Before the Race

Waiting for a race to start is one of the hardest things a sled dog does. Born to pull,

these dogs eagerly anticipate any opportunity to go fast as a team.

Based on a photograph taken by acclaimed photographer, Lee Narraway while she was

on her yearly sojourn to Pond Inlet, Baffin Island, this painting depicts a dog team while

they await the start of the annual “Nunavut Quest” dog team race from Pond Inlet to

Arctic Bay.

The dogs in the painting are a mixture of the well-known racing breed, the Siberian

Husky and the lesser known Canadian Eskimo/Inuit Dog. “Qimmiq” (pronounced

Kimmeek) in Inuktitut, this breed is one of five indigenous to Canada. Hunter, protector

and sled dog, they have been with the Inuit people for over 4000 years and until the

1960‘s were vital to the survival of the Aboriginal people of the Arctic regions.