Paula White
Northern News Services

INUVIK (May 21/99) - Students at Samuel Hearne Secondary School were given the opportunity last week to send a message to the rest of Canada about their community.

The school was visited on May 10 by two people -- Arnie Wilson and Barb Wentworth -- who are part of a nine-week, cross-Canada bicycle tour. The purpose of the tour is to link Canadian communities on the Internet, using information provided by students about their community's history and culture.

"The idea is to get them interested and have them tell us about what it's like to live there," Wentworth said. "The kids everywhere are so neat. They have so much energy."

Wilson added that "the funniest bit is getting in and talking to the kids. It is for me anyway."

If the number of visits to the Web site is any indication, the trip is certainly generating interest across Canada. Wentworth and Wilson reported that, so far, the site has recorded more than three million hits.

The tour, which officially got under way on April 15 in Ottawa, was organized by several partners, including Ingenuity Works, a company involved in the development of educational software. Corel, Timex, Industry Canada and others are also involved.

There are a total of three cycling groups taking part, each one having four members. Wilson and Wentworth, along with Steve Wilson (no relation to Arnie) and Eileen McNamara, have been touring the North and will eventually end up in Victoria, B.C. The other two groups will end up in St. John's, Nfld., and Ottawa.

Wilson, who is from Vancouver, and Wentworth, from Toronto, described their route as the "oddball" one, simply because of the large area to be covered. This means that Wentworth and Wilson, who have been visiting communities in Nunavut and the NWT while their partners covered the Yukon, haven't done much cycling so far. But that is about to change. The four were to have met up in Whitehorse this week.

"And that's where the cycling begins again," Wilson said.

From Whitehorse, the group cycles up to Dawson and then into Skagway, Alaska, where they cross by ferry to northern British Columbia. From there they will make their way to Victoria. Their schedule will consist of visiting schools in the mornings and then cycling for the rest of the day. The group will average about 100 to 150 km per day.

What was their impression of Inuvik? Both Wentworth and Wilson gave the town glowing reviews.

"It's fabulous," Wentworth said. "Well, the weather has been so nice since we've been here."

Oh, and what was the most popular message that students across the North wanted Wentworth and Wilson to pass along to the rest of Canada?

"'We don't live in iglus,'" Wilson laughed.