Northern neighborhood gets a bit closer

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Athletes from the circumpolar region gathered in the Wood Buffalo area of Northern Alberta from Feb. 28 to March 6 for the Arctic Winter Games.

Participants came to test their skill and endurance in a wide variety of sports, but what they brought away from their week-long adventure was more than a week's worth of competition and a bagful of souvenirs.

The result of the gathering of people bound by an exclusive geography was that this northern neighborhood got a little bit closer, and a little more confident about its place in the world.

The athletes-almost 2,000 of them-were full of energy and enthusiasm as they marched into opening ceremonies. Alaska had one of the largest contingents with 377 athletes. The Sami, the Indigenous people of northern Scandinavia, numbered only 35. It was their first time competing in the games, as it was for the Yamal-Netets of Russia, with a contingent of 34. Magadan, also of Russia, fielded 69 competitors. Greenland 145.

Team Alberta North rivaled the Americans with a contingent of 377. There was Nunavut with 319 and Nunavik, Que. with 41. Yukon and Northwest Territories were powerhouse teams with 377 and 353 respectively. It is little wonder that the three largest teams came home with first, second and third in the medal standings, with Alberta North leading the way behind Alaska and Yukon.

Regardless, the excitement of opening ceremonies, and there was a lot of it going around, would carry all of the athletes through the grueling week of competition ahead despite the results.

Governor General Adrienne Clarkson and husband John Ralton Saul were on hand to lend a bit of celebrity to the affair. Elsie Yanik of Fort Chipewyan provided the prayer.

Local businessman turned Games co-president, Dave Tuccaro, told athletes their years of dedication and hard work had been rewarded.

"Now you dream of gold," he said.

Alberta Premier Ralph Klein wished the athletes luck and a great Games experience.

There were speeches from dignitaries and performances by local singers and dancers, and a lot of attention was paid to the Indigenous people of the region.

The Games would feature contemporary sports, such as soccer and hockey, but there was a nod to the traditional, with games like the kneel jump and snowsnake in the Arctic and Dene sports competition stream.

Over the course of the week there would be injury and agony, but there was also triumph and camaraderie.

One of the many traditional sports in the Arctic Sports stream came from Russia. Ten wooden hurdles were lined up for the sledge jump, a sport that has participants jump from a standing position on two feet over each hurdle and land on two feet, the goal being to jump as many of the 10 hurdles as possible without falling or knocking them over.

As one might imagine, the Russian team had an edge, particularly in the senior male category, though athletes from all the regions gave the sport a try. Lazar Eprin, 35, from Yamal said he liked the game. Eprin took home the silver medal. He was able to jump non-stop 400 times in the competition.

As an Aboriginal person from northern Russia, he told this publication through an interpreter that he liked being around other Aboriginal people and was happy to see who they were. The culture was very similar, he said.

You could have heard a pin drop as athletes competed in the one-foot-high kick competition. A competitior must jump and kick at a seal-shaped target dangling from a pole. The bar is raised by four inches each time competitors hit the seal. More than 40 competitors were each allowed three attempts before being eliminated. Each time the bar was raised, spectators cheered. John Miller III, 16, from Barrow, Alaska took home the gold medal for jumping 9' 5".

It was exciting to see young people move to the beat of three drums as they played in the hand games tournament at Keyano College on March 5. It was here the boys from Fox Lake, Alta. relly shone. Lucas Noskiye said he was excited to take part in the sport. He remembers his grandfather taking him to hand game competitions when he was 10 years old and that it is something he would like to teach his grandchildren some day. Fox Lake took home the gold medal in the junior male category.

It was standing room only for the knuckle hop competition, one of the more injurious events of the games. You could see the awe and surprise on the faces of the spectators at what athletes of this sport have to endure.

The sport tests the athletes' endurance of pain, and achievement is measured by the distance a participant can travel on his knuckles.

Athletes were ushered to a first aid station as soon as they finished the event. Gold medal winner David Thomas, 17, of Palmer, Alaska, showed off his red and swollen knuckles as he described how he first came to know the sport.

He said the sport originated from when the men would go hunting for seals. By using their knuckles to move closer to the seals they would often bring home some food, because seals would mistake them for other seals and not be threatened by them. Thomas said he is looking forward to entering in this sport at the State Wide Native Youth Olympics in Alaska in April.

Hundreds of people took part in the closing ceremonies of the Artic Winter Games. A sea of exhausted but enthusiastic athletes waved their region's flags and cheered as they walked into the giant tent to say goodbye until 2006 when many of them will meet again, but next time in Juno, Alaska.