeded.

Barbera Ulurksit of Whale Cove won the one-arm reach for the girls.

In the swing kick, which has competitors slip their legs and head through a belt — forcing their bodies into a V-shape, competitors balance on their palms as they seek to pivot at the shoulders to tap a sealskin ball with their toes.

Brian Mullins and Tunuyak won for the juniors and Tautu and Florence Nagugalik of Baker Lake won for the seniors.

Lance Kigusiutnak of Arviat won the men’s sittuqtaq, in which athletes crouch and kick in rapid succession, similar to a Ukrainian dance. Keagan Kadjuk of Chesterfield Inlet won for the junior boys.

Tanuyak won gold in the girls’ head pull, in which athletes pull a belt looped over the back of their head until it slips off of one of them. Tulurialik won gold for the women.

Tulurialik won the women’s two-foot high kick by successfully jumping with feet together and legs outreached to tap a sealskin ball suspended by a string. Leishman-Brocklebank won gold for the girls.

Tautu won a gold medal in the men’s kneel jump, where athletes begin kneeling and leap to a standing position. The longest jump wins.

Kadjuk won the boys’ kneel jump and the finger pull, in which athletes pull against one another’s finger until one lets go.

Troy Innuksuk of Rankin Inlet won gold for the men’s finger pull.

The Games continue through Sunday, with a closing ceremony scheduled for 9 p.m.