The Arctic Sports Championships are taking place this week after being delayed since December.

They are going on April 6-8 at Vanier Catholic Secondary School in Whitehorse.

“We had to postpone the event several times – (because of) COVID. It was supposed to go before Christmas, so it was a little bit more bumpy than it usually is,” recalled Yukon Aboriginal Sport Circle Executive Director Gael Marchand, whose organization is running the event.

On Wednesday, the K-Grade 2 and Grades 3-4 participated in sports including Kneel Jump, Inuit Stick Pull, Triple Jump, 2-Foot-High Kick, and a new on-going station, Sledge Jump. The day ended with highly entertaining Seal Crawls.

120 students from 10 Whitehorse and Carcross schools took part.

Marchand said the day went well despite the challenges they faced.

“Due to the size we had, it went pretty well. Because of the rescheduling, we had less volunteers and officials than expected, so we had to run things faster, because we have less people on the floor. We went with it and managed to do all the events, so it’s good.”

“We wanted to have a bigger event, but because of the rescheduling, we just had to do it when we could because of the COVID,” he added.

Grades 5-7 took their turn yesterday. Events included the Kneel Jump, Scissor Broad Jump, One-Foot High Kick, Greasy Stick Pull AK Style, Wrist Carry, and the Sledge Jump.

Today, Grades 8-9 and 10-12 get their turn. Their events include the Bench Reach, Greasy Stick Pull AK Style, Scissor Broad Jump, One-Foot High Kick, Inuit Wresting and the Sledge Jump.

“On Friday, we have teams coming from Alaska. They come regularly now to compete with high school. And we have several community schools that are coming to our events,” added Marchand.

A community event also takes place Saturday at Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre in Whitehorse.