Wrapping Up The Arctic Winter Games

I stil haven't had time to fully "decompress" from the exciting and head-spinning week that was the Arctic Winter Games.

My quick impressions from the games:

• The city was busy! I mean realllllly busy - I'd almost swear that there was an audible hum from all the activity going on.
• Merchants at the mall must have noticed a spike in sales.
• Each venue had it's own personality. Cross-country skiing had a different vibe than Arctic Sports at the college.
• The things that are usually issues at the games (transportation, food and showers) seemed to get the least complaints.
• The kids had a great time.
• The army of volunteers that made the games happen deserve a rest!

That's all I can come up with right now- all in all it was a stellar week for our community!

If you'd like to see the action first hand check out the official AWG Flickr feed HERE. Volunteer Will Vaverk shot tons of pictures that captured just about everything from arrivals to departures and all the fun in between. (That's Will's work to the left.)

To see some other great shots stop by the Montrose Cultural Centre where you can check out the stunning images captured by the high school students that worked with professional photographers as part of the Photo Mentorship program.

The final medal count is on the AWG 2010 blog HERE.

Arctic Winter Games - Dene Sports, Hand Games

Check out this great video from CBC's Dan Robson on the Dene Hand Games down at ATCO place:



Check out Dan's full post on his AWG 2010 blog for CBC HERE.

In the mean time - get your butt down to ATCO Place in Muskoseepi Park and check out some of the unique sports of the Arctic Winter Games!

If you're looking for sport times and locations go HERE. There's a handy menu that allows you to sort the events by date, venue or sport. If you're a basketball fan you can find out when all the games are. If you've got a free day you can select just the date and see all events for that day.

2010 Arctic Winter Games - Opening Night

Just a quick post this morning....

Although the volunteers & staff have been working behind the scenes for more than three years, the 2010 Arctic Winter Games officially got under way last night with the opening ceremonies. It's going to be a week full of fun, sport, art and, most importantly getting to know new people!

Through the week I'll try to post games info when I can but they'll probably be short - it's going to be a busy time and there's only going to be so much time I can spend at the computer.

Today's quick notes:

- Last night's opening ceremonies were excellent! The crowd in attendance was treated to a really diverse line-up of acts that showcased the broad spectrum of cultures represented in the north - and the sight of over 2000 athletes and 260 officials parading in was especially moving.

Athletes Seated For Opening Ceremonies

- At this morning's Chef De Mission meeting (at 7am!) the Yamal representative had high praise for the ceremonies. They were so happy to hear their national anthem in their native language and surprised to hear a well known local song for their entrance music that it "brought tears" to their eyes!

- There was a hardy crowd gathered at ATCO Place in Muskoseepi Park to greet the Games torch as it came in to light the cauldron. ATCO were great hosts and kept everyone entertained even through the opening ceremonies were a little over time and delayed the torch's arrival.

Lighting The Cauldron At ATCO Place

Keep up to date with the latest 2010 Arctic Winter Games news via the links below...
General Info for the week:

Arctic Winter Games Sport Schedules can be found HERE

Arctic Winter Games Results Information can be found HERE

Muskoseepi Park Pond Closed

The warm weather has made the pond at Muskoseepi Park unsafe to skate on for the time being.

"Media Release
March 2, 2010

Muskoseepi Park Pond Closed

Skaters are asked to avoid using the Muskoseepi Park pond during the current mild conditions.

The warm weather the City has had over the past week has caused the ice surface to become slushy and possibly dangerous. Park staff hope to maintain the ice enough so that it can be used again if the weather gets cold.

“There are safety concerns if we get any amount people out on the skating pond right now,” says Muskoseepi Park Customer Services Manager Chad Cronk. “It is not an immediate threat but the warm weather has definitely comprised the thickness and strength of the ice. The forecast indicates continued warm weather.”

Media enquiries may be directed to:
Chad Cronk
Muskoseepi Park Customer Services Manager
(780)538-0451"

The Unique Sports of the Arctic Winter Games

The Arctic Winter Games are really a very, very, unique event. Unfortunately I think a lot of people who haven't been involved with these games before just don't have a good concept of just how different they really are.

Of course there are all the traditional winter sports that you might expect like Hockey, Curling and Alpine Skiing and Snowboarding, there's also the indoor sports like Basketball, Volleyball, and Table Tennis. Of course those are all exciting but it's the traditional Arctic, Dene and other northern events that are unlike anything in any other games.

So with that in mind I've been doing a little snooping on youtube and I've found clips from some of the sports that make these games different from anything you've seen before.

First up is the Two Foot High Kick where the competitor has to jump up and kick a small stuffed "seal" hanging down from a string. They have to touch the seal with both feet at the same time and maintain their balance when they land. I think the winning kick at the Yellowknife games was at about 8 foot, 4 inches!:



I'll post more clips as I find them.

Games Will Leave a Legacy of Service in GP

One of the legacies that the 2010 Arctic Winter Games host society hopes to leave the city with is an increased sense of community and better customer service. How would hosting something like the games do that for Grande Prairie? The answer is through training for it's volunteers.

In a pretty unique program the host society is working to provide free customer service training to all games volunteers. Check out the information below:

Training by the Alberta Hotel & Lodging Association is provided free of charge toall volunteers of the 2010 Arctic Winter Games. The ‘Super STAR Service’ program provides customer service training to help improve the quality of service provided by staff & volunteers from the inside-out. All Games volunteers are required to attend one of these sessions.

Pre-registration is not necessary, just drop by the session that best fits your schedule. All sessions are being held in the Rotary Community Room at the Montrose Cultural Centre in Grande Prairie:

Saturday, January 16 – 9:00am - 12:00pm & 1:30pm - 4:30pm

Sunday, January 17 – 1:00pm - 4:00pm

Wednesday, January 20 – 6:00pm - 9:00pm

Saturday, January 23 – 9:00am - 12:00pm

Wednesday, January 27 – 6:00pm - 9:00pm

Saturday, January 30 – 9:00am - 12:00pm & 1:30pm - 4:30pm

Sunday, January 31 – 1:00pm - 4:00pm

Monday, February 1 – 6:00pm - 9:00pm

Wednesday, February 3 – 6:00pm - 9:00pm

Friday, February 5 – 1:00pm - 4:00pm & 6:00pm - 9:00pm

Saturday, February 6 – 9:00am - 12:00pm & 1:30pm – 4:30pm

Sunday, February 7 – 1:00pm - 4:00pm

Monday, February 8 – 9:00am - 12:00pm

Tuesday, February 9 – 1:00pm - 4:00pm

Wednesday, February 10 – 6:30pm - 9:00pm

Saturday, February 13 – 9:00am - 5:00pm

Sunday, February 14 – 1:00pm - 4:00pm

Wednesday, February 17 – 6:00pm - 9:00pm

Saturday, February 20 – 9:00am - 12:00pm & 1:00pm-4:00pm

Don’t miss your chance to be trained in ‘Super STAR Service’ – complete your registration at the Games’ FINAL Volunteer Rally.

That’s right – time is running out! Visit the Games Crew this Saturday (January 23rd) from 10:00am-3:00pm at Montrose Cultural Centre to:

- Register as a Volunteer
- Complete Your Security Clearance Form
- Get Your Accreditation Photo
- Choose Jobs and Shifts

There are LESS THAN 50 days until Grande Prairie hosts the circumpolar north - RISE UP! Volunteer today.

How's that for making it easy? There are a load of times available so the training should be able to fit in to anyone's schedule!

Easing into '09 Blogging

Ok, ok.. I'm back.

It's been quite a while since the last post, I hope everyone out there had a great time over the holidays! I think it's going to take a little time for me to get back in to the swing of regular posts so you'll have to excuse me if this post seems a little dis-jointed, let's just say I'm easing my way in to my 2009 blogging.

Tonight is our first full council meeting since December 15th and although things did slow down quite a bit over the holidays, there have still been meetings to go to. In fact, we ran right up to the holidays with a three hour meeting with the County of GP on December 23rd! My last meeting of 2008 was an Arctic Winter Games host society meeting on December 30th and the first meeting of '09 was on the 5th. Actually, looking back last week had 5 council related appointments and this week has 8 - so I guess we're fully back in the swing of things!

Speaking of being fully in the swing of thing; preparations for the Arctic Winter Games are well under way. If you want to keep up with the latest AWG happenings (no, not that AWG, I'm talking about this AWG) there is now an Arctic Winter Games blog to follow and you'll notice I've added the latest AWG news headlines to the right side of this blog.

In addition to the latest news, the AWG Blog has links to additional Arctic Winter Games resources and will play host to some special looks at the unique character of these games. It also has a handy feature that allows you to sign up to receive free email updates when ever the site is updated. (my blog also has the same feature, it's just over there on the right and side....)

Welcome to 2009!

Arctic Winter Games Bus Unveiled

This morning a city transit bus, wrapped to promote the up coming 2010 Arctic Winter Games was unveiled.


Representatives of Ernie's Sports, Bus Bench Promotions and SOS Graphics pose for the media.


AWG President Debbie Reid poses on the left side of the bus which features AWG sports such as table tennis, snowshoeing, the one foot high kick and some of the cultural delegations.


The right side of the bus also features a cultural performer at the front and working back from there; gymnastics, wrestling and figure skating.

I think the bus will be a great way to promote the games and raise awareness that they are coming up quickly! It's going to get put in to service soon and from the 22nd to the 25th of this month is will be our tour vehicle as we host the first Chef de Mission tour. The representatives from all the participating countries and jurisdictions will be in the city to check out how preparations are going and what our facilities are like. I think we'll wow them!

Yellowknife AWG - Day One

It's the end of what has been a full day. I'm about to crash in to bed but I thought I'd upload some pictures from Day One of the trip to the 2008 Arctic Winter Games in Yellowknife.


After the flight from GP to Calgary to Yellowknife we (Mayor Logan, his wife Carol, Kirsten Maher and myself) checked in to the Explorer Inn. The first order of business was to get registered and catch up with members of the 2010 host society who have already been in town learning for a few days. (As an aside, I noticed in the Games newspaper that to this point team Alberta had only managed two medals.)


During a sightseeing tour out on the lake where some events are being held we stopped to take in an ice castle! The white on white contrast in most of the pics doesn't show up well but you can see the detail in the windows behind Kirsten and Lee.


Our first event stop was outdoors joining the crowd of competitors here at the "Snowsnake" competition.


The snowsnake replicates throwing a spear over the ice, as would have been done when hunting seals. For the competition they measure distance that the spear travels.


One of the Alaskan team demonstrated the proper snowsnake form. If you are good at it you can get up to 500 ft in a toss!


Another athlete displays great form as they fire away down the snowsnake course.


I display a snowsnake form that looks a lot more like bowling. My first try the "spear" went about a foot before lodging itself in the snow. On my second try I probably got it about fifteen feet (maybe).


By supper time our little group was getting pretty hungry so we headed to a Yellowknife institution called "Bullocks" (.... hmmmm spelling may be different) Caribou Steaks and Arctic Char fish n' chips were on the menu.



The last competition that Kirsten and I made it to on our first day was the one I was looking forward to the most; the two foot high kick. Unfortunately we couldn't get close to the action and I had to take this pic from behind the arena glass. You can barely make out the "seal" (the little blotch in front of the girl's face) At this point it's probably about 6 feet off the ground.


The reason Kirsten and I couldn't get close was because of the huge crowd! I think people were really excited to see this unique sport. I was blown away too; the jr men's division was won with a kick at SEVEN FEET! The guy might have been 5'9" and he did an extra one making it all the way to 7'2"!!!!

After all this activity there was still one event to go to - the Team Alberta reception. I was really surprised at how many people there that I knew were volunteering as coaches, officials or mission staff. It's great to see so many people involved in making sure kids have an opportunity to participate. The word around the room was the the Alberta athletes had had a great day setting personal bests, Games records and picking up medals in quite a few different sports. Looks like the newspaper will have some more encouraging Alberta results to report tomorrow!

Oh, if you are looking to keep track of the medal count you can go to the Yellowknife Games website here.

So, it's now 12:21 am and I'm off to bed to get ready for Day 2!

Off To Yellowknife - Arctic Winter Games

Tuesday morning I'll be heading off to Yellowknife as an observer for the Arctic Winter Games. Grande Prairie has been awarded the 2010 games so a number of locals are heading up to watch the games in operation. It's going to be invaluable learning for the volunteers in all the different sport and administration areas. I get to go because I am the city's representative on the games executive committee - also travelling from the City of GP will be Mayor Logan, his wife and Kirsten Maher (the City's Community Recreation Coordinator and point person for the games.)

If you're not familiar with the Arctic Winter Games check out the official website of the AWG International Committee. Aside from familiar sports like basketball, volleyball, curling, gymnastics and hockey the AWG also have some very unique competitions. Events like Dog Mushing and the Dene Games are the ones I'm really looking forward to seeing - after all who wouldn't want to check out events with names like "The Finger Pull" or "Snowsnake".

Keep an eye on the Yellowknife Games website to track the progress of our Team Alberta North athletes and as you get ready for 2010 you can join the Grande Prairie Arctic Winter Games facebook group.

I'll post pictures of the action in Yellowknife so check back through the week for updates, or sign up to receive a free email every time the site is updated.