INUVIK
Halfway through the second week of the 2017 Canada Summer Games, Inuvik swimmer Kierra McDonald had already hit a personal best on every race she raced.

Jenna Guy, from Inuvik but whose family has now moved to Nova Scotia, can be seen on the right as part of the Team NWT delegation at Canada Summer Games during the closing ceremonies Sunday, Aug. 13. - photos courtesy of Thorsten Gohl, Team NWT

"It's gone pretty good," she said from Winnipeg last week. "It's been fun so far, but it's tiring."

She feels the nerves before races, but they go away once she hits the water.

"Everyone's very competitive," said McDonald about the atmosphere.

"It's pretty fun, but it's also serious."

Jenna Guy, another athlete from Inuvik representing Team NWT in swimming, had also hit three personal bests when she talked to the Drum partway through the event.

"It's very competitive," she said, adding that it's fun to meet the other teams and talk to new people. "We've been trading a lot of pins, too."

Guy said she wasn't as nervous as she expected to be, probably thanks to training for the event all summer.

Inuvik's Cody Greenland, left, high fives teammates Tanner Mandeville, Shan Patino (in blue), Devon Fillion and Taltson McQueen during the men's volleyball matches at the Canada Summer Games last week.

Dawson Elias of Tuktoyaktuk and Cody Greenland of Inuvik were the only two athletes from the area to compete at both the North American Indigenous Games and Canada Summer Games this year.

"I think the week went pretty good," said Greenland after his final matches.

"We had lots of fun. The level of skill compared to us, there was so much of a difference. They were really, really good."

He was proud to represent Team NWT twice.

"(The two events were) the same in some ways, but competition-wise it was a lot different," said Greenland.

"Compared to NAIG, it seems like these teams had been playing for a long time. They're really good at volleyball here.

"The competition was way harder here than it was at NAIG."

Despite there being more fans in the stands, Greenland said he doesn't tend to feel nervous.

In the first week of competition, Liam Larocque of Inuvik and Kolbi Bernhardt of Tuktoyaktuk competed for Team NWT in basketball and soccer.

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