23 competitors from Alaska are flying to Greenland to participate in the Avannaa Arctic Games next week. The games will take place in Ilulissat, just over 200 miles above the Arctic Circle.
Parker Kenick took home first in Alaskan High Kick at last year’s World Eskimo Indian Olympics. The University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) student said he received the opportunity to represent Alaska last November.
“I figure I might as well just do everything. Especially since it's Greenland, I definitely might give it a shot and say that I at least tried to,” Kenick said.
The games include some familiar favorites for the Alaska contingent, like the high kick, head pull, and stick pull. But there will be some unfamiliar ones too, like snow snake, that Kenick and his fellow UAF Nanooks have been practicing.
“You throw kind of like a stick down a path made from snow. That one we've tried to practice, but you've got to have a pretty long track to be able to try to throw it down nice and straight,” Kenick explained.
They’ll be joined at the games by 23 competitors each from Nunavik, Nunavut, and Greenland. Organizers said they plan to put on the games every two years.
