June 2014 - Parks & Recreation - 16

Community Center
Frosty Competition

The Arctic Winter Games offer northern athletes a chance to
contend for top honors and keep traditional sports alive
By Danielle Taylor

wo thousand athletes. Twenty different sports. Nine participating regions. Eight days of competition. The Olympics? Nope. This is the Arctic Winter Games (AWG), recently hosted in Fairbanks, Alaska, in part
by the Fairbanks North Star Borough Parks and Recreation Department.
Showcasing a uniquely northern program of sports and culture, the Arctic
Winter Games occurs every other year as a " celebration of athletic completion,
culture, friendship and cooperation between northern contingents, " according
to the event's website. Serving as the world's largest northern multisport and
cultural event, the AWG enjoys a rich history of athletics and heritage that
has provided athletes from around the Arctic Circle opportunities to compete,
connect and share their traditions for almost 50 years.
letes and coaches had little access to
competition, giving them a disadvantage when contending with other
players who had more chances to test
their skills against opponents. The first
Games were held the following year,
and three regions - Yukon, Northwest Territories and Alaska - partic-

AWG 2014/John A. Rusyniak

The Arctic Winter Games began
in 1969 when the province commissioners of the Yukon and Northwest
Territories and the governor of Alaska
met to address issues they saw with
athletic competitions in their far-flung
locales. Due to the distance between
sporting communities, northern ath-

Team Yukon competes in the pole push, a Dene game in which two teams of four athletes attempt to push each other out of the competition ring.
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ipated in the inaugural event. Since
then, athletes from Russia, Greenland, other Canadian provinces and
the Sápmi region of Scandinavia have
participated in the Games, which are
held at locations rotating among Alaska, Canada and Greenland.
The Fairbanks North Star Borough
has been preparing for this year's event
since it was awarded the 2014 Games
by the Arctic Winter Games International Committee in February 2011. A
board of directors consisting of 19 representatives from the greater Fairbanks
area was convened, as well as a staff of
18 to coordinate the multifaceted event.
Approximately 2,500 volunteers contributed to help carry out the Games,
and an additional 3,000 or so family
members and friends also showed up to
lend their support. The Fairbanks North
Star Borough Parks & Recreation Department, headed by Director Michael
Bork, was central to the success of this
year's Games, the third time the community has hosted the event.
In addition to standard winter
sports, such as ice skating, snowboarding, cross-country skiing and
hockey, as well as year-round sports
that include badminton, wrestling and
gymnastics, AWG also incorporates
traditional northern Arctic Sports
and Dene Games. These categories
draw from native customs and include
events such as snowsnake, head pull,
pole push and Alaskan high kick.
The Games also place a strong
emphasis on cultural expression by

June 2014 - Parks & Recreation

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