Nunavut Quest 2009: And They're Off!

Today, all of the teams left Arctic Bay heading to Pond Inlet. And what an event it was. We all went down from the school around 1:15pm to watch the mushers and their support teams head off on their four day "cross-country" journey.

And it was a beautiful day out today too! Sunny (I'm even starting to get a tan on my face, as was pointed out to me today by a co-worker, siting the racoon-eye effect that is going on ... and yes, it does look like I've got coon eyes forming too), -10 with no wind! I could have stayed out there ALL afternoon.



The support teams left about half an hour before the mushers did so that they could be well ahead of them and to the first check point to set up camp before their musher arrived.

While mushers waited for the start time, I busied myself with nabbing picutures, chatting with mushers and other locals. It was pretty neat learning about the teams, the dogs and their ages. Average age of the dogs is about 2-3 years .. and most only "run" for an average of 3-4 years before they "retire".


Here's me with a wonderful team of dogs - oh how cute and cuddly they all were! Some of the friendliest sled dogs I've come across while in the North.

Mushers began leaving Arctic Bay at around 2:10 with two minute intervals between departures (so that there is not a huge bottle-necking of sleds and dogs as they leave Arctic Bay and head around the Point.





As usual, I spent my time down on the ice juggling several different cameras that all served a different purpose - why oh why can't DSLRs have video recording capabilities??!!

I'm currently uploading pictures and editing video so stay tuned for those!