Thursday’s Nunavut Quest racing the hardest yet
Day 3 took mushers up a steep hill, over rolling hills and rock fields
A drone photo shows Nunavut Quest musher Tom Naqitarvik -no.2-combing-lines-on-red snow. Thursday was the third day for the annual dogsled race, running from Pond Inlet to Igloolik this year. (Photo by Alex-Ootoowak, special to Nunatsiaq News)
Updated on Thursday, April 24, 2025 at 2:45 p.m. ET
Thursday was Day 3 of the Nunavut Quest, and it got off to a windy start just outside of Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation’s Milne Port. The goal for the day was to travel along the mining company’s tote road and eventually turn farther inland. Baffinland provided boxed sandwiches, breakfast, dinner and snacks for the mushers, support teams, and officials.
Eight mushers and their dogsled teams are competing in the annual race, which is running from Pond Inlet to Igloolik this year. They started out Tuesday from Pond Inlet, vying for the race’s $20,000 first prize.
Elder Quvaqtaa Charlie Inuarak encouraged the mushers during the morning meeting to remember that “it doesn’t matter if you come first or last, what’s important is that you are here, you have already won,” speaking in Inuktitut. He shared how proud he is that the mushers are keeping the traditions alive and that they have healthy Inuit dog teams.
The 85-kilometre day was the hardest yet. The trail consisted of passing through Baffinland’s Milne Port, travelling on Philip’s Creek parallel to the tote road, climbing a steep hill to avoid a waterfall, and navigating lots of rolling hills and rock fields.
The steep hill is caused by the construction of the tote road, which runs from Mary River to Milne Port, Alex Ootoowak, a field technician of Ocean’s North, who is on assignment to support Nunavut Quest explained.
“There used to be other options to go around the waterfall, but now we would have to cross the tote road, which really isn’t an option,” Ootoowak said. The steep hill into a rock minefield is hardly a good option.
Most of the qamutiks required two snowmobiles to pull in tandem to make it up the hill, making this the pinch spot for the support teams to remain ahead of the dog teams so as not to cause distractions.
As the race approaches the midpoint of the 500-kilometre route between Pond Inlet and Igloolik, mushers and support teams are met with many obstacles to overcome.
The long distances each day — for consecutive days — are beginning to show in the dogs as some struggle to keep up and they slowly arrive at camp after the rest of the team. Injured dogs are towed by support teams on the qamutik, thus disqualifying them for the rest of the race. Mushers may choose to take a penalty in order to use disqualified dogs.
Snowmobiles travelling long hauls, towing heavy loads, inevitably lead to breakdowns. To avoid disruptions to the dog teams during the race, snowmobiles that require repairs are left on the trail and picked up after all mushers have arrived at the checkpoint.
Top four mushers to arrive at the checkpoint continue to remain the same over the first three days of the race. Their arrival order shuffles each day, as the mushers attempt to edge out their competition to accumulate the shortest total running time over the course’s of 500 kilometres and seven checkpoints.
The first to arrive at the checkpoint on Thursday — Day 3 — was Lee Inuaruak from Pond Inlet, who has been participating in Nunavut Quest since 2010. Joshua Qiliqti Ivalue from Igloolik sneaked up from behind to come in second, in front of Jinneal Nanuraq Uttak the 2024 Champion from Igloolik. At the end of the third day, the race is just under half way to Igloolik, and the mushers are running a tight race.
Day 3 order of arrival:
- Lee Inuarak (#6)
- Joshua Qiliqti Ivalu (#7)
- Jinneal Nanuraq Uttak (#1)
- Donovan Qaunaq (#4)
- Isaac Irngaut (#5)
- Daniel Inuarak (#3)
- Tom Naqitarvik (#2)
- Aidan Qaunaq (#8)
Correction: This article has been updated from its originally published version to report the correct prize for first place is $20,000.
They are not mushers. what’s a musher?
The elder Quvaqtaa’s words to the mushers was very empowering and a must to keep our culture alive. Three cheers for all the people involved in the dogteam race.