Up, up and away to Greenland
Yellowknife athletes depart for 2016 Arctic Winter Games tomorrow instead of today
James McCarthy
Northern News Services
Friday, March 4, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Today was supposed to be the day when Team NWT made the trip over to Greenland for the 2016 Arctic Winter Games.
Meegwun Makletzoff-Cazon, seen during the territorial trials for futsal this past December, will be on one of the planes leaving for Greenland today. The 2016 Arctic Winter Games begin on Sunday with the opening ceremony in Nuuk with the hope that Team NWT will be on the ground in time. An expected blizzard is causing the charter flights to leave a day later than scheduled. - NNSL file photo |
Problem is blizzard conditions are forecast for the area today and that has caused a delay in travel plans and the teams will begin flying out tomorrow instead of today. Planes won't be able to land during the period of the blizzard.
Doug Rentmeister, chef de mission of Team NWT, is already on the ground in Nuuk said it will cause some headaches but everything has been planned out.
"We pushed to delay our flights using the same time slots we had for Saturday for Sunday morning," he said.
"It would have been too much of a mess in Kangerlussuaq with all the charters."
Rentmeister, along with Bill Othmer, assistant chef de mission, and Melanie Kornacki with Sport North flew through Copenhagen, Denmark into Kangerlussuaq and he said there is no way that airport can handle any more than two charters at one time.
"We would have kids climbing over top of each other and people would just get frustrated," said Rentmeister.
The delay of one day means weather won't be a factor as opposed to if they flew out today, he added.
The team will be flying out on chartered First Air Boeing 737s and because the airport in Nuuk can't handle a 737, the team will be flying into Kangerlussuaq to catch one of several Dash 8s, which will be flying non-stop from Kangerlussuaq to Nuuk.
The delay in travel isn't hindering the plans of the cross-country ski team too much, according to head coach Mike Argue.
He said it's a to-be-determined situation, meaning earlier practice and competition times on the trails in order to make up for lost time.
"Whether it means we go on Monday still or whether it gets pushed back, we'll see how it goes," he said. "Saturday was going to be a rest day and have everyone get settled with training prior to the opening ceremonies but we'll find out how it goes when we get there."
Futsal is the one sport where everything was supposed to get going on Sunday morning but those plans will obviously have to be altered.
Tonya Huck, who's coaching the juvenile girls squad, said there was a 45-minute practice time scheduled on the Saturday but that's most likely out the window.
"I'm thinking we may have to change our practice time," she said.
The opening ceremony is still planned for Sunday afternoon at 8 a.m. MST and Rentmeister said he's hopeful everything will work out in the end.
"Hopefully, everything works out for us and we can have our entire team ready to compete by Sunday night and ready for the opening ceremony," he said.
Fact file
Team NWT's Yellowknife contingent
Arctic Sports
Junior male
Joseph Thrasher
Brian Johnston*
Open female
Stacie Bengts
Yvonne Doolittle - coach
Badminton
Juvenile boys
Stephen Messier
Akash Yadav
Jordan Balsillie*
Junior boys
Jeremie Kalgutkar
Melsik Balasanyan*
Junior girls
Aodhan Mooney
Julie Jeffery - coach
Basketball
Boys
Kent Alacida
John Angel
Matteo Bertolini
Leonard Karembera
Kyle Kent
Gabe Klengenberg
Patrick Yatco
Aaron Wells - coach
Girls
Alison Buckland
Richelle Castillo
Brooke Dwyer
Sarah Hart
Cassandra
Kaminski
Meadow Munroe
Sierra Nesbitt
Hayley Tait
Mali Straker*
Emma Willoughby*
Nicole Grobbecker - coach
Biathlon Ski
Junior boys
Angus Martin
Juvenile boys
Spencer Littlefair
Cross-country skiing
Midget boys
Jack Kotaska
Tyson Green
Chris Mathison
Sylvain Rourke
Midget girls
Ella Kokelj
Rae Panayi
Mira Mercer
Junior girls
Clair Littlefair
Kandis Villebrun
Linnea Stephenson
Laura Hodgins
Juvenile boys
Nicolas Bennett
Donny Boake
Jack Panayi
Luke Kotaska
Juvenile girls
Niva Stephenson
Emily Carroll
Mike Argue - coach
Sheena Tremblay - coach
Stephen Dunbar - coach
Futsal
Juvenile girls
Charlene Sobrepena
Chidubem (Olga) Duru
Destiny Hobbs-Stewart
Janet Enge
Jenaya Hanninen
Katie Hart
Molly Gillard
Wren Acorn
Tonya Huck - coach
Juvenile boys
Arjun Budgell
Austin Sleno
Cole Clinton
Emmanuel
Sumagaysay
Emmanuel Lamvu
Ethan Horn
Mazen Daher
Harjot Sidhu - coach
Junior girls
Jennifer Lalonde
Kristine Stuparyk
Lindsey Mailloux
Meegwun Makletzoff-Cazon
Sahara Lafferty
Gina Michel - coach
Junior boys
Benjamin Grimes
Chidiebube (Obed) Duru
Michael Elms
Judon Gregory - coach
Intermediate girls
Abigale Coad
Brynn Martin
Cassidy Taylor
Deidre Lafferty
Emma Tutton
Miranda Beck
Nadia Wood*
Rebecca Alty - coach
Hockey
Bantam boys
Ethan Anstey
Lonan Bulger
Ben Carson
Nathan Cluff
Austin Daniels
Logan Debogorski
Cody Earle
Connor Fleming
Matthew Hayward
Keelin Kobaissi
Kieran Kobaissi
Thomas Matesic
Justin Powder
Paul-Michel St-Cyr
Liam Tereposky
Mathew Towler*
Brad Anstey - coach
Junior girls
Ayesha Barlas
Susanne Chambers
Dakota Earle
Lauren Eggenberger
Sarah Fleming
Anna-Liese King
Chantal Letemplier
Anna MacCara
Shakita MacLennan-Jensen
Emily Paddock
Deanne Whenham*
Kaylee Grant - assistant coach
Table tennis
Juvenile boys
Brian Liang
Juvenile girls
Tamara Jovic
Aurora Fraser (Ndilo)
Volleyball
Boys
Andrey Balasanyan
Braden Johnston
Devon Fillion
Emil Balasanyan
Felix Flamand
Taltson McQueen
Daniel Ives*
Scott McQueen - coach
Girls
Dana Landry
Emily Hamm
Hannah Schauerte
Hayly Soares
Kiah Debogorski
Megen Lafferty
Nyree Hacala
Samantha
McDougall
Tamara Toole
Wynter McQueen
Cheiyenne
Fontanilla*
Dylan Harker*
Emma Seddon*
Chrissie Harrigan - coach
Wrestling
Junior male
Shan Pinto
Brandon Adams
Soumya Singhal
John Himmelman - coach
Kam So - coach
* denotes alternate
Source: Sport North
