Nunavut Quest Day 7 brings mushers to Pond Inlet’s door
Racers and support teams plan to travel final 50 km to finish line Thursday
Jinneal Nanuraq Uttak races with his dogs Wednesday, on Day 7 of the 2026 Nunavut Quest. Uttak arrived first at Wednesday’s camp, about 50 kilometres from the Pond Inlet finish line. (Photo by Jennifer Quassa, special to Nunatsiaq News)
Nunavut Quest mushers awoke Wednesday morning to sunny skies and calmer winds than the day before.
They were at Iluvilik, on the ice of Milne Inlet. It was their seventh day trekking 500 kilometres across the sea ice and Baffin Island on this year’s Nunavut Quest route from Igloolik to Pond Inlet.
It has been a rough journey, with several weather delays along the way. The annual dogsled race’s start was delayed by two days, with mushers leaving Igloolik on April 9 instead of the planned start date of April 7. The start on Day 2 was delayed until the afternoon, again because of weather.
More bad weather on Sunday, Day 4, spurred the mushers to load their dogs into their qamutiit and push ahead on snowmobiles instead of racing. Then the mushers decided to take Tuesday as a rest day so the group could take shelter from high winds.
The mushers and their support teams woke up Wednesday at their usual time of 8:30 a.m., then the mushers had their morning meeting and it was decided the race would resume after Tuesday’s weather delay.
Everybody packed up camp and travelled 75 kilometres to Aulattivik, on the sea ice about 50 kilometres outside Pond Inlet. They arrived early in the afternoon.
It has been hard and yet fun spending time with the participants of the 2026 Nunavut Quest. Wednesday was so emotional and so tiring but yet so fun.
The group was very excited and nervous because for some of them, it’s their first time going to Pond Inlet.
There are nine teams racing in this year’s Nunavut Quest.
Jinneal Nanuraq Uttak, the winner of the past two races, arrived at Wednesday’s camp first, followed by Lee Inuarak and then Tom Naqitarvik.
The group arrived in the following order:
- Jinneal Nanuraq Uttak (#5)
- Lee Inuarak (#1)
- Tom Naqitarvik (#2)
- Daniel Inuarak (#8)
- Donovan Qaunaq (#7)
- Owen Jaworenko (#3)
- Peter Henry Arnatsiaq (#9)
- Roland Taqtu (#6)
- Natalino Piugattuq (#4)
The race is expected to conclude Thursday in Pond Inlet. The winner is determined after organizers calculate the total race times.
The group was very excited to see who wins the 2026 Nunavut Quest and wished the mushers the best of luck and safe travels.
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