Power at play in Chesterfield Inlet

Power played a part in the final day of the Kivalliq Summer Games, with athletes gathering on Chesterfield Inlet’s narrow sandy beach at noon.

Miranda Tulurialik carries her one-year-old daughter, Payton Joyce, in her hood as she participates in the walrus pull Sunday during the Kivalliq Summer Games in Chesterfield Inlet. (Photo by Daron Letts)

The three-day regional competition — the first held in more than one decade — ran Friday to Sunday. It featured two dozen adult and teen athletes from Arviat, Baker Lake, Rankin Inlet, Whale Cove and Chesterfield Inlet, who competed in 14 traditional Inuit competitions.

Sunday began with a shout of the word “pull!” to mark the start of walrus pull, among the most gruelling of the competitions, and the only one held outdoors.

Walrus pull is not a tug-of-war contest. Instead, one athlete struggles to out-brute a growing line of pullers, much like a harpooned walrus resists hunters.

Recreation co-ordinator Russell Mullins was the first puller, taking the thick rope and pulling it back towards him, the other end gripped tightly by the other athlete, reclined in the sand, feet braced on a board.

If the athlete stayed reclined, more pullers joined the line until the athlete was pulled up.

Teen athlete Luke Itkilik of Baker Lake might have been the smallest competitor on the beach, but his might was evident when he out-pulled Mullins, teacher Glen Brocklebank and eight others of all ages.

At one point, a passing loon yodelled overhead.

“It’s cheering,” said Games official Larry Tautu.

Austin Mullins won the event in the men’s category. He remained fixed to the sand despite 31 men and women pulling against him.

Miranda Tulurialik of Chesterfield Inlet won for the women and then took a turn pulling some of the other athletes while carrying her one-year-old daughter, Payton Joyce, in her hood.

“Mother-muscle!” people in the crowd cried out as she competed.

Ciara Tanuyak and Brian Mullins of Chesterfield Inlet won for the juniors.

The action then moved indoors with the arm pull, where athletes sat on the floor with arms linked at the elbow. They pulled in opposite directions, and whichever competitor let the other’s arm slip away lost.

Ricky Putumiraqtuq of Baker Lake won for the men and Brian Mullins won again for the boys.

Women’s walrus-pull champion Tulurialik won the arm pull for the women and Ivalu Leishman-Brocklebank won for the girls.

Next was the one-arm reach, which requires competitors to balance on one hand, palm to the floor, while stretching the free arm up to touch a sealskin ball suspended on a string.

Walrus pull champion Austin Mullins came out on top of the one-arm reach in the men’s event by reaching four-feet, 11 inches. Hometown athlete Keagan Kadjuk won for the boys, with a height of four-feet, five inches.

Ciara Tunuyak of Chesterfield Inlet competes in the Alaskan high kick during the Kivalliq Summer Games in her community on Friday evening. (Photo by Daron Letts)

Tulurialik’s medal pile grew with a gold in the women’s category of aqsaraaq, or finger pull, which involves two competitors pulling one another using only their fingers. Whoever releases first loses.

Leishman-Brocklebank also won again for the girls.

Next was the four-man carry for the men and the three-man carry for the women. Both events were modified to a two-man carry.

In this event, one athlete tests their endurance by seeing how far they can walk while carrying two teenagers.

Tulurialik rose to the next challenge again by winning this event for the women with a distance of 29 feet, three inches.

Leishman-Brocklebank won again for the girls with a distance of 118 feet.

Russell Suluk of Arviat won in the men’s category, with a distance of 29 feet, nine inches. Kadjuk won for the boys with a distance of 279 feet. He went more than one full circle around the gym.

Later in the evening athletes tested their jumping skills with the one-foot high kick, which requires participants to leap on one leg and kick a sealskin ball suspended by a string with the other.

Familiar names appeared yet again in the winners’ circle, as Tulurialik won for the women with a height of four feet, four inches, and Leishman-Brocklebank topping the girls with a height of five feet, six inches.

The Mullins brothers swept this challenge, with Austin reaching seven feet, 10 inches and his younger brother Brian reaching seven feet, five inches.

Russell Suluk of Arviat competes in the knuckle hop in the Chesterfield Inlet community hall as part of the Kivalliq Summer Games on Sunday. Local recreation coordinator Russell Mullins cheers him along. (Photo by Daron Letts)

Last came the knuckle hop, which is just what it sounds like. Athletes planked with their two bare fists out front and hopped across the bare floor.

Austin Mullins won for the men with a distance of 56 feet, six inches. Kadjuk hopped for 50 feet, three inches, earning top spot for the boys.

Exhausted and smiling, the athletes dispersed after the medal ceremony ended close to 10:30 p.m.

“It was amazing,” said Suluk, his gold medal for the four-man carry around his neck. “The Games were spectacular.”