At the foot of the Scintillant Mount, Mont Nasaasaaq – “The King of the Mountains” – in Sisimiut, in Greenland, hundreds of spectators grouped together with lively jackets, isolated pants and heavy boots bordered a snow path on Saturday while waiting for the runners to pass in front.
The weak sun was shone with ice. The snow crumbled under the feet, fine and dry like sifted flour. Red and white Greenland flags have appeared everywhere – poles, nestled in caps, beating in hands in mity.
For more than three decades, Greenland organized a national dog shed championship – the Avannaata Qimussersua, which means, in the green language, “the great race of the north”. This year, the event brought together more than 25 Mushers – including a fairly hard boy of 14 – and at least 400 dogs. It is a tradition deeply rooted in the culture of the country, where dogs are not only animals, but survival partners. And generally, the race does not draw much international attention.
But this year, he was swept away in a large geopolitical storm when the White House announced that Usha Vance, the wife of Vice-President JD Vance, and one of their sons would attend. The Greenlanders preparing to protest, Ms. Vance ended up canceling her trip.
Ms. Vance had tried to frame her visit as a gesture of cultural appreciation. The Greenlanders did not buy it. President Trump was decided to take care of Greenland – a semi -automobile territory in Denmark – and has regularly increased his conversation to “obtain it, in one way or another”, as he said.
Many Greenlanders (and Danish) have seen the visit as a threat. The organizers of the race quickly published a sharp statement saying that the vances had not been invited. A spokesperson for Ms. Vance denied this, saying that the second lady had received “multiple invitations”.
Ms. Vance, with her husband and a few other officials, came to Greenland, but ended up spending less than three hours on Friday at the Pituffik space base, an American missile defense station on the north coast of Greenland, kilometers from any city.
The race, however, continued, as planned. For competitors, it was the culmination of years of daily care, discipline and a deep mutual understanding between man and dog.
Saturday afternoon, a voice crackled the speaker with updates on the progress of competitors by crossing the exhausting route of 26 miles. The children bound to stay warm. In the distance, sharp deviations echoed through the mountain.
“We are not trying to impress anyone,” said Inuna Davidsen, a spectator who was waiting for the sleds to appear. “We just want to stay close to nature and with each other.”
Like many others here, she has seen the event not only as a competition, but as a gathering – a space where the people of the distant colonies meet, celebrate and reconnect in the snow. Sisimiut, who welcomed the race this year, is the second largest city in Greenland, with a population of around 5,000 inhabitants.
Mikaela Eliassen, a Sisimiut entrepreneur, stood near the finish line with her children. She said she was a little disappointed that the vances did not come.
“We never receive visitors,” she said. “So when we finally heard that someone important came here, I was excited.”
The Greenlanders have been working with sled dogs for hundreds of years. They used them to go to the distant villages and hunt seals and reindeer.
In 1968, when a bomber with American nuclear arms crashed through the ice near what is now the base of Pituffik, teams of sled dogs were called to help in cleaning. The ability of dogs to move through fragile ice made them essential to efforts.
Today, dogs are still important, helping the Greenlanders in ice fishing, carrying supplies, taking tourists for a walk and even the delivery of mail.
A single breed is authorized in the Arctic region of Greenland: the pure breed dog. This breed has evolved over the centuries to work in the cold, and the thought goes, any mixture could harm its rusticity.
Musher herself, Ms. Eliassen began to drive sled at the age of 6.
“Dog luge is not just a sport,” she said. “He teaches responsibility, patience and respect.”
“They say that the Musher whose dogs respect him is the most one who wins,” she added.
While the first sled crossed the final crest and appeared, the crowd broke out. Henrik Jensen, a 26 -year -old porridge of Ilussat in northern Greenland, broke the finish line – his wind burned by the wind, his frozen ice and foam dogs but still firing strong.
His supporters jumped forward. Some were dressed in black jackets with “Team Henrik” sporting their backs.
While sitting on his sleigh, smiling and amazed, a group of fans raised the high wooden sleigh in the air – dogs barking and always twisted in their harnesses, energized by the roar of the crowd.
“I have been preparing for years,” he said, his father proudly smiling with one hand on his shoulder.
And if Americans were connected, he said, it’s a good thing.
“”It’s great that you follow, “he said.” There should be room for everyone here. “”
