Raid the North Extreme
A blessing for the race
Susan McKenzie in Atikokan / 16.08.2003
Raid the North Extreme has not just come to Atikokan, it has enveloped Atikokan. There are signs everyone, former residents have come home for the race, and everywhere you go, visitors are asked, “Are you here for the race?�
“This is very much like Newfoundland,� says France’s Bruno Rey of Team EADS, who arrived on Wednesday. “Everyone here is so friendly, it is very nice.�
The official events began Friday night, with a welcoming ceremony that included the Mayor of the town, Dennis Brown, and Lynn McLeod, the local member of the provincial legislature.
The ceremony was a blend of cultures and included bagpipes, gun salutes and a traditional smudging ceremony.
“The smudging cleanses your soul, and your mind,� said traditional elder Nancy Jones, who came from nearby Redgut to perform the ceremony. After setting the smudge pot, she carefully and methodically washed the smoke over her body, washing her arms and her chest and finally her face with the sweet scented smoke, after which she lit and smoked a pipe filled with sweet tobacco and said a prayer for the racers.
“I will pray to the spirits, to help you on this race. I will pray so that you stay safe, and get through the race. But I won’t pray that there will be no rain, because if it rains then you will blame me,� she added with a laugh.
After the prayer, she invited athletes, residents and everyone present to take part in the smudging ceremony.
“I have arthritis, and I use the smudging to help that, too,� she explained. “If you want, you can come up and join me. I have some traditional wild rice and blueberries that I made, and you can try it, too.�
After a moment of hesitation, a shy pause, the athletes converged on Nancy Jones, and soon the scent of the smudge covered the audience in attendance at the Little Falls Recreation Centre.
Western traditions followed native traditions, as a group of performers from nearby Old Fort William took to the stage, with bagpipes and muskets and young locals in eighteenth century garb singing and dancing in English and in French.
“It was wonderful,� says Laurence Maurin of Team EADS from France, who robustly sang along with the traditional French folk song. “I knew the first song, but not the second.�
The ceremony ended with what is known as a paddle dance. Men lined one wall, women the other and then they competed for the right to dance with each other. It began with one coureur du bois holding the paddle as two young ladies vied for the right to dance with him. The loser was handed the paddle, and then had her pick of two men. And thus it continued until the bagpiper ran out of the breath, and the dance ran out of women. (the lot of the adventure race: always more men than women.)
Racers were returned to the twentieth century when race manager Dave Zietsma took the stage, introduced the teams and gave them a sneak peek at what would lie ahead.
“There really is some beautiful forest out there,� he said. “We’ve trekked in areas up here that have never been logged, real first growth.�
“And, oh yeah, there’s lots of deadfall, too.�
“Typical Dave� laughed Red Rock Raiders Gary Cambridge.
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