Walkers for cancer research arrive in Igloolik ahead of schedule

A group of women walking 70 kilometres to Igloolik from Hall Beach to raise money for breast cancer research made very good time, arriving a day sooner than they expected.

The Women in Action: Steps of Hope team arrived in Igloolik Tuesday evening. The group had left Hall Beach on Monday morning and were expecting to take three days to walk to their destination.

Edna Elias, Nunavut's commissioner and the group's leader, was at Igloolik's Tujurmivik Hotel Wednesday morning nursing sore muscles. She said the walkers were in good spirits, despite being a bit stiff.

The team of eight walked about 28 kilometres on Monday but the weather made it slow going. 

"I think this was the most gruelling of the three journeys I've participated in," said Elias. "Right from Day 1, we had snow flurries, blowing snow, and about 50 clicks when we left Hall Beach and it continued throughout the journey."

Another challenge was that the snow was almost to their knees, she said, making walking "like riding an elliptical."

The guides travelling with the women estimated it would take the group five to seven days to cover the distance instead of three at the pace they were going.

She said they took the advice of the guides and rode on snowmobiles and qamutiit over deep snow until there was hard-packed snow closer to Igloolik.

A crowd of a couple hundred people were on the sea ice in Igloolik to greet the walkers, said Elias, including 12 to 15 Canadian Rangers.

"The Canadian Rangers were all lined up, about 30 feet apart," she said. "And each time we passed one, they joined and walked in behind us."

Iqaluit Mayor Mary Wilman also walked with the group.

"Although we did not know each other well — we have never worked together or gone through challenges together —we got together, shared great discussions," she said in Inuktitut.

On the walk, the women carried the names of breast cancer survivors and those who have died from cancer.

"The reason I took part was because of my older sister," said Wilman.

"I wanted to remember my older sister. She lost her fight to cancer."

Elias said so far this year the group has raised more than $50,000 for the Alberta Cancer Foundation.