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2 Inuvik women take on extreme Arctic foot race to benefit local warming shelter

The 6633 Arctic Ultra has never had any Northerners participate in the race — until now. This year, two women from Inuvik will be at the starting line taking on the extreme Arctic race.

Jen Stronge and Marie-Josee Martel are raising money for the John Wayne Kiktorak Centre

Mackenzie Scott · CBC News ·
Marie-Josee Martel, left, and Jen Stronge, right, are competing in an extreme Arctic race to raise money for Inuvik's warming shelter. (Mackenzie Scott/CBC)

The 6633 Arctic Ultra has never had any Northerners participate in the race — until now. This year, two women from Inuvik, N.W.T., will be at the starting line taking on the extreme Arctic race.

"I was pretty nervous at first to tell people I was doing this," said Jen Stronge, one of the women racing this week. "I didn't want to talk about it out loud because I knew that it would sound like I was crazy."

"That's probably the single biggest comment we've been getting: 'Are you guys crazy?'"

Stronge, who's lived in Inuvik for three years and works as a nurse, first found out about the race when she saw racers come through town last year.

She recruited Marie-Josee Martel, an RCMP officer who has been living in the North for five years, to race with her this year.

612 kms through the Arctic wilderness 

The two will be racing in the Arctic carrying the supplies they need on carts behind them. (Mackenzie Scott/CBC)
The 6633 Arctic Ultra is an extreme-distance foot race that bills itself as the "toughest, coldest, windiest, distance foot race on the planet." 

It begins in Eagle Plains, Yukon, and continues through the Northwest Territories communities of Fort McPherson, Aklavik, Inuvik and finally on to Tuktoyaktuk for a total of 612 kilometres. There's also a shorter race that's 193 kilometres.  

This year's race is nearly 50 kilometres longer than before because competitors will be using the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk all-weather highway instead of the ice road to Tuktoyaktuk, which doesn't exist anymore.

This race is special to the Inuvik women because they are raising money for the John Wayne Kiktorak Centre, also known as the Inuvik warming shelter.

Martel said running for a purpose "has given me the strength to be out there all winter and train for this race, and actually compete in this race."

$1,500 raised in the first week 

They raised about $1,500 in the first seven days, and hope to see that number grow during the nine-day race.

Organizers for the race say it has been great to finally have some locals participating.

"It's genuinely an absolute honour," Martin Like, the race director said. "That's another cherry on top to making this a very special race."

Twenty-seven people are competing this year from around the world, including competitors from Zimbabwe and Romania.

Last year was the first time Canadians entered the race, this year five are in the running. This year also marks the first time that Canadian women have signed up.

The race begins March 8 and finishes March 17.

Stronge and Martel say other than raising as much money as they can, the goal is to finish the race "with all [their] body parts intact."

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