Darrell Greer
Northern News Services

Rankin Inlet (June 05/02) - Those not familiar with traditional Inuit ways probably wouldn't have known what to make of the scene unfolding before them.

There they were, two elders, coming down the stretch towards the finish line in a dog-mushing race.

But these elders had their arms up over their heads, hands pointing skyward above their ears, as they yelped louder than their dogs.

They looked almost as if they were pretending to be a pair of caribou racing across the tundra.

And that is exactly what they were up to!

Jack Kabvitok of Rankin Inlet and Manuel Akat of Arviat were resorting to an old Inuit trick to try and cross the finish line first.

John Hickes, who has been associated with dog mushing for many years in the Kivalliq, explains what the two elders were up to.

"Dogs, generally, want to chase something and when they see caribou they go like heck after them," says Hickes.

"The two racers made noises like caribou, had their arms up over their heads like antlers, and the dogs went crazy and ran like hell."

The elders took turns passing each other during the last kilometre of the race before Akat pulled slightly ahead crossing the finish line.

"They rolled off their sleighs and had a nice laugh when they crossed the line. They were competing in a family fashion like the old traditional ways," says Hickes.

Akat and Kabvitok weren't the only mushers in that particular race to use a little Inuit knowledge to gain an advantage.

Sandy Okatsiak of Arviat actually ran alongside his team to lighten his sleigh's load and encourage his dogs to run faster.

"Those dogs run pretty darn fast and he ran along right beside them," says Okatsiak.

"Once they started to run away a bit, he'd jump back onto his sleigh until he caught his wind and the dogs started to slow down again. Then he'd jump back off his sleigh and run beside them again."

Okatsiak passed his competitor coming down the home stretch.

The move is a legal one as long as the rider stays in contact with his sleigh.

"They were finding some ingenious ways of getting ahead of their competition during that race," he says. "It was a lot of fun to watch."