Cheering on the NWT
Charter flight carrying parents and supporters of NWT athletes touches down in Fairbanks
James McCarthy
Northern News Services
Published Monday, March 17, 2014
FAIRBANKS, ALASKA
Aside from the momentous logistical efforts that went into ferrying Arctic Winter Games athletes to the circumpolar event this year, with hundreds arriving in Fairbanks, Alaska, on Saturday, a Hay River parent also put some work in ensuring Team NWT had strong fan support this year.
Louise Schumann helped organize a full planeload of 120 parents and fans from the NWT and Nunavut which touched down on Saturday night and it would appear everyone is in fine spirits.
Schumann said the reason for organizing the charter in the first place was simple - parents and supporters need to be there cheering on the athletes and this was the best way to do it.
"We looked at the routing that would get us there commercially and that was quite costly and cumbersome," she said. "We looked into the charter option and it worked out. We're here."
The range of sports represented on the plane was wide with parents of athletes taking part in such events as speedskating, basketball, hockey and cross-country skiing. Schumann is there cheering on her son, Levon Schumann, who's on the midget hockey team.
The charter was booked through Air North, the newest airline to hit the NWT, based out of Whitehorse and Schumann admitted they actually gave her the best price in the end, beating out both First Air and Canadian North.
"They were actually the last vendor that I got a hold of," she said. "They had the best price and they provided us with the best flight - warm cookies, even. It was awesome."
As mentioned, there were some Nunavut passengers who flew in from all parts of the territory, such as Iqaluit, Rankin Inlet, Cambridge Bay and Chesterfield Inlet.
Schumann said they were a big reason why the plane even flew at all.
"They actually helped us keep the costs down," she said. "If it weren't for them, we would be paying a lot more."
Emanuel DaRosa and his family, also from Hay River, were on the charter and are in Fairbanks cheering on Daniel DaRosa, who's playing indoor soccer.
DaRosa said he can appreciate how much work it took for Schumann to round everything up and make the charter work.
"I think mostly how easy it was to get to here from Yellowknife," he said. "We did a little shopping in Yellowknife but 11 hours from Hay River to Fairbanks, including driving from Hay River? You can't beat that."
Once the plane touched down and everyone safely cleared customs, the passengers were greeted by enthusiastic volunteers from the host city, who welcomed them after picking up their bags.
The opening ceremony kicked things off last night officially but there were some sports which got underway before that happened, including indoor soccer, volleyball and curling. The rest of Team NWT gets underway today with all sports in action in some way, shape or form.
