As Track and Field starts, Hay River looks for a national win

Covid, Covid, flood, wildfire.

For four years in a row, Track and Field – the NWT school athletics championship that calls Hay River home – was wiped out by events beyond its control.

On Wednesday, for the first time since 2019, Track and Field gets going. It could help Hay River win $100,000 to support the town’s sport and recreation initiatives.

The Participaction Community Challenge, which runs throughout June, gives communities across Canada points every time they hold physical activities and people show up.

As of Wednesday morning, Hay River was leading the entire challenge nationally in its first week – ahead of Toronto in second place.

Courtney Fraser and Jordan Froese are Town of Hay River staff helping to coordinate the town’s bid for Participaction glory.

“Last year, we were the territorial winner and won $15,000. This year, we’re going for the $100,000 grand prize,” said Fraser, “partly for bragging rights – because Jordan and I are both pretty competitive and we both like that title of Canada’s most active community – and also because $100,000 will just really go a long way to supporting recreation and sport initiatives in Hay River.”

Laughing, Froese acknowledged she is checking the Participaction national leaderboard “multiple times a day.”

Any time an organization registers, like a business or a sports team, the town gets points. When registered activities are held and people show up, the town gets more points. You can also sign up as an individual.

For example, Fraser said, Hay River Minor Ball has signed up and so each of its teams’ practices counts as an activity earning Participaction points. “So we just need ballplayers to go out to those practices and support Hay River’s bid to win this contest.”

In the same vein, Fraser and Froese wasted no time in signing up Track and Field, which will involve hundreds of youth from Wednesday to Friday.

“That was one of our very first things, putting that bug in their ear to see if they’d get on board with us to track all those athletes and all those events,” said Fraser.

Other events coming up include playground pop-up activities for dayhomes and parents with young children, a family party in the park, a “big school’s-out water fight” on June 28, and a bike bus that runs throughout the month, where Fraser and Froese bike with students to and from school each day.

Asked if it’s starting to feel like Hay River is recovering from years of disruptive natural disasters, Fraser said: “Yeah, it absolutely does. Especially in the last couple of weeks.”

She listed events like Lobster Fest, National Indigenous Peoples Day and Canada Day as other highlights that either recently took place or are coming up.

“It’s really nice to see the community getting together again and celebrating in different ways, and just coming together and spending time as a community,” she said.

“It’s starting to feel like we’re getting back to normal, finally.”