Tim Angotingoar took top spot, Tommy Makkigak nabbed second and Adam Alogut grabbed third in the iglu-building contest in Rankin Inlet on Wednesday, April 23.

Steven Fredlund also participated in the event.

The top three finishers split $1,000 in prize money, with the hamlet's recreation department donating $600 and the Rankin Inlet Men's Committee donating $400 to the prize pool.

Founder of the Men's Committee, Noel Kaludjak, said Rankin's recreation department asked if the committee could host the iglu-building contest and the committee obliged.

He said the committee organized it with the help of some volunteers.

鈥淲e were, of course, a little disappointed with only four participants,鈥� said Kaludjak. 鈥淲e had, kind of, asked Tommy Makkigak to look for a good spot, but this year the snow is so bad for iglu building.

鈥淲e just had a big storm, as well, and he had a hard time finding a decent spot close to the road where we could access it by vehicle. That was our main focus, but they just couldn't find the right snow, so we had to go out a little bit of a ways by snowmobile.鈥�

Kaludjak said the four who did participate were good sports to go out and do it despite the location.

He said he wished the location was near a road so people could have gone and watched.

鈥淚 was really trying to push for that, but some things just don't work out the way you hope they do. The four guys who did participate had a good time and really thoroughly enjoyed it.

鈥淭hey were all middle-aged and all pretty good.鈥�

Kaludjak said it took each of the men between an hour and an hour and a half to build an iglu.

He said the snow was so hard that it was difficult to cut.

鈥淭here was support for the contest. We had been planning it for more than a week. Trying to pick a good spot turned out to be the hardest thing with the conditions.

鈥淭he weather wasn't that good either. It was windy and snowing. The biggest disappointment, really, was not getting the number of spectators we were hoping for, although there were a few curious people who came by snowmobile and milled around for awhile.

鈥淚t was our first time organizing it and we're going to look at it as a committee and make it a bigger annual event.

鈥淚 promise the people of Rankin Inlet the next time that we do it, it's going to be a nice big event that everyone can enjoy.鈥�