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INUVIK - The Town of Inuvik painted the East Channel of the Mackenzie River yellow this past weekend.

More than 600 rubber ducks were dropped into the river for a fundraiser for the 50th anniversary celebrations held in July.

The Town of Inuvik duck race was held on Sunday morning. Here, the duck-dropping team prepares to leave for the event. From left, Brett Purdy, helicopter pilot Brian Healy and Kristin Backhouse. - Dez Loreen/NNSL photo Race Winners 1st - $1,000: Laura Flyntless 2nd - $500: Hugo Prud homme 3rd - $250: Bev Garven

The duck race was supposed to be in late July, but was held back due to bad weather.

The duck race started at Carn road, where a group of families gathered to watch the duck drop.

The toys were taken from the Canadian Helicopters hangar to the drop site.

Town employees Brett Purdy and Kristin Backhouse were in the chopper for the drop.

Purdy tipped the large blue bucket over the edge, letting the yellow ducks fly in the cold wind.

"It was awesome. Eat your heart out, Rambo," he said.

It was the first time that Purdy had been in a helicopter.

To make the duck drop easier, the door was taken off the side of the chopper where Purdy was strapped in.

"It definitely got cold with the lack of a door," he said.

"It was quite chilly, but worthwhile."

Purdy said the sorting of the ducks was done the day before the drop.

He said each ticket sold matched up with a pre-numbered duck.

"We had to go through and match the ticket number with the duck that had that number on it," said Purdy.

Purdy said when he dumped the cargo of duckies, he wanted to make sure there was no advantage for any competitor.

"I wanted to dump them all at once, so there wouldn't be any ducks given a head start," he said.

Purdy said the execution of the drop went as planned, but the wind kept the ducks from moving down river at a good speed.

"I was surprised that the ducks didn't move that much at first," said Purdy.

According to Aklak/Canadian helicopters pilot Brian Healy, the ducks may have been slowed by a north wind that day.

Low visibility from low clouds dampened the event, but Healy said it was all right to fly, as long as the chopper stayed out of the clouds.

"The clearer the day, the better, but you work with what you got," he said.

Healy said the visibility that morning was about five or six miles.

"The clouds were a bit lower than ideal," he said.

He said the helicopter was at a height of 500 feet when it made the drop and 1,000 feet above town when they passed over.