Warm weather forces cancellation of the Labrathon, premier event of the Labrador Winter Games
CBC
The Labrathon — a signature event of the Labrador Winter Games — has been cancelled.
The board of directors for the Games said Thursday morning in a statement that "unprecedented" weather compromised their ability to safely hold the event.
The Labrathon is the Games's premier event, in which participants in showshoes and seal skin boots compete on a frozen basin, affectionately known as "Maxville" after one of the event's founders, Max Winters.
Winters and Ebert Broomfield, the namesake of Happy Valley-Goose Bay's arena, created the event to honour the traditional lifestyle of the Labrador trapper.
Competitors tow implements for survival on a small sled and move through a series of events, much like a decathlon.
The event includes drilling a hole through ice by hand, lighting a fire, boiling a kettle, shooting targets, cutting through large logs with a buck saw and setting a trap.
Unusually warm weather in the lead-up to the games ruined snow conditions, and unusually heavy rain over the month of March created runways of ice.
It's the second large event to be prematurely ended in Labrador in recent weeks. One of the world's most gruelling snowmobile races, Cain's Quest, was stopped earlier this month because of rain and mild temperatures.
The board of directors said it decided not to modify the Labrathon in light of weather conditions, as that could "provide an unfair advantage/disadvantage to the athletes and communities whom have not been provided with a modified technical package in advance of the event."
Earlier this week, Labrador MP Yvonne Jones — who was in town for the opening ceremony — told CBC News her fondest memories of competing in the Labrador Winter Games as a teen was watching the Labrathon.
"It's really watching people from every age group, from every part of Labrador, out there doing what all these competitions are about — it's culture," she said.
"It's about being able to shoot a gun, drill a hole, light a fire. It's about survival and that's what Labradorians have always really prided ourselves on, the survival and resilience of our people."
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