Nanuaq Tanuyaq captured his second straight checkered flag to take the third annual round trip Rankin Inlet to Whale Cove race on Sunday, April 13.

Tanuyaq ran a 900 Turbo MXZ Ski-Doo to the victory.

A total of 30 competitors left the start line with all but six completing the circuit. One racer was injured, suspected to have suffered a broken collarbone.

Race committee member Neco Towtongie said this year's event received plenty of support and there was a large crowd of fans out from both Rankin Inlet and Whale Cove to cheer the racers on.

Towtongie said Tristan Dias was actually well out in front of the pack when his machine ran out of gas before reaching the finish line in Rankin Inlet.

He said race winner Tanuyaq is very consistent in his approach to racing his machine and it always seems the longer the race goes, the faster Tanuyaq gets.

鈥淗e (Tanuyaq) always looks really comfortable on the sled,鈥� said Towtongie. 鈥淗e has a very natural crouch while racing.鈥�

Competitors reached top speeds of about 190 kilometres per hour during the event.

Towtongie, an accomplished racer himself, said when traversing the route that fast, racers have to make sure they're looking far enough ahead before they get into any 鈥渞ough stuff.鈥�

He said once the race begins, the adrenalin takes over.

鈥淲e have so many good racers here because driving Ski-Doos in the Kivalliq is a lifestyle. There's so many hunters in our region and everywhere you travel during the winter is by Ski-Doo.

鈥淪o, just about everybody has a Ski-Doo and most people travel long distances to either hunt or visit other communities.鈥�

Towtongie added that when travelling at such high rates of speed, a machine's suspension has to be comfortable, but you also need to know the trail.

He said the race is 88 kilometres one way, making for a total run of close to 177 kilometres, but the trail was different this year than in previous editions because of bad ice conditions.

鈥淪o, the race was a bit longer and it was a completely different route from, like, 20 miles out, all the way to Whale Cove, and the guys said the trail was pretty rough this year

鈥淚 feel most years the race favours those with more experience, but the two-stroke machines have an advantage because they're lighter.

鈥淚t's really something winning this race two years in a row, especially with as many racers as we had this year. Before the race started this year, there was no way you could tell who would probably win.

鈥淚'd say there were 10 different guys who could have won this year's race. It was that unpredictable.鈥�

Towtongie said it's quite impressive that Tanuyaq has won two of the first three Rankin Inlet-to-Whale Cove races so far.

The race used to be held every year back in the early 1980s, but then it never happened for many, many years.

鈥淚 don't know why the race wasn't run for so many years, but this is kind of the new generation that started pretty much just after I moved back to Rankin.

鈥淲e are getting so much support for this race that it's almost overwhelming. People are so into it that you could actually feel the tension in the air just before the race got started.

鈥淎nd, everybody's just like wanting to know what's going on: who's in the lead? Where they're at? Things of that nature.鈥�

Towtongie said it can be somewhat overwhelming 鈥� in a good way, having everybody fully involved in supporting the race 鈥� from the fans to the racers themselves.

He said having Kelly Owlijoot following the racers in his helicopter is also an important aspect of the event, although he did run into some problems this year.

鈥淜elly (Owlijoot) had fuel issues and was running low this year, so he had to come back early. But, there were lots of crews coming back from Whale Cove, so we felt that everybody was going to get back safely.鈥�

Towtongie said he's confident this variation of the Rankin Inlet-to-Whale Cove race will continue for many years to come.

He said since moving back to Rankin Inlet, he's finding that the town has a number of volunteer groups that offer plenty of support to events, so long as the core group is well-organized.

鈥淭he commitment from the volunteers is what keeps these events going.

鈥淎nother one of the reasons why people are so into our race is because we, kind of, caught it between when hockey season just finishes and Pakallak Tyme and the fishing derbies haven't started yet, so we're just right in the middle of it.

鈥淪o that works out really well for us because we, kind of, fill the gap there. People just seem to love this event and, this year, we had racers from Rankin, Baker Lake, Chesterfield Inlet, Arviat, Whale Cove and one from Iqaluit.

鈥淲e have quite a few guys coming in but, it's just so expensive to travel these days that sometimes people can't make it. But, you know, our race gives people something to look forward to. It motivates people to stay active, keep away from things like partying and stay focused on something that gives you a positive goal to reach.鈥�