This year’s Cree Nation Fire Fighters Challenge was hosted by Whapmagoostui with Cree teams from Chisasibi, Eastmain, Waskaganish, Whapmagoostui, and an Inuit team from Kuujjuarapik.
In the team challenges for men Kuujjuarapik placed third, just behind Whapmagoostui’s Team I, with Waskaganish claiming first prize. For the women there were two teams and those two were home team Whapmagoostui who lost with Chisasibi taking marginal lead in the first half to take home the prize.
For the individual challenge Whapmagoostui’s Burton Snowboy took third place following Kurtis Black from Waskaganish, and ahead of the whole pack was Alaku Calvin, an Inuit from Kuujjuarapik, with a time of 2:01:43. The women’s individual challenge saw Margaret Cox from Chisasibi in third place, Melanie St-Hilaire of Whapmagoostui in second and Chisasibi’s Leanne Pepabano first with a time of 3:01:37.
