{"id":19504,"date":"2025-09-29T10:23:44","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T14:23:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.makivvik.ca\/?post_type=taqralikonline&p=19504"},"modified":"2025-09-29T10:23:47","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T14:23:47","slug":"nunavik-inuit-perform-well-at-avannaa-games","status":"publish","type":"taqralikonline","link":"https:\/\/www.makivvik.ca\/fr\/article\/nunavik-inuit-perform-well-at-avannaa-games\/","title":{"rendered":"Nunavik Inuit Perform Well at Avannaa Games"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Christopher Angatookalook says the inaugural Avannaa Arctic Games was the experience of a lifetime.

\u201cI fell in love with the people, the place, and the general welcome from everyone in the host town of Ilulissat,\u201d the 29-year-old says. He proudly represented Nunavik, participating in most of the events, and brought home a very impressive honour.

\u201cI brought home a silver medal in Kneel Jump, a bronze medal in One Foot, but I am most proud of bringing back the recognition of being awarded the title of Fair Play in my division,\u201d he says.

Christopher was one of 14 Nunavik athletes who travelled to Greenland for the inaugural event that ran February 8-13 and are set to be held every two years going forward. In addition to a cultural component, almost 70 athletes descended on the town that has a population of about 5,000. Unlike the Arctic Winter Games, which includes athletes from all Canadian northern regions, the Avannaa Games included exclusively Inuit competitors from Nunavik, Nunavut, Alaska, and Greenland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Courtesy of Avaanna Arctic Games<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Christopher says there were also differences in that the Avannaa event was focused on traditional games instead of the broader spectrum of athletic sports, and there were differences in the lodging, the food, and the connection with local people.

\u201cWe had a hotel room with one roommate instead of being in a classroom with other athletes. We were able to shower in peace, and we had comfortable beds. Avannaa hired locals to prepare meals. We had incredibly tasty and filling food,\u201d he says, joking that he still dreams about the mattak stew!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Courtesy of Avaanna Arctic Games<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSince the Avannaa Games will be exclusively in Ilulisaat, I noticed the locals were much more receptive and open to communication with the athletes. With the Arctic Winter Games, each event is hosted in a different location, both the sport being played and AWG as a whole. We interact with others in our sport, or our team competing in another venue, but we hardly get the chance to speak with the locals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Courtesy of Avaanna Arctic Games<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Willis Tagoona is Makivvik\u2019s Sports and Youth Initiative Coordinator. He says the Nunavik team was comprised of del-egates ranging in age from 15 to early 30s. Each team was allowed to bring four junior athletes (17 and under) and 12 open class athletes (18 and older). It was a fairly quick turnaround in terms of choosing the athletes and travelling, but he agrees with Christopher about the experience, along with the topnotch accom-modations and food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were all fed by elders, traditional food. It was great.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Courtesy of Avaanna Arctic Games<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Willis along with other support staff travelled with the athletes after spending a few days in Kuujjuaq before departure so they could all meet and hold a few practices. In the future, he says, he would like to have more time to prepare athletes for competition and really be able to see what talent is in the region. But this event showcased Nunavik well.
He says Christopher really stood out in Illulissat both athletically and in how he carried himself, resulting in his Fair Play award. And another Christopher, 15-year-old Christopher May Drullard from Kuujjuaq, also excelled at the games, earning a gold medal in the Airplane event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Courtesy of Avaanna Arctic Games<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe was always competing for a medal, for what it seemed like almost all his events,\u201d Willis says of the youth. \u201cHe was one of ours and we didn\u2019t expect him to really do that well. He kind of came out of nowhere with that!\u201d
Having more opportunities to compete would not only help the region identify where the talent is, it would also help the athletes themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have such talented athletes, the only Achilles heel, I guess, is that we don\u2019t have a lot of experience in competing,\u201d Willis says. \u201cWhen we go compete, it\u2019s almost always something new to everybody.\u201d More opportunities to get experience is something he hopes to facilitate in his role moving forward. In the meantime, he says, being able to compete in games like Avannaa offers a real sense of community.

\u201cThese events, traditional games specifically, it really gives a sense of family. That\u2019s one thing I\u2019ve learned during my experiences is everyone\u2019s really close.\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEveryone kind of becomes one big family and then they\u2019re competing against each other, but really, they\u2019re supporting each other, which is really cool to see.\u201d

Christopher Angatookalook says his favourite part of Avannaa wasn\u2019t the competitions, the food, or even the hotel room \u2013 it is the memories and connections he made. \u201cWhat I cherish are the memories of Ilulisaat. The town is beautiful, the people are warm and welcoming, and I was able to walk on an iceberg while out boating with a friend I made that day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is a list of the athletes who represented Nunavik at this year\u2019s first Avannaa Arctic Games in Ilulissat, Greenland<\/strong>:
Joseph Nowkawalk
Emannuel Dion
Yuliusie Saunders
Christopher Angatookalook
Aquyak Snowball
Gary Metuq
Mary Jane Qinuajuaq
Judith Naluijuk
Tina Mifsud
Hullik Gadbois
Samantha Rupert
Christopher May
Amy May
Ambriel Rupert<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christopher Angatookalook says the inaugural Avannaa Arctic Games was the experience of a lifetime. \u201cI fell in love with the people, the place, and the general [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":19505,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"taqralik-issues":[443,123],"class_list":["post-19504","taqralikonline","type-taqralikonline","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","taqralik-issues-443","taqralik-issues-spring"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.makivvik.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/taqralikonline\/19504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.makivvik.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/taqralikonline"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.makivvik.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/taqralikonline"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.makivvik.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/taqralikonline\/19504\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19525,"href":"https:\/\/www.makivvik.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/taqralikonline\/19504\/revisions\/19525"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.makivvik.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.makivvik.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"taqralik-issues","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.makivvik.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/taqralik-issues?post=19504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}