First-time Nunavut Quest musher wins it all

Nanuraq Uttak, a first-time musher in the Nunavut Quest, has won this year’s race from Arctic Bay to Pond Inlet.

Organizers announced Uttak’s victory during the race’s closing ceremony Wednesday night in Pond Inlet, two nights after all the mushers arrived at the finish line Monday.

Uttak, from Igloolik, is a skilled butcher who enjoys spending time on the land and harvesting food, according to a page of musher biographies on the Qikiqtani Inuit Association website. He started dogsledding only two years ago.

Uttak took the race’s $20,000 first prize. There was $54,500 in prize money up grabs, to be split among the fastest six finishers.

Uttak finished the race in a total time of 33 hours, 58 minutes and 38 seconds, according to race results posted on the QIA Facebook page Wednesday night.

There are about 250 kilometres, as the crow flies, that separate Pond Inlet and Arctic Bay. But the winding route for the Nunavut Quest resulted in the dogsled teams travelling closer to 370 kilometres in total.

Uttak was one of 10 mushers who headed out from Arctic Bay on April 16 and arrived in Pond Inlet six days later. They took April 19 as a rest day after mushers and elders decided whiteout conditions made it too dangerous to head out.

Nunavut Quest’s winner is determined by who had the fastest time over the course of the race.

Uttak was the first to finish on two of the six race days. Mushers had a staggered start on five race days, but on Monday — the final day of racing — there was a shotgun start with everybody starting at the same time.

Qikiqtani Inuit Association supports Nunavut Quest through an annual $100,000 allocation it received through Qikiqtani Truth Commission funding.

The Qikiqtani Truth Commission concluded in 2013 that the RCMP had slaughtered Inuit dogs in an attempt to discourage traditional practices, including hunting and travel.

In 2020, QIA launched the Qimmiit Revitalization program as a way to promote the Inuit tradition of using dogsled teams for travel and hunting.

This year, a team of Igloolik youths travelled with the Nunavut Quest support teams and sent daily updates to Nunatsiaq News from each day’s camp. Those updates can be seen on the Features section of the Nunatsiaq News website.

This year’s finish line of Pond Inlet automatically becomes the starting point for next year’s race. Participants vote during the race’s closing ceremony on which Baffin Island community will be next year’s finish line.

Next year’s race will run from Pond Inlet to Igloolik.

Here’s the ranking of mushers that was published on QIA’s Facebook page Wednesday night:

1. Nanuraq Uttak
2. Tom Naqitarvik
3. Lee Inuarak
4. David Ojukuluk
5. Qiliqti Ivalu
6. Apak Taqtu
7. Donovan Qaunaq
8. Jeremy Koonoo
9. Daniel Inuarak
10. Owen Jawrenko