Cape Dorset (Aug 28/06) - An airlift of construction materials means more sports for Cape Dorset youth.

The final piece for the combination outdoor hockey rink and basketball court was a large one: the boards for the rink weighed 18,000 pounds. The rink is a joint project of the Cape Dorset RCMP and the hamlet.

The cost of shipping a load that size put the final pricetag a bit beyond reach, said Cape Dorset's recreation director Cheryl Constantineau.

"It was much bigger than we thought it was," she said.

That's where the Canadian Forces' Joint Task Forth North (JTFN), headquartered in Yellowknife, stepped in, delivering the boards Aug. 4 with a massive Hercules aircraft based in Trenton, Ont.

JTFN got involved in the project to pay tribute to an unnamed Canadian Ranger who died during a search and rescue mission outside Cape Dorset last spring, the RCMP said in a press release.

Both Constantineau and Cape Dorset Cpl. Mark Bishop, credited Const. Jonathan Saxby for the rink idea. But Saxby, an RCMP investigator based in Iqaluit, couldn't be reached by deadline.

"The idea right from the beginning was to give the youth something more to do," Bishop said.

Constantineau said the rink is part of an effort to increase the number of sports available to youth in Cape Dorset. It will serve as a hockey rink in the winter and three basketball courts in the summer. The new rink will also take pressure off the community's overbooked indoor facility, she said.

"I think it's just going to be great having an outdoor rink," Constantineau said. "This gives (the youth) something positive they can be doing."

The RCMP will make arrangements to install the boards, Constantineau said.